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UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


m 


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,->-//// 


AX    ACCOUNT 


PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


Salmon  Portland  Chase 


ROBERT  B.  WARDEN. 


=#= 


'//  does  not  astonish  me  that  some  good  men  consider  me  an  enigma." 

Chin  Justice  Chase  to  lfiv.  Me.  Kla.nchabd. 


=$<" 


CINCINNATI . 

WILSTACH,    BALDWIN    &    CO., 

1874. 


.Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  187-1, 

By  WILSTACH,  BALDWIN  &  CO., 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C 


stereotyped  -at 

Franklin  Type  Foundry, 

cincinnati. 


2? 


OQ/Y\ 


Chief  Justice  Waite 


Dear  Sir: 

Acquainted  with  your  virtues,  long  familiar  with  your  learning 

and  ability,  and  very  proud  of  your  esteem,  I  venture  to  inscribe  to  you,  without 

your  knowledge,  this  account  of  the  private  life  and    public  services  of  your 

illustrious   predecessor.     That   the    work   which   takes   this   liberty  is   markedly 

imperfect,  no  one  can  perceive  more  clearly  than  I ;  but,  in  spite  of  its  defects, 

I  am  cpuite  certain  that  at  least  to  readers  such  as  you,  it  must  appear  inspired 

by  no  unworthy  object.     Would  that  it  were  worthier  of  its  design  ! 
f — > 

Yours  truly, 

R.  B.  WARDEN. 

Washington,  187-!. 


TABLE  OF  CONTEXTS. 


Introduction 11 

CHAPTER  I. 

About  the  Town  of  Cornish  and  the  Chases — Ancestral  Relations 18 

Cornish  did  not  really  Secede — No  Secessionism  in  the  Hero's  Blood — He 
never  a  Secessionist — Ithamar,  his  Father,  and  Janette,  his  Mother — Eng- 
lish Lineage  and  Scotch  Lineage — Sandie  Ralston  and  his  Wife,  Jennie, 
nee  Balloch — New  England  Manners — Ton  and  Type — Heredity. 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Hero's  Earliest  Recollections 33 

The  Trowbridge  Letters — French  Refugees — The  Pedagogic  Sister — Sights 
and  Sounds — Schooling — Betty  Marble — Ithamar,  the  Tavern  Keeper  and 
Distiller — Party  Politics — Mother  Wit  and  other  Wit  of  the  Hero — Mem- 
orizing— The  Way  to  Wealth — The  Boy  as  Father  to  the  Man. 

CHAPTER  III. 

A  Farther  Study  of  the  Hero's  Early  Life — Foreshadowixgs 45 

Sickness  in  Infancy — The  Good  Sister — Aspects  of  Cornish — The  Connecti- 
cut River — Views  of  Keene  —  The  Switzerland  of  America — Windsor — 
Chase's  Life  almost  Nomadic — More  about  the  Hero's  Father — Death  of 
the  Latter — Grace  and  Betty  Marble — Music — More  about  the  School  Life 
of  the  Hero — Warning  against  Intemperance. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

First  Sojourn  in  the  Ohio  Country 64 

Accounts  of  the  Ohio  Country — Excursions  in  New  Hampshire — Journey  to 
Ohio — Indians — Niagara  Falls — Lake  Erie — The  Ferry-boy  at  Cleveland — 
Riding  and  Tying — Through  the  Forest — Arrival  at  Worthington — Phi- 
lander Chase,  the  Bishop — Life  at  Worthington — The  Pigeon  Roost. 

CHAPTER  V. 

At  Worthington  with  Bishop  Chase 76 

More  about  the  Bishop — More  about  Life  at  Worthington. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

At  Worthington  with  Bishop  Chase,  and  thence  to  Cincinnati 83 

At  School  and  on  the  Farm — The  Shaving  of  the  Pig  with  Cousin  Chase's 


VI  CONTENTS. 

Razors — More  Ways  than  One  of  Doing  a  Thing — "  Call  me  a  Yankee  again 
and  I'll  kick  you  " — Kicking — School-Fellows  at  Wovthington — Charles  D. 
Drake— Religious  Life  — The  "Darned  Old  Tyrant"— Hard  Times— To 
Cincinnati. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

At  Cincinnati  for  the  First  Time 93 

Cincinnati  College — Dr.  Slack  and  the  Calf — Courage — Physical  and  Moral 
— "  I  shall  not  tell " — Severe  Restraint  —Topography  of  Cincinnati — Society 
— Blacks  in  the  Cincinnati  Valley — Dr.  Drake's  Account  of  Cincinnati  Life. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Return  to  New  England — At  Dartmouth  College 105 

Incidents  of  Travel — Mud  Gods — At  Home  Again — School  Teaching— Prep- 
aration for  College— At  Royalton — Admirable  Letters  of  the  Hero's  Mother 
— Admission  as  Junior  at  Dartmouth — College  Life — Rebellion. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Chase  at  Washington — The  Wirt  Family — Making  Verses 118 

Leaving  Home — The  Wide.  Wide  World — At  Frederick  City — At  Washing- 
ton for  the  First  Time — School  Teaching  and  Law  Studies — Uncle  Dudley 
and  the  Clerkship  —  Mr.  Plumley  —  The  Wirts — Mrs  Admiral  Golds- 
borough — Agnes  Wirt — The  Russian  Count — -Translating — Aspects  of  the 
Capital — Journey  Northward  and  Return — Verse-Making. 

CHAPTER  X. 

Washington  in  1827,1828,  1829,  and  1830 146 

Presidential  Levees  —  Mrs.  Eaton — Jackson — Henry  Clay — Anecdote  of 
John  Adams — Jefferson's  Daughter— Methodists — More  about  the  Wirts.  * 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Legal  Studies — Admission  to  the  Bar — Farewell  to  Washington 164 

Legal  Reading — Daniel  Webster — Life,  Law,  and  Language  the  Proper 
Studies  of  a  Legist — More  about  the  Wirts — Admission  to  the  Bar — Another 
Warning  against  Intemperance — Jackson  and  Adams — Van  Buren — Judge 
Burnet. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

From  Washington  to  Cincinnati — Cincinnati  in  1830 182 

Stage  Travel  and  Travel  by  Steamboat— General  Tipton  and  Self-Teaching 
— Description  of  Cincinnati  by  Chase — Religious  Convictions — Flirtation 
— Anecdotes — The  First  Client — John  Young  —  The  Longworths — Play- 
ing Poet. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Hero  as  Lecturer  and  Essayist — Miscellany 197 

The  Cincinnati  Lyceum  and  the  Mechanics'  Institute — The  Cincinnati 
American — Lectures  and  Editorials — False  Idea  as  to  Merit  and  Success — 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

Brougham — Effects  of  Machinery — Society — Economic  Studies — Smith  and 
Say— The  Flood  of  1832. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Law  and  Love — Miss  Garniss — Progress 214 

Chase  and  Calhoun — Wirt's  View  of  Secession — The  Cincinnati  American 
— McDuffie — Nullification — Chase  as  a  Clay  Whig — Judge  Walker  and 
Judge  Hall — Sickness  of  the  Hero — Agriculture  and  Religion — Miss  Garniss 
— Dr.  Lyman  Beecher — Self-Accusation — Sabbatarian  Views — Working  on 
a  Law  Book — More  about  Miss  Garniss — Business  and  Courtship. 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Retrospect — Comparison  of  Chase  and  Wirt — Wirt's  Death — Chase's  First 

Marriage 231 

Letter  from  Wirt  to  Chase — Wirt's  Presidential  Candidature — Anti-Masonry 
— Kennedy,  Wirt,  and  Chase — Chase's  Intention  to  Write  a  Life  of  Wirt — 
Suggestions  as  to  Biography  in  General  and  as  to  this  Biography  in  Partic- 
ular— Surviving  Relatives  of  Famous  Men — The  Wirt  Family,  and  Ken- 
nedy's Life  of  its  Head — Chase  as  a  "Literary  Lawyer" — The  First  Wife 
of  the  Hero  as  described  by  him — The  Hero  a  Right  Lover — His  First 
Marriage  —  His  High  Standing  as  a  Lawyer — A  Characteristic  Letter, 
declining  an  Employment — Chase  and  Nicholas  Longworth. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Chiefly  Political — McLean   and    Harrison — Professional  Progress — The 

First   Child...., 246 

Appearance  and  Deportment  of  McLean — His  Character  and  Powers — Char- 
acteristics of  Harrison — The  "  Jackson  Party  " — Chase  as  a  Clay  Whig — 
Judge  Hall  and  Judge  Wright — Edward  Everett — Sam.  F.  Vinton — Chase's 
Regard  for  Calhoun — Material  Prosperity  and  Economic  ProspectSr— Birth 
of  the  First  Daughter. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  Hero's  Greatest  Sorrow — Unexpected   Death  of  the  First  Wife 253 

Sorrow's  Works  and  the  Works  of  Joy — Wirt's  Great  Sorrow — Broken 
Hearts  and  Hearts  that  can  not  Break — The  Burr  School  and  the  Wirt 
School — Trojans  and  true  Greeks — Hearts  that  can  Weep  and  be  Brave — 
Some  Views  of  Lessing — Kitty's  Illness — Bleeding — Doctors  Differ — Daniel 
Drake — A  Victim  to  the  Healing  Art — Justice  to  Dr.  Drake — His  Devotion 
to  his  Views  of  Duty — A  Domestic  Tragedy — Return  Home — Home  Desolate 
— Love  and  Death — A  Grief  that  can  not  be  Persuaded  that  it  is  Weakness 
to  Mourn  and  Wisdom  to  Enjoy — The  Hero  a  true  Greek — "Pensez  d  moi  " — 
"Yes  !  I  will  think  of  thee  as  long  as  I  live" — The  Boy  David — Sorrowing 
and  Toiling — More  about  the  Revelations  of  this  Volume  and  its  Objects — 
A  Strange  History — About  the  Use  of  Certain  Matter  in  this  Work — Con- 
sultation with  Chase  on  that  Subject. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Sorrowing  and  Toiling — Private  Life  and  Life  in  Public 277 

Sabbath-schools — Distraction   in   Church — Religious    Meditation — Self-re- 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

proach  — Domestic  Afflictions — Prosecution  of  a  criminal  case — Chase,  Read, 
Benham.  Fox— "Repetitionary"  speaking — Visits  toaGrave — Reminiscences 
of  the  Lost  One — Political  possibilities— Letter  of  Condolence  from  Mrs. 
Wirt— The  Little  One— The  Matilda  case — Dr.  Townshend— Chase  not  an 
Abolitionist  in  1838 — An  important  communication  to  the  Cincinnati  Gazette. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

The   Second  Wife — Deatii   of  the  First   Daughter — Birth  of  the  Second 

Daughter — Other  Matters 286 

Family  Memoranda — Miss  Eliza  Ann  Smith — The  Second  Marriage  of  the 
hero — Death  of  the  first  child — Sunday-school  and  Church — Urban  Politics 
— Chase  as  a  Councilman — Xot  happy  as  a  Politician — Gen.  Harrison  and 
Dr.  Bailey — 1840 — The  Episcopal  Church  and  Slavery  in  Texas — Fashion- 
able Party — Contrasts — Death  of  Benham — Chase  refuses  to  sign  call  for 
anti-slavery  Convention — Reminiscences  of  the  first  daughter — An  angelic 
little  one — Habits  of  the  hero — Method — Birth  of  Mrs.  Sprague — The  babe 
pronounced  pretty— The  delighted  father  and  fond  husband — Meditations 
about  godliness — Dark  religious  views — True  at  heart  and  to  the  heart's 
core — Travels — Reading — The  Bible — Thiers  on  the  French  Revolution. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

From  1840  to  1845 — The  Vanzandt  Case — Politics  and  Professional  Occupa- 
tions— Death  of  the  Second  Wife 294 

Chase  and  the  madness  of  1840 — He  supports  Harrison,  but  mildly— King 
Alcohol  at  Cincinnati — The  License  Question  in  the  City  Council — Home 
talks — State  Liberty  Convention — Chase  "  on  the  stump  "  as  a  Libert}'  Man 
— The  Vanzandt  case — Uncle  Touts  Cabin — Judge  McLean  and  Slavery — 
The  Supreme  Court — Chase  and  Seward — Liberty  Address  by  Chase — Reli- 
gious introspection — Cold  in  prayer — Mental  Reservations — Chase  and 
Butler — Birney's  Presidental  Candidature — Daniel  O'Connell  and  David  T. 
Disney — Chase  as  a  Repealer  and  a  Liberator — Family  Memoranda — Land- 
scape Gardening — Death  of  the  Second  Wife — Hearing  little  Kate  read  the 
Bible — Samuel  Lewis — Type  of  Chase's  religiousness — His  public  spirit  and 
his  private  worth — The  Southern  and  Western  Liberty  Convention — Address 
by  Chase — His  comparison  of  the  Whig  Party  with  the  Democratic  Party  — 
His  account  of  the  Liberty  Party — His  opinion  as  to  the  necessity  of  party 
organizations — Tribute  to  Charles  Follen. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
The  Watson  Case — The  Third  Marriage — Politics 309 

Chase  and  Judge  Read — The  Watson  case — The  Parish  case — Character- 
istic Letter  against  Slavery — The  third  Marriage — Miss  Sarah  Bella  Dunlop 
Ludlow — Birth  of  Mrs.  Hoyt — Letter  to  John  F.  Hale — Liberty  Convention 
at  Buffalo  in  1847— Democratic  Convention  at  Columbus,  Jan.  8,  1848 — The 
"mitigate  and  eradicate''  plank  of  the  platform — Mr.  Thurman— Judge 
Spaulding — Gen.  Cass  and  the  Wilmot  Proviso — Buffalo  Convention  of  '48 
— Work  of  Chase  in  that  convention. 


CONTENTS.  IX 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Senator  Chase — Exciting  Struggles — Tests  and  Trials 320 

Attempted  division  of  Hamilton  County  as  an  Election  District — Pagh  and 
Pierce — Chase's  letter  to  Morse — To  Hutchinga — Judge  Whitman  and  ex- 
Senator  Pugh  on  Chase — The  Roll  case — Question  of  constitutional  law — 
Donn  Piatt.  Judge  Read,  and  Chase — Read  on  Chase — Spencer  ami  Pugh  in 
debate — Chase's  account  of  his  course  in  politics — His  election  to  the  Senate 
in  1849 — Letters,  indicating  his  relations  to  the  Democratic  party  from  1849 
till  1 8-312 — Self-description — Gen.  Houston — Letter  to  Gerritt  Smith. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  Senatorial    Service    of    the   Hero — Chase    and    Douglas — Bleeping 

Kansas 336 

Cass  and  Van  Buren — Chase's  account  of  his  action  in  the  Senate — Scott 
and  Pierce — The  Free  Democrats  at  Pittsburg — Chase  and  Lewis  "on  the 
stump  " — The  Little  Giant — Comparison  of  Chase  and  Douglas — The  Mis- 
souri Compromise — Anticipation — Letter  from  Gov.  Chase  to  a  gentleman  in 
Kansas — Letter  to  Seward  in  1858. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
Relations  of  Chase  to  the  Know-Nothings — Governor  of  Ohio 344 

The  Rosetta  case — Was  Chase  a  Trimmer? — Pugh  and  Chase — Chase  and 
the  Know-Xothings  —Anti-Nebraska  Convention — Chase  elected  Governor 
of  Ohio— The  Garner  case — A  tragedy  of  real  life — Commissioner  Penary 
— Judge  Leavitt — The  Fugitive  Slave  Law — A  Slave  Hunt  in  Champaign 
County — Pugh  and  Valandigham — The  Treasury  Defalcation — Gen.  Gibson 
— A.  P.  Stone — A  bad  Appointment — Inevitable  Egotism — Communications 
to  the  author  by  the  hero  in  1857,  1858,  and  1859 — Attempted  democratiza- 
tion of  the  Republican  party — The  canvass  of  1857 — The  Dred  Scott  case — 
'•Who  stole  the  people's  money?" — Experiences  of  a  stumper — Lawless  action 
at  Cleveland  and  elsewhere,  against  Slavery — Judge  Swan  politically  guil- 
lotined— The  a  Milish  "  of  Ohio — Chase  as  Commander-in-chief — Policy  as 
to  Extradition — Chase  and  John  Brown — Was  Brown  insane? — Chase  not 
well  adapted  to  the  rule  of  the  demagogue. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Chase  and  Lincoln 362 

Afflictions  of  the  hero  at  Columbus — Death  of  Miss  Alice  Chase — Letter  to 
Lincoln  in  1860 — The  Nominating  Convention — Chase's  disappointment  ami 
complaint — Lincoln's  characteristic  answer — Letter  to  Mrs.  Randall  Hunt — 
Important  expression  against  the  pretensions  of  the  South — Devotion  of  the 
hero  to  the  Union — Remarkable  letter  to  Gen.  Scott  proposing  a  coup  d'etat 
— The  Peace  Convention — Chase  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury — About  pro- 
visioning Fort  Sumter — Curious  course  of  Gen.  Scott — Chase's  advice  to  him 
— Characteristic  letter  to  Judge  Taft,  defining  Chase's  opposition  to  Seces- 
sion— Letter  to  a  son  of  William  Wirt — Letter  to  Dr.  Fuller— War  and  Peace. 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Tee  Peace  Conference — The  Civil  War — Ciiase  in  the  Treasury 377 

Letter  to  Thaddeus  Stevens  about  Lincoln,  and  about  the  true  policy  of  the 
Republican  party  in  January,  1861 — Noble  speech  in  the  Peace  Conference 
— Chase's  commission  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury — Duties  of  his  office — 
His  predecessors  and  successors — His  own  definition  of  his  leading  objects 
as  a  financier — His  too  great  attention  to  martial  men  and  martial  measures 
— Censure  of  him  in  the  North  American  Revieio — Public  Economics  as  a 
science — Letter  to  Gen.  Hooker — Letter  to  Mr.  Trowbridge  about  the  hero's 
course  as  financier. 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

The  Civil  War  and   Slavery — Purse  and  Sword — The  Trent  Affair 389 

Letter  to  the  author  from  Secretary  Chase — The  War  and  Slavery — Meeting 
of  Rankers — Annual  Report — AVade  and  Ashley — Views  of  Chase  as  to 
Secession  and  Reconstruction — Gen.  McClellan — Andrew  Johnson  on  Gen. 
Sherman — Judge  Key  and  Emancipation  in  the  District  of  Columbia — The 
Trent  Affair  as  viewed  by  Chase. 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
McClellan  and  McDowell — Port  Royal— Cameron's  Resignation 395 

Reception  at  the  White  House — Lord  Lyons  and  Chase — Sumner  and  Mc- 
Dowell and  the  big  turkey — Port  Royal — Letter  to  T.  C.  Day — "  Is  there 
any  possibility  of  guarding  against  mischance  and  events?  " — Difficulties 
of  a  Secretary  of  the  Treasury — The  Progress  of  the  War  against  Secession 
— Sumner's  speech  on  the  Trent  Affair — McDowell  and  McClellan — Judge- 
Colonel  Key — Resignation  of  Secretary  Cameron — Memories  of  Muni/  Men 
and  of  Some  Women — Chase's  little  diaries — Account  of  Cameron's  Resigna- 
tion— Seward's  alleged  account  of  quarrels  in  the  Cabinet — Secretary  • 
Stanton— Consultation  and  agreement  with  Bankers — Legal  Tender. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

The   Legal  Tender  Cases 408 

Senatorial  candidature — Letter  to  Hon.  Rush  R.  Sloan — Chase  on  Wade — 
Judges  Key  and  Hoadly — Judge  Spaulding — Letter  to  Wm.  Cullen  Bryant 
on  Legal  Tender — Letter  to  Judge  Baldwin  on  the  same  subject — Hepburn 
vs.  Griswold — Legal  Tender  Cases — Article  in  the  North  American  Review — 
Letter  to  Hon.  Revcrdy  Johnson  about  matters  in  Maryland — Cotton  permits 
— Letter  to  Gen.  Dix — Charges  of  corrupt  dealing  in  Cotton — Chase  and 
Mellen — Letter  to  M.  D.  Potter — An  unfortunate  intimacy — Disposition  to 
control  or  influence  the  press. 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Slavery  abolished  in  the  District  of  Columbia 416 

Foreign  Intervention — Recent  successes  of  the  Union  arms — Letter  to  Bishop 
Mcllvaine — Letter  to  M.  D.  Potter — News  from  Fort  Donnelson — Grant, 
Halleck,  Lander,  Burnside,  Goldsborough — Washington's  birth-day  anni- 
versary— Draft  of  message  prepared  by  Chase — Lincoln  and  Chase — Letter 


CONTENTS.  XI 

to  Gen.  Halleck — Mr.  Mellen — Letter  to  Hon.  Henry  Wilson — Carl  Schurz — 
Interview  with  Dr.  Fuller — Port  Royal — Slavery  and  the  War — Unitarians 
and  Baptists  among  the  freedmen — Marriages  among  them — Prospects  of 
Port  Royal — Judge-Colonel  Key — His  friendship  for  Chase — W.  D.  Bickham 
and  the  wooden  guns  at  Manassas — Political  Metaphysics — Reconstruction 
— Letter  to  Mr.  Mellen — The  Cincinnati  Commercial  and  McClellan — Letter 
to  Gen.  McDowell — Letter  to  Gen.  Bradford  R.  Wood  on  Slavery  and  the 
conduct  of  the  War — Policy  of  Emancipation — Letter  to  Rev.  W.  G.  Elliot — 
Brigadier-making — Abolition  of  Slavery  in  the  District,  of  Columbia — Port 
Royal — War  News— Judge  Lane  and  Gen.  McClellan — Letter  to  Miss  Nettie 
Chase — Chase,  Stanton,  and  Lincoln  at  Norfolk — Gen.  Wool — Chase  playing 
soldier — The  Monitor  and  the  Merrimac — Suicide  of  the  rebel  monster — 
Norfolk  taken. 

CHAPTER    XXXI. 

Chase,  McDowell,  Hunter,  Fremont,  Pope,  and  McClellan 433 

Letter  to  Gen.  McDowell — Stanton — McClellan  "  surrounded  by  a  staff  of 
writers" — Counsel  to  McDowell — Chase's  appreciation  of  him — Letter  to 
Lincoln  about  Hunter's  enfranchising  order — Characteristic  answer  of 
Lincoln — Notice  of  Gen.  Hunter — Gen.  Butler — Baring  Brothers  &  Co.  and 
the  Rebellion — Narrative  by  Chase — Shields,  McDowell,  Ord,  McCall,  Fre- 
mont, Banks,  Saxton,  McClellan — Shenandoah  Valley — Chase's  difference 
with  Lincoln  as  to  McClellan — Stonewall  Jackson — Chase  as  a  strategist — 
Gurowski  growling  about  Seward — Anecdote  of  Seward — Value  of  a  Crom- 
well according  to  Seward — His  appreciation  of  a  coup  cPttat — Novelty  of  a 
Cabinet  Meeting — Messrs.  Speed,  Holloway,  and  Casey — Pope  on  McClellan 
— Account  of  an  interview  with  Lincoln — Discussion  about  enlistment  of 
colored  soldiers — Strange  letter  from  Col.  Key  about  McClellan — Chase 
urging  Lincoln  to  remove  McClellan,  as  not  loyal  to  the  Administration, 
though  loyal  to  the  country — Financial  grounds  also  urged — Cabinet  Meet- 
ing— Lincoln  not  willing  to  arm  slaves — Important  orders — Gen.  Mitchell 
on  clearing  the  Mississijipi — Pope  thinks  Mitchell  visionary — Gen.  Morgan's 
resignation. 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Halleck  and  the  Cabinet — Merits  of  Generals — Toward  Emancipation...  441 

Cabinet  Meeting — Blair  on  Colonization — Letters  to  Pope  and  Butler  touch- 
ingon  the  Slavery  Question  Talk  with  Halleck — Halleck  on  Buell,  Grant, 
and  Thomas — Talk  with  General  Shields  about  Movement  up  the  Shenan- 
doah— Chase  on  Strategy  again — "Sad!  sad!  yet  nobody  seems  to  heed  ! :' 
— Another  Talk  with  General  Shields — Cabinet  Meeting — Chase  on  Inter- 
ference with  Slavery  in  order  to  suppress  the  Rebellion — Merits  of  Generals 
— Seward  interrogates  Chase — What  Chase  would  do  were  he  commander- 
in-chief — Clearing  of  the  Mississippi  —  Halleck  with  the  President  in 
Cabinet  Meeting — Statements  by  Chase  and  Seward  to  Halleck — Ilalleck's 
Views — His  Account  of  the  Distribution  of  Troops  in  the  AVest — Ilalleck's 
Proposal — His  Condemnation  of  Improper  Promotions — Halleck  on  Buell 
and  McClellan — Lincoln  and  the  Border  States — The  Douglas  Party  in 
Kentucky — The  Cherokees  and  the  Confederates — The  "  Great  War  Meet- 


XU  CONTENTS. 

ing,"  August  6,  1802 — Chase's  Account  of  Lincoln's  Speech  and  his  Char- 
acteristics— Chase  at  chess — Letter  to  Hon.  Edward  Everett. 

CHAPTER   XXXIII. 
Chase  and  McDowell — The  War  on    McClellan 451 

Talk  of  the  President  with  colored  people  on  colonization — Chase  in  favor 
of  a  Military  Order  of  Emancipation,  at  least  in  certain  places — Martial 
Musings  of  our  Financier — Chase  on  Halleck — "  If  he  fails,  all  fails  " — 
Pope,  Grant,  Buell,  Burnside,  and  McClellan — Stanton — Halleck  to  control 
McClellan — Talk  with  Halleck — His  Account  of  Forces — About  Ashley- 
Painful  Matter — Letters  to  Messrs.  Waggoner  and  Latty  on  that  Subject — 
Pleasant  Letters — Letter  to  A.  P.  Stone — Letter  to  Mr.  Seward — Stanton  and 
Chase  agreed  about  McClellan — Chase  remonstrates  with  Halleck  against 
continuing  McClellan  in  command — Bates  and  Welles — Halleck  does  not 
answer  as  he  said  he  would — David  Dudley  Field — Pope  defeated— Letter 
toThaddeus  Stevens — Other  Letters — An  anxious  Day — Queer  Colonel  Key 

—  The  War  on  McClellan — Welles  refuses  to  sign  the  "  Round  Robbin  " — 
Lincoln  clings  to  McClellan — McDowell  on  McClellan —  Chase  on  McDowell, 
Pope,  and  McClellan — Cabinet  Meeting — Lincoln  and  McDowell — Letter  to 
Hon.  George  Opdyke — More  about  Chase's  Interest  in  Men  and  Measures 
of  the  Martial  Order. 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

The  Interest    Deepens   -Purse  and  Sword 463 

Old  Friends  at  Breakfast — McDowell — -Pope  on  Fitz-John  Porter  and  Mc- 
Clellan— Mr.  Barney — Colonel  Crook — Burnside — Alarm  at  Washington — 
Cassius  M.  Clay — General  Mansfield's  Story — Twiggs  in  Texas — K.  G.  C. 
and  Juarez — Davis  and  Breckenridge — Lincoln,  Stanton,  and  Wadsworth 

—  A  Suspicious  Character — Seward's  Diplomatic  correspondence — James 
A.  Hamilton  on  Seward — Interview  of  the  N.  Y.  Committee  with  the  Presi- 
dent—  Chase  on  the  conduct  of  the  War  —  Recital — Governor  Curtin's 
Request — Halleck,  Stanton,  Lincoln,  Chase — Enormous  Expenses — Chase 
on  Lincoln,  his  counselors,  and  the  commanding  general — Lincoln  and 
McClellan — W.  D.  Bickham  ' — Interview  between  Chase  and  Seward — A 
Jest  which  seemed  to  Chase  "ill  timed" — Pitt  Cooke,  Geo.  F.  O'Harra,  and 
Henry  D.  Cooke — A  solitary  Breakfast — Naval  Speculations — Welles,  Fox, 
Seward,  Chase — General  Cullom — A  style  of  remark  that  did  not  suit  our 
warlike  Financier — Halleck  and  the  Situation — Jay  Cooke  and  the  N.  Y. 
Bankers — Schenck — Hunter — Curtin's  Information — Battles  and  the  Bat- 
tlers— McClellan's  Telegram — He  thinks  Lee  has  blundered,  and  hopes  to 
make  him  repent  of  it — Spiritual  Vaticinations — Weed  and  Chase  in  a 
"long  talk" — More  Tidings  from  McClellan. 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

The  Emancipation  Proclamation — Hooker  and  McClellan 477 

Conversations — Schenck  and  his  Wound — Bannister  at  Breakfast — Secre- 


1  Of  this  gentleman's  book  about  Rosecrans*  campaign,  Mr.  Chase  said  :   "  It  is 
vivid,  rapid,  clear." 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

tary  Welles  and  Chase  on  Strategy — AVeed  calls  with  Morgan — Texas  Bonds 
— Stanton  on  Halleck's  mistake  about  McClellan — Sigel's  Camp — Judge 
Hoadly — Reverdy  Johnson  with  the  President — Robert  Dale  Owen's  eloquent 
Letter  in  favor  of  Emancipation — Halleck's  Surrender  to  McClellan — Mr. 
Garrett  and  the  B.  &  0.  R.  R.  —  No  man  safe  from  being  a  Brigadier — 
Chase  under  Doctor's  orders — Home  Life — September  22,  1862 — Cabinet 
Meeting — The  President  reads  Artenms  AA'ard's  Account  of  the  "High 
Handed  Outrage  at  Utica" — Takes  a  graver  tone,  and  reads  the  Emanci- 
pation Proclamation — Makes  a  speech  on  it — Seward  and  Chase  on  the 
Proclamation — Blair's  Protest — Lincoln  as  an  Orator — Chase  on  Lincoln's 
Modes  of  Thought  and  Expression — Chase's  Recommendations  as  to  trade 
in  certain  Southern  Products — Barney,  AA'eed,  and  Wadsworth — Donn  Piatt 
and  others  with  Chase — Letter  from  Chase  to  Senator  Sherman — Critici- 
— Curious  Forbearance — Chase  to  Butler — Evil  Communications  ever  did 
corrupt  good  manners — Chase  en  Lincoln,  Halleck,  and  McClellan — Chase 
and  Garfield  call  on  Hooker — Hooker  on  McClellan — Garfield's  Autobio- 
graphic Talk — Special  Meeting  of  the  Cabinet — Colonization  and  the  Cher- 
okees — Another  call  on  Hooker — Letter  to  Mr.  Follett — Letter  to  E.  G. 
Arnold. 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

The  Governors  at  Altoona — Death  of  Nelson — Garfield's  Story 493 

Dinner  at  Mr.  Seward's — Gen.  Banks — British  notables — Mr.  Everett — 
Colonization — Cabinet  Meeting — The  loyal  Governors — Their  Conference  at 
Altoona — Gov.  Andrew  and  the  N.  Y.  Herald — Gen.  Cox — Hooker  on  Mc- 
Clellan— Lincoln  on  McClernand — The  nail  hit  right  on  the  head — Financial 
matters — Mitchell,  Garfield,  Halleck — Talk  with  Halleck — Martial  men  and 
martial  measures — Gen.  Harney — Letter  to  Mr.  Carson  about  Ohio  politics 
— KeyandTaft — Death  of  Gen.  Nelson — Gen.  Garfield's  story — Gen.  Pillow's 
brother — Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Stuart — Purchases  of  cotton — Seward  on 
foreign  relations — Trade  orders  and  regulations — Cotton  and  coal — At  home, 
to  favor  foot — A'isit  to  Hooker — Hooker  ou  McClellan — Stanton,  Hamilton, 
Stevens,  and  Montgomery  at  dinner — Gov.  Morton  and  Indiana  politics — 
Furloughing  of  Indiana  regiments — Breakfast  party — Gen.  Keyes — Gen. 
Garfield — AA'adsworth — Conversation  with  Gen.  Cochrane  about  McClellan 
— Chase  on  "  our  young  Napoleon  "— Cabinet  Meeting — AA'ar  matters — 
Seward  and  AYelles — Financial  matters — M.  Andre"  Cochut's  article  on  Am- 
erican finances — Chase's  own  financial  views — Paper  money  not  to  be  per- 
manently relied  on — Congress  ami  Mr.  ('base — Letter  to  Hon.  John  Bigelow 
— Tidings  from  Kentucky — Letter  from  John  Cochrane  about  McClellan — 
Talk  with  Gen.  Hunter — Hunter  on  Halleck,  Lincoln,  and  Stanton. 

CHAPTER     XXXVII. 

Downfall  of  McClellan — AA'est  Atiroinia — The  Proclamation 50C 

At  home,  nursing  inflamed  foot — Letter  to  Barney — Letter  to  Hon.  F.  A. 
Conkling — Downfall  of  McClellan  complete — Lincoln  to  Chase — The  Secre- 
tary's part  of  the  President's  Message — The  financial  situation — Return  to 
specie  payments — Banking  associations  under  general  act  of  Congress  recom- 
mended— Resignations  of  Seward  and  Chase — Important  correspondence  — 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

Kesignations  withdrawn — Relations  of  Chase  and  Lincoln — Both  real 
worthies — West  Virginia — Chase's  views  in  a  letter  to  the  President — 
Another  letter  to  the  President — The  Proclamation — Draft  prepared  by 
Chase. 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

Congratulation   of  Rosecrans — The  Hurtt-Cooke  Scandal 516 

Letter  to  Rosecrans — Letter  to  Major  Skinner — Chase  on  Rosecrans — Letter 
to  James  Watson  Webb — Monroe  and  Parsons — Mr.  Whittlesey — His  death 
— The  Hurtt-Cooke  scandal — Correspondence  of  the  Cincinnati  Gazette — 
Hurtt  to  Henry  D.  Cooke — Cooke  to  Hurtt— Had  Chase  guilty  knowledge? 
— Defense  of  his  memory  against  the  executor  of  his  last  will  and  testament 
— Character  of  Cooke — Chase  free  from  arrogance — Chase  to  Lincoln  about 
the  case  of  Mr.  Mark  Howard  and  about  appointments  generally — Lincoln's 
answer,  disagreeing  —  Intended  resignation — Not  actually  tendered — Mr. 
Field's  account  of  a  talk  with  Lincoln — Victor  Smith  and  Chase — Corre- 
spondence between  Lincoln  and  Chase — Letter  to  Victor  Smith — Characteristic 
letter  of  Lincoln — Chase  to  Lincoln  about  Hooker,  Halleck,  and  Heintzelman 
— Letters  to  the  author  about  Sergeant  Ernest  Warden — Chase's  account  of 
his  hostility  to  Slavery — Charges  against  Mr.  Clark — Conference  with  Mc- 
Culloch — Grant  and  Banks — Messrs.  Mellen  and  Risley — Conversation  with 
Hon.  John  Covode — Chase  declares  that  he  prefers  the  Chief  Justiceship  to 
the  Presidency — Chase  and  Curtin — Chase's  confidence  in  Mr.  Mellen — The 
Bankers  and  the  Treasury — Chase  and  Shellabarger — Conversation  with  Mr. 
Fox — Talk  with  Secretary  Stanton — Stanton  on  Rosecrans — Mr.  Wright,  of 
California — Chase  on  Presidential  Candidature — Will  make  no  promises. 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

Martial  Measures  and  Financial  Measures — Habeas  Corpus 537 

Committee  from  St.  Louis — Opening  of  the  Mississippi — Western  trade — Mr. 
Barnitz — Gen.  Schenck  and  the  Milroy  court  of  inquiry — Mr.  Risley  and 
the  trade  regulations — Gov.  Pierpont  on  Virginia  affairs — Draft  of  a  letter 
prepared  for  him  by  Secretary  Chase — Exceptions  in  the  Proclamation — 
Judge  Whitaker,  of  New  Orleans — Things  in  Louisiana— Conversation 
about  affairs  in  Maryland — Swann  and  Davis — Judge  Taft  and  Mr.  French, 
of  Cincinnati — Talk  about  Ohio  politics — Mr.  Bates  in  Cabinet  Meeting — 
Restrictions  on  trade — Banks  and  Grant — Stanton— Talk  with  Theodore 
Tilton — Mr.  Heaton — Emancipation  sentiment  in  North  Carolina — Mr. 
Stickney — Florida  and  Morris  Island — Saxton  and  Gilmore — Galloway  and 
Chase — Ohio  affairs — Galloway  a  poor  politician — Talk  with  Lincoln  about 
trade  regulations — Lincoln  to  Andrew  Johnson — Stanton,  Fox,  and  Halleck 
— About  reducing  Charleston — Burnside's  resignation — Not  accepted — 
Halleck  on  affairs  in  Tennessee — Rosecrans  and  Burnside — Stanton  and 
Chase — Chase  and  Lincoln — Gov.  Andrew  breakfasts  with  Mr.  Chase — They 
visit  the  President  and  meet  Stanton — Lincoln  on  desertion  and  habeas 
corpus — Chase's  views  of  jurisdiction — Mr.  Usher — Judge  Blair's  views — 
Seward's — Stanton  wants  prompt  action — Mr.  Chase  and  Mr.  Maunsell  B. 
Field — Financial  matters — Mr.  Sumner's  speech  characterized  by  Chase  in 
a  letter  to  that  gentleman — Callers — Jay  Cooke's  agency — Varieties — Talk 


CONTENTS.  XV 

with  Lincoln — Stanton's  account  of  a  "curious  circumstance  " — The  navy 
yard  and  the  camp — Welles  and  Stanton — Stanton's  offer — Apprehensions 
as  to  Rosecrans'  condition — Telegrams  from  "Rosy'' — Thomas — Letter  to 
M.  Halstead — Wrong  in  blaming  Stanton — Meeting  of  the  Heads — Thomas, 
Granger,  and  Garfield — Schurz  on  testimonial  to  McClellan — Stanton  and 
Chase  think  it  an  insult  to  the  President,  who  promises  to  see  about  it — 
Rosecrans'  critical  condition — Conference  with  Halleck — Remarkable  cate- 
chism— Lincoln's  bet — Stanton's  rebuke — Hulleck's  view  of  the  situation — 
Force  of  Meade-— Chase  at  Baltimore — Visit  to  Mr.  Hopkins — His  grounds 
described  by  Chase — Dress  parade  of  a  colored  regiment — Note  from 
Lincoln — Mrs.  Lincoln's  numerous  cousins — To  Gettysburg — Note  from  the 
President — Chase  to  Hooker — Chase  on  Grant  and  Hooker. 

CHAPTER  XL. 

Chase  and  Barney — Trouble  between  Chase  and  Lincoln 656 

Lincoln  to  Chase  about  Barney — Remarkable  letter  from  Chase  to  Lincoln  on 
the  same  subject,  and  about  Chase's  own  life  and  character— About  Jay  Cooke, 
Henry  L».  Cooke,  and  a  biographic  sketch — Henry's  subscription  on  account 
of  the  same — An  important  explanation — Disclosure  of  a  letter  to  Hiram 
Barney — Improper  relations  between  Chase  and  Barney — Warning  against 
injustice  to  the  former — More  about  Mr.  Maunsell  B.  Field  and  his  book — 
Lincoln  and  Barney — Indicative  letter  to  Mr.  I.  T.  Bailey — Letter  to  Hon. 
J.  C.  Hall,  about  Presidential  candidature — Life  at  home — Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Sprague — Letter  to  Mrs.  Walbridge — Letter  to  Miss  Susan  Walker — The 
Monroe  Doctrine  as  received  by  Chase — Letter  to  Dr.  Leavitt — Emancipa- 
tion in  Tennessee — Letter  to  Mr.  J.  B.  Bingham — Letter  to  Judge-Col.  Key 
— Allusion  to  McClellan — Presidential  candidature — Letter  to  Prof.  Granert 
— Letter  to  Wayne  McVeigh,  Esq.,  about  the  prosecution  of  the  war — Letter 
to  Judge  Dickson — The  Administration — Foreshadowing  of  resignation — 
Letter  to  Wm.  H.  Kincaid,  Esq.,  on  the  financial  situation — Letter  to  Hon. 
E.  D.  Mansfield — Waste  of  blood  and  treasure — Letter  to  Thomas  Heaton, 
Esq.,  referring,  in  part,  to  the  Presidency — About  buying  out  the  Times — 
Letter  to  Miss  Nettie  Chase — Letter  to  Edward  L.  Pierce — Mrs.  Howe  and 
Mrs.  Sprague— Mr.  Sumner — Wendell  Phillips'  invective — Letter  to  Edward 
Gilbert,  Esq. — Slanderers  and  revilers — Charming  letter  to  Mrs.  S.  E.  East- 
man— Letter  to  Hon.  W.  D.  Lindsay — The  Presidency — Mr.  Delano — Curious 
letter  to  Archbishop  Purcell — Letter  to  Hon.  Flamen  Ball — Mr.  Trowbridge's 
biography — Signs  of  the  times — Chase  on  Lincoln  and  the  Blairs — The 
Gazette  and  Mr.  Carson — Letter  to  Mr.  J.  W.  Hartwell — To  Geo.  S.  Hale, 
Esq. — To  Pliny  Freeman,  Esq  — To  Dr.  Fuller— More  about  buying  out  the 
Times — Letter  to  Thomas  Heaton,  Esq. — Advice — Important  letter  from  the 
President — Barney  and  the  N.  Y.  Custom  House — "  A  man  by  the  name  of 
Baily  " — Investigating  Committee — A  little  note  from  Lincoln  to  Chase — 
Another — Allusion  to  Chase's  illness — Still  another  note  from  the  President 
— "Rascal  catching" — Very  important  letter  from  Chase  to  the  Presideut — 
The  Pomeroy  letter — Chase's  Presidential  candidature — Tribute  to  the  Pres- 
ident— Brief  response  of  Lincoln,  promising  a  fuller  answer — Eminently 
creditable  letter  of  the  President  in  compliance  with  that  promise—  Corwin 
and  Johnston  on  Chase — Warning  against  injustice  to  the  latter — Lincoln 


SVl  CONTENTS. 

to  Chase  about  publication  pf  their  correspondence — Chase  to  J.  M.  Ganson 
about  paper  money — Local  banks  and  national  banks — Letter  to  Mrs.  Ma- 
gruder — Letter  to  Dr.  N.  13.  Chase — Letter  to  Gen  Banks  about  Louisiana 
and  Massachusetts — The  elective  franchise — Letter  to  the  President  on 
Finances  and  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion — Another  letter  to  the  Presi- 
dent— Speculation  and  the  Metropolitan  Fair — The  tidings  from  Paducah — 
Financial  views — The  currency,  taxation,  and  retrenchment — Letter  to  Miss 
Susan  Walker — Andrew  Johnson — Letter  to  the  latter — To  Horace  Greeley 
— The  black  eye  given  to  the  speculators — Letter  to  Hon.  L.  E.  Chittenden — 
Report  of  proceedings  in  the  Peace  Conference — Letter  to  Mrs.  Bailey — Mrs. 
Sprague  and  politics — The  New  Era — Letter  to  S.  D.  Bloodgood,  Esq. — 
"  Mr.  Chase  is  near  sighted  and  does  not  see  men" — Self-defense — The  gold 
market — Necessity  of  military  success  to  financial  improvement — Letter  to 
Hon.  Flamen  Ball — Letter  to  Gen.  Blunt — Letter  to  a  lady — U.  S.  Bonds — 
The  Congress,  "Uncle  Abe,"  and  the  enormous  expenditures — Letter  to  Mr. 
Jay  Cooke — Lincoln  again — The  Presidency — A  precious  letter  to  Miss  Net- 
tie Chase — Private  life  and  public  cares — The  true  philosophy  respecting 
failure  and  success  acknowledged — Letter  to  Hon.  Ed.  Haight  about  the 
newspapers — Chase's  name  and  fame — Letter  to  a  lady — Feminine  orthog- 
raphy— Letter  to  Col  Parsons — To  Maj.  Bannister — "Uncle.  Abe's"  barrel 
— Lincoln  not  a  good  cooper — Letter  to  Hon  Delano  T.  Smith — Letter  to  Gov. 
Buckingham — Letter  to  Mr.  Cisco — Military  tidings — Letter  to  Miss  Susan 
Walker — The  Blairs  and  the  President — Letter  to  Mr.  AVilliam  Warder — 
About  resignation. 

CHAPTER  XLI. 

The  "Ferry-Boy  and  the  Financier" — Toward  the  Resignation 58S 

Letter  to  Mr.  J.T.  Trowbridge  about  "  the  Ferry-boy" — Fact  and  Fiction — 
Letter  to  Mr.  A.  J.  Flommerfelt — Chase's  only  ambition — Letter  to  Hon.  J. 
H.  Rice  about  Powers'  America — Chase  and  the  Fine  Arts — Letter  to  John 
C.Hamilton,  Esq. — Financial  condition  —  Congress  and  the  Executive  — 
Letter  to  Rev.  James  W.  Ward — The  Ferri/-bo;/  ami  the  Financier  and  the 
Presidency — Letter  to  Hon.  Benj.  F.  Flanders — The  military  aspect — Letter 
to  Capt.  Jacob  Heatou — The  Blairs — "  Dogs  will  bark  at  the  moon" — Letter 
to  Major  B.  C.  Ludlow — Important  Letter — Justice  to  the  Banks — Letter  to 
a  committee — Young  Men's  Christian  Association — Letter  to  Capt.  L.  L. 
Weld — Tribute  to  Gen.  Birney — Letter  to  Gov.  Brough — Lincoln  and  the 
Blairs — Grant  am!  Butler — Lincoln  and  the  Presidency — The  Treasury  in- 
vestigation —  Letter  to  A.  P.  Stone — "  All,  under  God,  depends  on  Grant" 
— The  "ablest  and  most  persistent  man  we  have  "— Gen.  Sherman — "  The 
villainous,  malignant,  and  lying  assault  of  the  Blairs  " — Letter  to  0.  H. 
Palmer,  Esq.,  about  overland  telegraphic  communication — Letter  to  Hon.  L. 
D.  Stickney — The  Presidency — About  Dr.  Ayres'  letter — Letter  to  Miss 
Nettie  Chase — Her  "  pictorial,  poetical  success" — Bishop  Mcllvaine— The 
Christian  Commission — The  Ferry-boy — "A  good  deal  of  truth  in  it,  but 
some  embellishments" — Self-defense  in  a  letter  to  Hon.  Aaron  F.  Perry — 
AVhy  so  pursued  with  calumny? — Gen.  Garfield  and  Mr.  Stanton — Letter  to 
Secretary  Seward  on  the  letter  of  Lord  Lyons — The  "just  mean  between 
too  much  restriction  ami  mine  at  all" — Another  letter  to  Mr.  Seward — Pa- 
tronage of  the  Treasury  Department — Chase  no  longer  a  Presidential  aspi- 


CONTENTS.  XV11 

rant — The  Albany  Evening  Journal — Letter  to  William  Cullen  Bryant — 
Legal  tender  notes  and  the  Evening  rust — Letter  to  Oliver  Johnson,  Esq. — 
Singular  self-judgment  as  to  self-vindication — The  true  rule  of  judgment — 
Mr.  Phillips  and  the  Garner  case — Letter  to  Hon.  F.  P.  Stanton — Robert  J. 
Walker's  letter — Tribute  to  him — Letter  to  Hon.  W.  H.  Aspinw&U  on  Con- 
gress, the  finances,  and  small  politics  —  Letter  to  Mrs.  Julia  M.  King — 
Tribute  to  the  memory  of  her  deceased  husband — Letter  to  Hon.  S.  Hooper 
— Mr.  Cisco  and  the  gold  bill — Chase's  views — State  Bank  Issues — Letter  to 
Bishop  Mcllvaine — The  Presidency — Mr.  Lincoln  and  the  Blacks — Letter  to 
Hon.  F.  A.  Conkling — Letter  to  the  President — The  Loan  Committee  of  the 
Associated  Banks — Request  for  interview — The  answer — Chase's  report  of 
the  interview — Things  in  the  X.  Y.  Custom  House — Mr.  Dennison,  Mr.  Hul- 
burd.  Mr.  Bailey — Lincoln  on  Mr.  Barney — Mr.  Wakenian — Chase  on  Bar- 
ney— Mr.  Opdyke  and  Mr.  Orton — Mr.  Palmer — Mr.  Custis  Xoyes — Letter 
to  Horace  Greeley — "I  mean  to  go  in  for  a  foreign  loan  now,  though  it 
galls  me  " — Letter  to  Hon.  John  P.  Hale — Chase  on  Woman's  Work  in  the 
Treasury  Department — Lincoln  to  Chase  about  removal  of  Mr.  Atkinson — 
Resignation  of  that  gentleman — Mr.  Sill — Letter  to  Mrs.  C.  L.  Jones — Grim 
letter  to  Mr.  Thomas  Heaton — Letter  to  Major  Bannister — The  Presidency — 
Grant — Letter  to  Dr.  Pulte — Letter  to  Denning  Duer,  Esq. — Assistant  Treas- 
urership — Letter  to  the  President — Letter  to  Judge  Lawrence — Letter  to  F. 
Kuhne,  Esq. — Grant  and  Richmond — Rise  in  the  price  of  Gold — Letter  to 
Jay  Cooke,  Esq. — Rise  in  gold  alarming — The  Loan  Bill — Letter  to  Mr. 
Thomas  Heaton — Mr.  Mullett's  indulgence  in  "pretty  free  political  talk" 
— Mullett  and  Rogers — A  gentle  hint — "Grant,  God  willing,  will  win." 

CHAPTER  XLII. 
The  Secretary's    Resignation — Chase  and  Lincoln 607 

"  Another  anxious  day  " — Meditations  of  a  financier — Grant  and  Sherman 
— The  purse  and  the  sword — N.  Y.  committee — Conference  witli  Mr.  Chase — 
Internal  Revenue  bill — Mr.  Taylor — Gold  and  silver  lands — Letter  to  John 
A.  Stewart.  Esq. — -Assistant  Treasurership — Letter  to  Hon.  R.  E.  Fenton — 
Sunday  work — Dr.  Elder,  the  biographer  of  Dr.  Kane — Senator  Morgan — 
Mr.  Field,  "  the  Cabinet  Smasher" — Mr.  Cisco — Andrew  Johnson — Mr.  Free- 
man Clarke — Mr.  Orton's  estimate — "Revision  of  Sprague's  proposed  re- 
marks " — A  quick  operation — Letter  to  Mr.  Cisco — To  Mr.  Bryant — Letter 
to  President,  recommending  Mr.  Field — Telegram  to  Mr.  Cisco — Extracts 
from  the  Diary — Religious  musings  —  Prayer — Recital  —  Garrett  Davis 
"making  a  rambling,  violent  speech  " — Lincoln  to  Chase  about  recommend- 
ation of  Field — The  President  on  Field  and  Barney — Chase  to  Lincoln — 
Resignation — Its  acceptance  by  the  President — Lincoln's  tribute  to  Chase 
— Mr.  Field's  version — Passing  tribute  to  Memories  of  Mam/  M>n  ami  of 
Some  Women — The  "  Cabinet  Smasher  "  not  allowed  to  be  the  "  right  arm  " 
of  Chase — Meditations  of  Chase  on  the  close  of  his  official  life — "I  have 
laid  broad  foundations" — The  financial  situation — Letter  to  Secretary 
Stanton — Mr.  Hooper's  account  of  a  talk  with  Lincoln  about  Chase's  pref- 
erence of  the  Chief  Justiceship — Chase  and  Fessenden  in  consultation — 
Chase  on  Lincoln  —  Letter  to  Mr.  I.  V.  Fincher — Letter  to  Mr.  W.  H. 
Powell — Gov.  Tod's  declension — The  rather   queer  sagacity  of  Lincoln — 

2 


XV111  CONTEXTS. 

Gov.  Moorhead  and  Mr.  Williams'  account  of  a  talk  with  the  President — 
Chase  and  Fessenden  again  in  consultation — Their  relations — Reflections  of 
Chase — At  Wesley  Chapel — The  "glorious  Fourth" — A  contrast  and  a 
prophecy — Chase's  views  of  Providence — Mr.  Sprague  makes  "a  statement 
of  great  force  and  power  in  relation  to  the  Blair  charges  " — Mr.  Fessenden 
again — Chase  compares  himself  with  Lincoln — Fessenden  once  more — Gar- 
field, Schenck,  and  Wetmore  "bitter  against  the  timid  and  almost  pro- 
slavery  course  of  the  President  " — "  Strange  story  by  Garfield  about  Col. 
Jaques  " — Tidings  from  the  front — The  Freedmen's  Village — Echoes  from 
Ohio — An  absurd  suggestion — Horace  Greeley  and  Whitelaw  Reid — The  N. 
Y.  Tribune,  then  and  now. 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 

Chase  not  Nominated  for  Congress — Appointed  Chief  Justice 627 

Pomeroy  breaks  his  fast  with  Chase — He  talks  about  Lincoln — He  proposes 
to  visit  the  buffalo  and  then  Europe — Garfield  talks  to  Chase  and  tells  him 
a  little  story  about  Lincoln — Pomeroy,  who  can't  support  Lincoln  and 
won't  desert  his  principles,  talks  with  certain  Democratic  Senators — What 
they  said  to  him — "Coming  events  cast  their  shadows  before" — Letter  to 
an  old  friend — Chase  to  Cameron — Letter  to  Hon.  Chas.  S.  May  about  the 
Presidency  and  about  a  calamitous  congressional  candidature — Chase 
about  himself — Mr.  Sumner  in  favor  of  Chase  for  the  Chief  Justiceship — His 
talks  with  Lincoln  on  that  subject— What  Lincoln  thought  of  saying,  but 
did  n't  say,  to  Chase — Suggestive  anecdote  related  by  Mr.  Sumner — Mrs. 
Sprague  on  the  shelving  of  her  father — That  lady  a  historic  character — In- 
auguration of  Chief  Justice  Chase — What  he  considered  the  true  title  of  his 
office — Letter  from  the  President — A  bereavement — Letter  to  Jay  Cooke — 
To  Gen.  B.  C.  Ludlow— To  Rt.  Hon.  Mr.  De  Stoeckl— To  Judge  Kelly- 
Louisiana  matters — Letter  to  the  sculptor,  Jones — To  Hon.  B.  F.  Flanders 
—To  Mr.  Barney— To  Mr.  James  R.  Gilmore— To  Mr.  A.  N.  Riddle— Pecu- 
niary condition  of  the  hero — Self- felicitation  on  the  consciousness  of  hav- 
ing dealt  purely  with  the  public  treasure. 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

Assassination  of  Lincoln — Johnson's  Inauguration 636 

Lincoln's  second  Inauguration  —  Letter  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  from  Chief 
Justice  Chase  —  The  Bible  touched  by  Lincoln's  lips  —  Letter  to  the 
President — The  Circassian  decision — The  blockade — Virginia — Letter  to  Mr. 
Schuckers — News  from  Richmond  and  hopes  of  peace — Letter  to  Judge 
Field — Reminiscences  of  Chief  Justice  Hornblower — Letter  to  Bishop  Mc- 
Ilvaine — God  in  the  Constitution — The  Chief  Justice  anxious  about  recon- 
struction— Letter  to  Mrs.  Trimble — How  the  Chief  Justice  liked  his  new 
duties — Letter  to  Mr.  Robert  Buchanan — Jubilation — Letter  to  Archbishop 
Purcell — Rev.  Mr.  Purcell  and  Father  Collins — Lively  prelude  to  a  fearful 
tragedy — Assassination  of  the  President — A  night  of  horror — The  adminis- 
tration of  the  oath  to  President  Johnson — Chase's  address  to  him — Johnson's 
inaugural  address — Address  written  for  him  by  Chief  Justice  Chase,  but 
not  used — The  mourning  for  slain  Lincoln — Chase's  visit  to  the  South — 
Address  at  Charleston — The  ballot  and  the  bayonet 


CONTEXTS.  XI. T, 


CHAPTER  XLV. 


Chase,  Johnson,  Davis — Gov.  Brough — Views  of   Reconstruction 645 

The  President  to  the  Chief  Justice  about  the  trial  of  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis — 
Death  of  John  Brough — Letter  to  Gov.  Anderson — To  Mrs.  Brough — A  note 
to  Mr.  Sumner — His  convention  speech — Chase  on  Johnson — A  precious  let- 
ter to  Mrs.  C.  L.  Whiteman — Letter  to  Mr.  J.  D.  Ludlow — Master  Win. 
Sprague,  Jr. — Letter  to  Mr.  Smith — Letter  to  Judge  Field — Grateful  reminis- 
cence— Reconstruction  views  of  the  Chief  Justice — A  proposed  amendment 
of  the  Constitution— Letter  to  Wendell  Phillips — Universal  suffrage — Value 
of  the  ballot — Estimate — Letter  to  Mr.  A.  Mot — Gen.  Howard — The  Chief 
Justice  not  a  capitalist — Letter  to  Hon.  J.  A.  Arnold — Tribute  to  the  mem- 
ory of  Lincoln — Letter  to  Mr.  Hinkle — Private  income  of  Chief  Justice 
Chase  in  1867 — Working  for  his  "dear  Bannister" — Stanton  and  Johnson 
— Letter  to  Judge  Hill — The  Southern  States  and  the  Constitutional  amend- 
ments— Recovery  of  the  South  from  the  evils  of  war — Letter  to  Professor 
Langston — Restoration  and  elevation — Letter  to  Mrs.  Mary  Eliza  Chase — 
Nettie  in  Germany — Another  letter  to  Mr.  Arnold,  relating  to  Lincoln — 
Contribution  of  Chase  to  the  Proclamation — Letter  to  Hon.  Flamen  Bull — 
To  Orna  Smith,  former  servant  of  William  AVirt — Mrs.  Admiral  Goldsbor- 
ough — Letter  to  Judge  Miller — Nomination  of  Registers  in  Bankruptcy — 
Objection  to  the  duty — Constitutional  question — Letter  to  Gov.  Fenton — The 
Military  Act  and  the  Supplemental  and  Restoration  bills — Letter  to  Horace 
Greeley — Tribute  to  the  Tribune — Greeley's  article  on  Resumption  —  Letter 
to  Col.  Parsons — The  Col.  too  ardent  and  managing  too  much — Dr.  Smith  and 
Gen.  Comly — Presidential  possibilities — Letter  to  David  Austin,  Esq. — Death 
of  Mr.  Garniss — Reflections — An  affecting  retrospect  and  an  important  in- 
dication. 

CHATTER  XLVL 

Chase  and  Johnson — Chase  as  a   Unionist  —  Presidential   Fever — Chase 

and  the  Cookes G5b' 

Letter  to  Col.  Parsons — Politics  in  Ohio — Presidential  Candidature — The 
Marshalship  of  the  Supreme  Court — Letters  to  Maynard,  Brownlow.  Gree- 
ley, Schuckers,  and  others — Characteristic  letter  to  Gen.  Schofield — Letter 
to  Judge  Underwood — Military  and  civil  power  at  Richmond — -Mr.  Jeffer- 
son Davis — Letter  to  Col.  Donn  Piatt — Letter  to  Gov.  Dennison — To  Flamen 
Ball — To  O'Harra  about  A.  P.  Stone — Address  to  the  bar  at  Raleigh — Letter 
to  Horace  Greeley  about  treason  in  rebellion — Cincinnati  Commercial — Texas 
vs.  White — Letter  to  John  Russell  Young — The  Tribune — Chase  on  the 
Herald  and  its  correspondents — Letter  to  Theodore  Tilton  about  Andrew 
Johnson  and  his  policy — Johnson  on  Sheridan — Johnson  and  Stanbery — 
Stanton — Chase  and  the  Cookes. 

CHAPTER  XLVII. 

The  Impeachment  of  the  President — Chase  and  Grant 676 

Letter  to  Mr.  Schuckers— Letter  of  Mr.  Schuckers,  for  Chief  Justice  Chase, 
to  Mr.  J.  S.  Corbin — Reference  to  Gen.  Grant — Letter  to  Dr.  Paul — Chase 
and  his  friends — Presidential   Candidature — Curious  self-judgment  of  the 


XX  CONTENTS. 

hero — Chase  at  the  South — Gen.  Grant's  prospects — Deeply  interesting  letter 
to  Mr.  Hatch — Another  self-judgment — Chase  disparages  himself  as  a  legist 
— Sad  confession — Impeachment  of  the  President — Dark  days  and  melan- 
choly musings — Letter  to  Col.  Thomas  —  Impeachment — Party  politics — 
Letter  to  Mr.  Snodgrass — Chase  and  Johnson — Letter  to  Mr.  Francis  J. 
Tucker — To  Gerrit.t  Smith  about  impeachment  and  the  Presidency — "  Sour 
grapes'" — Letter  to  Hon.  Alex.  Long — Another  letter  to  Gerritt  Smith — 
Views  of  constitutional  law  and  presidential  rights  and  duties — Tilton's 
"Folded  Banner"  article — About  the  use  of  private  conversations — Impru- 
dent letter  to  Mr.  Long — Imprudent  letter  to  Mr.  Tilton — About  a  possible 
nomination  by  the  Democratic  party — More  of  Tilton — Other  letters — Chase 
as  a  Democrat — Views  of  Impeachment — Matters  in  Louisiana — Views  of 
party  fealty — Aspiration  and  ambition. 

CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

About  Impeachment  and  about  the  Presidency  696 

Letter  to  Horace  Gi'eeley — Henderson  and  Van  Winkle — Sumner  and  Drake 
— Letter  to  Hon.  H.  S.  Bundy — Party  politics — Chase  on  Radicalism— Letter 
to  Murat  Halstead — Politicians  and  the  people — About  a  third  party — How 
parties  are  formed — Letter  to  Bennett,  of  the  N.  Y.  Herald — Letter  to  Sen- 
ator Anthony — Self-defense — Another  letter  to  Murat  Halstead — Movement 
for  Chase's  nomination  by  the  Democratic  party — Letter  to  William  Cullen 
Bryant — The  Democratic  party — Progressives  and  Conservatives — The 
New  York  movement — The  Chase  circular — Alexander  Long — Mrs.  Sprague 
— Conversation  with  Vallandigham — Seymour  and  Pendleton — Mr.  Hen- 
dricks— Mr.  Washington  McLean — Letter  to  Murat  Halstead — Gen.  Rose- 
crans — Talk  with  Major  Southerlin — The  South  and  Chase — Chase  on 
Grant  and  Seymour — Letters  to  Col.  Brown — Letter  to  the  author — Letter 
to  Col.  Parsons. 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 

A  Great  Affliction — The  Beginning  of  the  End 717 

Inauguration  of  Grant — Pomp,  and  pride,  and  circumstance  —  Letter  to 
Mrs.  Grant — Woman's  rights — Letter  to  President  Grant — The  disaster  at 
Richmond — Letter  to  Col.  Parsons — Paralysis — Too  much  of  the  Healing 
Art — Home  life — Preparations  for  death — Letter  to  Mr.  Ball — Letter  to 
Henry  D.  Cooke — Chase's  private  secretaries — Mr.  Schuckers  and  others — 
Notions  of  biography — Misrepresentations  of  the  N.  Y.  Herald — Letter  to 
Mr.  Sargent — The  Currency  and  the  Constitution — The  Democratic  move- 
ment— More  about  Vallandigham — Letters  about  springs — Health  of  the 
Chief  Justice — Letter  to  Gen.  Ashley — Remarkable  letters  to  Chase — Groes- 
beck's  views — Pendleton  and  Groesbeck  contrasted — Presidential  projects — 
Letter  to  Judge  Church — The  Liberal  Republicans — The  Grantites  in  Ken- 
tucky— Covington  and  Louisville— Irregular  proceedings — Hon.  Stanley 
Matthews  in  the  Cincinnati  Convention — A  remarkable  speech  and  a  still 
more  remarkable  letter— The  conventions  of  1872 — Letter  from  Chase  to 
Judge  Church,  characterizing  the  writer  as  a  Democrat  of  the  Jackson  and 
Benton  school — Chase  for  Greeley — Letter  to  Mr.  Murat  Halstead. 


CONTEXTS.  XXI 


CHAPTER   L. 


Prophetic    Journalism  —  Chase   and   Halstead —  Table    Talk    with    the 

Chief  Justice 786 

The  Commrrcial's  correspondents  on  the  health  of  the  Chief  Justice — Letter 
to  Mr.  Murat  Halstead — Chase's  opinion  of  his  own  condition — Another 
letter  to  Mr.  Halstead — Touching  appeal  to  that  journalist — His  answer — 
Real  state  of  the  Chief  Justice — Correspondence  of  the  N.  )'.  Herald — Tes- 
timony of  Mr.  Justice  Field  and  Mr.  Cushing — Correspondence  of  the  A". 
Y.  World — Testimony  of  Mr.  Sumner — December  7,  1872 — Meeting  of  the 
author  with  the  hero — Chase's  person,  port,  and  presence — His  character- 
istics— Talk  about  old  times  in  Ohio — Mr.  Halstead  and  Mr.  Hassaurek — 
Chase's  talk  about  himself — Hygiene  and  Medicine — Political  views — En- 
gagement to  compose  this  work — Agreement  to  furnish  materials  for  it — 
Pretended  criticism  of  this  work  in  certain  quarters — Explanations  and 
corrections — Another  talk  with  the  Chief  Justice — His  mental  state  and 
physical  condition. 

CHAPTER  LI. 

A  Birthday  Offering — The  Answer 756 

Letter  from  the  author  to  the  hero — Failure  and  success — Etiological  ideas 
— Laws  of  life — About  this  book — Halstead  and  Reid — Review  of  Chase's 
life — His  wonderful  successes — But  success  no  test  of  merit — Was  Chase 
an  Abolitionist? — His  answer  to  the  authors  birthday  offering — Did  he 
comprehend  his  true  relation  to  his  country  and  his  times? 

CHAPTER  LII. 

Supply  of  Matter  for  this  Work — New    Relations 7G7 

Intercourse  with  the  Chief  Justice — Notes  from  him — His  wish  to  have  the 
author  call  upon  him  freely — A  mysterious  request — The  first  furnishing  of 
matter — Explanations— The  winter  of  our  deepest  shame — Agnes  Wirt:  a 
Story — Statement  by  the  Chief  Justice — Contemplated  trip  to  Colorado — 
Large  supply  of  biographic  matter — The  author  becomes  private  secretary 
to  the  hero — Explanation  to  Mrs.  Sprague — Trouble  about  matter  furnished 
for  my  use — The  locked  diary — Conversations  about  this  work — Foreshad- 
owing of  the  conspiracy  against  it. 

CHAPTER  LIII. 

Talks  and  Walks  with  TnE  Chief  Justice — Grant  and  Chase "(, 

Talks  about  the  President — A  letter  from  the  author  to  him — The  answer 
to  that  letter — Farther  statement  of  what  Chase  said  about  Grant  —  Refer- 
ence to  1868 — Chase  on  the  Congress  and  the  Administration — Chase  and 
the  Blairs — Letter  to  the  author  from  Hon.  Montgomery  Blah- — Chase  to 
Blair  on  Adams'  Eulogy  of  Seward — Hon.  Gideon  Welles — His  hook  on 
Lincoln  and  Seward — Breakfasts  with  the  Chief  Justice — Professor  Pierce — 
Visit  to  Richmond — The  Ernest  Institute  and  Popular  Nomology — Chase 
as  a  legist— Representativeness  of  Ohio — The  legal  system  of  that  State — 
Comparison  of  Chase  and  Wirt — Swayne  and  Thurman — Chase's  compari- 
son   of  Wirt   and  Webster — Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson  on  Chase  as   a  legist — 


XX11  CONTESTS. 

Roger  Brooke  Taney — Chief  Justice  Marshall — Chase's  character  of  him — 
Marbury  vs.  Madison — Politics  on  the  Bench — The  Dred  Scott  dicta — Expla- 
nations and  suggestions. 

CHAPTER  LIV. 

Chase  and  the  Theater — His  Religion,  his  Affections,  and  his  Manners — 

Altered  Health 789 

Daniel  Dougherty,  Esq. — "The  Greatest  Living  Orator  " — A  "lecture"  on 
Actors  and  Acting — The  Chief  Justice  one  of  the  hearers — Chase  and  Wol- 
sey — Was  Chase  inordinately  ambitious  ? —His  religiousness — Knew  too 
little  of  the  theater — Was  he  a  genial  man? — His  faults  and  foibles — Ger- 
man views  of  life — Chase  and  Roman  Catholicity — He  did  not  like  the 
bigotry  of  unbelief — How  he  avoided  skepticism — Did  not  take  sufficient 
interest  in  the  relations  between  faith  and  science — Anecdote  of  a  fall  he 
had  — His  feeling  toward  the  author — Wirt's  letters — Imperiousness  of  Chase 
— Some  difficulties  it  occasioned  between  him  and  his  biographer — Reconcil- 
iation— Deepened  intimacy — Willie  Sprague — What  Chase  said  about  him, 
on  one  occasion — Chase  in  repartee — Judge  Hoadly's  account,  of  his  affec- 
tionateness — Mr.  Trowbridge's  character  of  him — Anecdote — Confession  of 
the  hero  as  to  his  imperiousness — Anecdote  of  Wirt—  Letter  to  Hon.  John 
Conness— Letter  to  the  Lord  Chancellor  of  England — To  Chief  Justice 
Cockburn — To  John  Bright — To  A.  G.  Browne — Letter  from  Professor  Brown- 
Sequard — -A  prescription — A  mistake — Its  consequences — Altered  health  of 
the  Chief  Justice — Letter  to  W.  D.  Gallagher,  Esq. — Affecting  incident — The 
end  draws  nigh. 

CHAPTER  LV. 

Chase  and  Sumner — The  last  days  of  Chase — His  Death 802 

Mr.  Sumner  s  *ast  call  on  the  Chief  Justice — He  interrogates  his  host  about 
his  preferred  biographer — The  result — Presentation  of  the  author  to  Mr. 
Sumner — What  the  latter  proffered — Ride  to  Edgewood  with  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice— He  compares  himself  with  Mr.  Sumner — Counsel,  with  warning — 
Chase  discourses  farther  of  himself— His  view  of  his  relations  to  the  Demo- 
cratic party — Arrangements  at  Edgewood — A  fleeting  leave-takings — Cassy 
Validly — Return  to  Washington — Writing  letters— Talk  about  the  author's 
biographic  undertaking — The  last  breakfast — The  last  "  good-bye  "  from  the 
hero  to  the  author — The  last  note  of  Chase  to  his  biographer — Donn  Piatt 
and  Mrs.  Piatt — Response — The  death  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase — A  fear- 
ful unmasking — Opposition  to  this  work — Unnamed  conspirators — Their 
Stupid  desperation — Mr.  Sumner's  strange  course  toward  this  work — What 
manner  of  man  he  seemed  to  the  author — Interviews  with  him — An  exper- 
iment—  Explanations. 

CHAPTER  LVI. 

Conclusion 811 

( Obsequies  of  Chase — Why  so  different  from  those  of  Lincoln — Eulogies  of 
Chase,  soon  succeeded  by  disparagement — The  New  York  Herald  and  the 
North  American  Review — Discriminations — Real  character  of  Chase — His 
conduct  toward  Lincoln  and  McClellan — His  relation  to  the  conduct  of  the 


CONTENTS.  XX111 

war — His  economic  views  and  actions — Lincoln,  Chase,  and  Seward — 
Secretary  Welles'  book  again — How  Chase  should  be  judged — Deceitfulness 
of  the  heart — Jeremiah,  chapter  thirteenth — Chase  as  a  judge  of  character 
— The  great  glory  of  his  life — His  conscientiousness — His  love  of  country — 
Purity  of  his  private  life — His  distinctions  as  an  orator  and  his  command 
of  written  language — Chase  and  Goethe — What  Chase  wrote  more  beautiful 
than  what  he  lived — But  who  lived  better? — Final  explanations  and  sug- 
gestions. 

APPENDIX. 

Note  A 821 

Note  B 838 


INTRODUCTION. 


"  A  great  trust !  "  said  Mr.  Sumner,  very  gravely,  when  he  fully 
learned  the  nature  of  the  matter  furnished  for  this  work  by  Salmon 
Portland  Chase.  It  was,  indeed,  a  great  trust  which  the  hero  of  this 
work,  in  full  possession  of  his  faculties,  deliberately,  without  having 
been  pressed,  and  after  much  reflection,  reposed  in  my  discretion. 
In  extremely  trying  circumstances,  after  his  decease,  I  clung  to  the 
performance  of  that  trust,  and,  in  extremely  trying  circumstances,  I 
have  faithfully  discharged  it,  according  to  the  best  of  my  ability  and 
understanding.     The  result  is  here  presented  to  the  public. 

Salmon  Portland  Chase  did  not  elect  to  repose  in  any  member  of 
his  family  the  confidence  in  question.  He  did  not  even  wish  to  em- 
power any  member  of  his  family  to  supervise  or,  in  any  manner,  in- 
fluence my  biographic  work.  His  fondness  for  his  family  was  very 
proud,  but  it  was  not  blind.  He  must  have  felt  that,  having  been 
thrice  married,  he  could  not  have  properly  allowed  to  either  of  his 
daughters,  or  to  both,  the  right  to  overrule  or  modify  the  confidence 
by  him  reposed  in  a  preferred  biographer.  And  very  well  did  he 
understand,  that  I  would  not  have  suffered  either  him  or  them,  or 
any  other  person,  to  supervise  or  even  greatly  influence  the  composi- 
tion of  the  work  which  had  been  more  than  commenced  when,  with- 
out even  a  suggestion  from  me  as  to  the  kind  of  matter  proper  to  be 
furnished  by  him,  he  began  to  select  letters,  diaries,  and  other  docu- 
ments for  my  use. 

In  Chapter  LI  will  be  found  all  but  a  few  paragraphs  of  a  birth- 
day letter,  which  was  answered,  in  characteristic  fashion,  by  Chief 
Justice  Chase.  In  that  birthday  offering  I  made  known  to  him  the 
then  intended  method,  scope,  and  spirit  of  this  work.  The  few  para- 
graphs just  mentioned  read  as  follows  : 

"  You  had  learned,  before  I  wrote  this  letter,  that,  in  order  to  compose  a  work  of 
the  desired,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  determined  description,  aid  from  you  appeared  to 
me  almost  essential.  You  can  point  out  some  materials  which,  without  your  help, 
I  could  not — at  least  might  not — easily  discover.  You  can  furnish  parts  of  the  de- 
sired material.  Under  this  head,  I  would  be  happy  to  receive  some  autobiographic 
contributions,  as  shall  be  explained.     Why  not?     Supposing  you  to  have  the  leisure 

(11) 


12  INTKODUCTION. 

and  the  disposition  to  assist  me  to  the  full  extent  desired,  why  hesitate  about  com- 
plying with  my  wishes  ? 

"  Full  compliance  can  not  make  you  in  the  least  responsible  for  any  word  or  syl- 
lable of  mine,  either  in  this  letter  or  in  any  [other]  part  of  the  work  of  which  it  is 
to  form  a  portion.  What  I  resolve  in  this  respect,  you  will  quite  naturally  ivish.  You 
will  desire  me  to  set  out  with  perfect  freedom  from  any  one's  dictation  or  suggestion, 
and  to  maintain  that  freedom  to  the  end.  This  letter,  being  inserted  in  the  book  as 
its  obviously  becoming  introduction,  will  serve  to  protect  each  of  us  in  the  respect  to 
which  attention  is  now  given. 

"  Of  my  wish  to  win,  if  possible,  some  autobiographic  contributions,  a  more  parti- 
cular account  must  form,  in  part,  at  least,  the  subject  of  another  letter." 

There  never  was  a  time  when  I  would  have  allowed  the  Chief 
Justice  himself,  or  any  other  person,  to  dictate  to  me  a  word  of  the 
work,  except  as  just  indicated.  Nor  was  the  fact  of  that  determination 
confined  to  my  own  breast.  It  was  published  to  the  readers  of  the 
Ohio  State  Journal,  and  to  other  persons. 

Knowing  well  my  purpose  in  that  behalf,  Chief  Justice  Chase  did 
not  even  wish  to  change  it,  and,  in  view  of  it,  reposed  in  me  a  con- 
fidence which  I  may  well  say  was  quite  unlimited.  And  he  who  so 
liberally  trusted  me  was  well  acquainted  with  the  faults  and  foibles 
of  the  man  he  was  so  ready  to  accept  as  preferred  biographer. 

In  the  birthday  letter,  from  which  an  extract  has  already  been 
given,  I  very  naturally  expressed  my  hope  that  the  work  might  be 
completed  during  the  life-time  of  its  hero.  He  had  not  much  hope,  as 
he  explained  to  me  on  more  than  one  occasion.  Even  had  he  been 
as  hopeful  as  myself,  he  would  never  have  been  even  willing  to 
supervise  the  work,  or  to  be  responsible  for  my  utterances  in  it.  He 
knew  quite  well  that  my  views,  in  some  important  points,  were 
very  different  from  his  own — especially  with  reference  to  public 
economics,  political  parties,  and  religion. 

In  the  exercise,  however,  of  the  delicate  and  difficult  discretion 
thus  confided  to  rue,  I  have  given  much  consideration  to  the  evident 
conceptions  of  Chief  Justice  Chase  himself,  as  to  the  due  fullness  and 
minuteness  of  biography  in  its  relation  to  inner  life. 

At  three  and  twenty  years  of  age,  he  contributed  to  the  North 
American  Review  a  biographic  sketch ;  and  he  once  intended  to  offer 
to  the  public  a  life  of  his  legal  teacher,  the  illustrious  Wirt. 

Of  this  I  first  learned  when,  substantially,  he  said  to  me,  respond- 
ing to  my  intimation  that  I  had  been  urged  to  write  a  life  of  him, 
and  that,  on  certain  conditions,  I  might  be  inclined  to  undertake  that 
public  service : 

"I  can  only  say  to  you  what  was  said  to  me  by  Mr.  Wirt  on  a  similar  occasion: 
If  it  is  to  be  done  at  all,  I  should  prefer  to  have  it  done  by  such  a  friend  as  you." 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

After  his  death  I  learned  much  more  about  the  matter  here 
referred  to.  In  one  of  his  letter-books  was  found  a  memorandum, 
indicating  that  he  must  have  actually  undertaken  to  write  a  life  of 
Wirt.  On  that  occasion,  doubtless,  he  considered  more  than  super- 
ficially the  requisites  of*  good  biography.  Indeed,  there  are  indica- 
tions that  he  probably  devoted  study  to  that  subject,  not  only  when 
he  wrote  his  biographic  sketch  of  Brougham,  but  shortly  afterward, 
when  he  received  that  number  of  the  i\7or£/i  American  Review  which 
gave  to  readers  his  own  article  on  the  Effects  of  Machinery. 

Article  Y  of  the  number  here  referred  to  is  entitled  Crokefs  Bos- 
well.  Doubtless,  it  was  read  by  Mr.  Chase  with  more  than  ordinary 
interest.  Very  well,  this  article  discusses  the  extent  to  which  biog- 
raphy is  free  and  therefore  bound,  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  to 
show  the  private  life  of  its  hero.     Here  is  an  extract  from  it : 

i:  It  has  been  very  common  to  speak  of  the  biographer  of  Johnson  in  terms  of  con- 
tempt. He  has  been  heavily  charged  with  violating  the  intimacy  of  friendship  and 
the  sacredness  of  private  life,  in  giving  the  character  of  Johnson  so  openly  to  the 
world ;  but  it  should  be  stated,  at  the  same  time,  that  he  did  it,  not  in  malice,  but  in 
admiration,  and  that,  he  was  sustained  in  it  by  the  authority  of  Johnson  himself. 
The  Tour  to  the  Hebrides,  which  is  even  more  particular  in  these  points  than  the 
Life,  was  submitted  to  Johnson,  who,  far  from  disapproving,  added  to  it  some  of  his 
own  recollections.  Sir  John  Hawkins  states,  that  when  Johnson  himself  was 
oharged  with  being  guilty  of  the  same  offense  in  his  Lives  of  the  Poets,  he  said:  'The 
business  of  the  biographer  is  to  give  an  exact  account  of  the  person  whose  life  he  is 
writing,  and  to  discriminate  him  from  others  by  auy  peculiarities  of  character  and 
sentiment  he  may  happen  to  have.'  So  that,  in  the  opinion  of  the  person  most  in- 
terested, Boswell  is  clearly  justified  in  what  he  has  done.  The  truth  is,  that  man- 
kind are  much  more  apt  to  outpour  their  indignation  on  follies  than  on  vices;  and 
to  this  taste,  on  their  part,  Boswell,  who  was  highly  gifted  with  the  former  attri- 
butes, has  always  been  a  victim.  It  is  evident  enough,  from  his  portrait  by  his  own 
partial  hand,  that  he  was  vain  to  a  degree  which  irritated  his  inferiors ;  that  his 
curiosity  was  intense  and  prying;  that  he  had  a  feverish  passion  for  excitement, 
which  made  it  his  special  delight  to  attend  intellectual  parties  and  public  execu- 
tions, and  all  scenes  that  could  for  the  moment  interest  a  mind  whose  activity  was 
far  beyond  its  strength.  But  it  seems  absurd  to  deny  that  he  had  the  capacity  to 
estimate  and  the  taste  to  enjoy  the  intellectual  society  of  such  a  man  as  Johnson. 
We  remember  that  Dr.  Clarke,  the  traveler,  says,  that  for  the  sake  of  Tweddell's  so- 
ciety, he  would  have  consented  to  black  his  shoes;  and  one  can  readily  believe  that 
Boswell  was  influenced  by  a  similar  enthusiasm  in  the  case  of  Johnson,  whose  con- 
versation would  certainly  repay  such  attentions  and  sacrifices  as  well  as  that  of  any 
man  who  ever  existed.''  ' 

Dr.  Clarke,  the  traveler,  either  thought  too  much  of  Tweddell  or 
too  little  of  himself.  But  the  passage  just  quoted  is  presented  on 
account  of  that  which  it  suggests,  respecting  the  extent  to  which 


xNorth  American  Review,  Vol.  34,  pp.  92,  93. 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

biography  may  go,  or  must  go,  in  complete  performance  of  its  un- 
dertaking. 

I  have  endeavored  so  to  handle  my  material  that  the  work  at  large 
may  be  found  so  to  show  the  tenor  of  the  life  that  it  professes  to  re- 
late, that  every  fair-minded  peruser  of  its  contents  may  be  enabled 
to  give  sentence  according  to  the  rule  of  judgment  thus1  laid  down 
by  Chase  himself:  "It  seems  to  me  better  and  wiser  to  judge  par- 
ticular acts  by  the  general  tenor  of  life,  than  the  general  tenor  of 
life  by  particular  acts." 

On  the  whole,  considering  how  very  largely  this  volume  has  drawn 
from  Chase's  diaries,  letters,  and  other  word-work,  readers  may  ex- 
pect to  find,  in  the  work  at  large,  a  pretty  accurate  account  of  the 
character  and  the  career  of  the  man  who,  in  1868,  wrote  to  an  old 
acquaintance  that  he  was  not  astonished  to  find  some  good  men  con- 
sidering him  an  enigma. 

Does  this  work  effect  the  reading  of  that  riddle?  We  have  seen 
that  if  the  judgments  which  my  humble  part  in  the  production  of 
these  pages  has,  from  time  to  time,  expressed  or  less  distinctly  inti- 
mated, as  to  the  characteristics  or  the  conduct  of  the  life  before  us, 
shall  appear  unwarranted,  each  reader  is  to  have  at  hand  the  means 
of  forming  his  own  judgment  for  himself. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  hide  my  own  opinions  would  have  been  im- 
proper. To  advance  them  pedagogically,  or  with  the  air  of  final 
judgment,  would  have  been  as  unbecoming.  They  are  calmly  and 
dispassionately  offered  to  the  fair  consideration  of  enlightened  and 
attentive  readers. 

Let  me  say  a  word  about  the  matter  of  distinctively  historic  inter- 
est, presented  by  this  work. 

In  a  notice  of  Sparks'  biography  of  our  lame  revolutionary 
dandy,  Gouverneur  Morris — a  most  interesting  character — the  North 

American  Review  set  out  as  follows  : 


"There  is  no  sin  which  more  easily  besets  the  biographer  of  public  men  than  a 
reluctance  to  admit  the  fact  that  they  ever  had  any  private  life;  yet  we  know  not 
that  the  dignity  of  a  statesman  would  be  impaired  by  such  an  admission,  or  that  the 
parlor  and  the  fireside  are  much  less  interesting  than  the  Cabinet  or  the  legislative 
hall.  Sir  James  Mackintosh  assures  us  that  the  biographer  should  introduce  his- 
torical detail  no  further  than  the  clearness  and  accuracy  of  his  narrative  require; 
and  that  the  historian,  on  the  other  hand,  should  be  careful  to  avoid  all  private 
particulars  which  can  not  be  regarded  as  essential."2 


better  to  Oliver  Johnson,  Esq.,  dated  May  30,  1864.  2  v0l.  34,  465. 


INTRODUCTION.  15 


Dr.  Peabody  subjoins : 


"The  rule  is  certainly  a  judicious  one  ;  and  it  has  been  faithfully  applied  in  his 
own  biography  of  one  of  the  greatest  and  best  men  in  England's  annals." 

If  the  word  accuracy  denotes  enough  to  comprehend  the  notion 
of  fullness,  the  rule  would  indeed  seem  unexceptionable. 

Something  Like  an  overture  to  the  whole  public  life  of  Salmon 
Portland  Chase  may  be  found  in  an  article,  contributed  hy  him,  at 
three  and  twenty  years  of  age,  to  the  North  American  Review.  That 
piece, which  had  first  done  service  as  a  Lyceum  lecture  at  Cincinnati, 
went  before  the  readers  of  the  Review  in  July,  1831.  Having  for 
its  subject  the  Life  and  Character  of  Henry  Brougham,  it  contains 
these  paragraphs  : 

"It  is  well  said,  that  'history  is  philosophy  teaching  by  example.'  But  history 
seldom  condescends  to  the  teaching  of  individuals ;  and  when  she  does,  she  instructs 
us  rather  in  the  arts  of  war  than  in  the  works  of  peace  ;  noticing,  briefly,  and  withal 
somewhat  superciliously,  the  noblest  designs  and  labors  of  philanthropy,  and  even 
the  most  glorious  civil  triumphs,  while  she  records,  with  all  the  blazoning  of  the 
most  gorgeous  description,  the  achievements  of  military  prowess,  or  details  with 
scrupulous  minuteness  the  intrigues  of  courts.  Thus  the  examples  furnished  by 
history  are  not  adapted  to  the  instruction  of  common  life.  The}-  show  us  man  in  his 
robes  of  state  and  under  the  influence  of  artificial  constraint;  not  in  his  every-day 
dress,  and  acting  from  the  genuine  promptings  of  the  heart.  They  exhibit  to  our 
view  a  man,  not  of  nature's  making,  but  of  art's  making. 

"  Now  biography  teaches  by  better  examples  than  these.  Her  instructions  are 
adapted  to  peace  as  well  as  to  war;  to  man  as  an  individual  as  well  as  to  man  in 
society.  She  holds  up  for  our  admiration  and  imitation  men  who  have  never  seen 
the  tented  field.  She  sits  by  the  philosopher  in  his  closet,  and  notes  the  laborious 
processes  of  thought  by  which  his  mind  struggles  to  reach,  and  at  last  does  reach, 
some  mighty  and  all-comprehending  principle.  And,  to  waken  in  the  hearts  of 
other  men  a  noble  emulation,  she  tells  of  the  inexpressible  triumph  with  which  he 
exclaims,  ~EvpijKa.  She  accompanies  the  traveler  in  his  toilsome  journeys  from 
land  to  land,  to  gather  some  worthy  offering  for  science,  or  to  add  some  yet  undis- 
covered realm  to  the  dominions  of  knowledge.  She  deems  it  no  unworthy  task  to 
tell  with  what  self-sacrificing  spirit  philanthropists  have  labored  on  through  diffi- 
culty, and  discouragement,  and  opposition;  to  give  effect  to  some  grand  scheme  of 
benevolence,  in  many  instances  dying  without  one  glimpse  of  the  glorious  triumph 
which  was  destined  to  crown  their  exertions.  By  examples  such  as  these  does 
biography  teach,  and  teaches  noble  lessons. 

"There  is,  however,  yet  another  use  of  biography.  It  helps  us  to  a  better  un- 
derstanding of  the  way  in  which  the  great  machine  of  society  works.  Thoughts 
and  feelings  are  the  prime  forces  that  act  upon  it — the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  in- 
dividual men.  And  it  often  happens  that  one  man,  by  the  force  of  circumstances, 
or  by  the  resistless  energy  of  his  own  spirit,  is  placed  or  places  himself  in  a  situa- 
tion to  control,  like  an  earthly  god,  the  destinies  of  whole  nations;  still  oftener 
originates  some  new  thought,  or  makes  some  new  discovery  or  invention,  destined 
in  its  consequences  to  change  the  whole  aspect  of  society.     It  is  important,  there- 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

fore,  to  know  something  of  individual  character  and  conduct,  in  order  to  understand 
the  operations  of  these  latent,  but  powerful,  influences.  Indeed,  for  our  own  part, 
if  we  might  be  permitted  to  preserve  all  the  memorials  of  such  men,  we  should 
hardly  be  disposed  to  quarrel  with  time  for  devouring  the  remainder  of  his  omni- 
farious offspring." 

Here,  it  seems  to  me,  is  error  as  to  the  force  of  the  one  in  rela- 
tion to  the  many;  but  the  extract  seems  to  me  of  decided  interest 
as  part  of  proper  preparation  for  the  body  of  this  volume. 

Let  me  add,  that  the  object  of  this  work  is  indication  more  than 
vindication.  Often,  too,  in  spite  of  its  unfeigned  and  very  high 
esteem  of  its  hero,  it  is  forced  to  own  that  it  can  not  approve  some 
act  or  saying  of  the  man  whose  life  it  so  faithfully  endeavors  to 
relate,  whose  character  it  so  faithfully  endeavors  to  portray. 

I  have,  in  a  public  print,  defending  the  memory  of  Salmon  Port- 
land Chase,  confessed  that  he  did  not  seem  to  me  a  saint,  or  a 
deputy  Omniscient.  Holding  that  the  article  on  which  I  was  com- 
menting paints  a  character  which  is  little  less  than  libelous  to  ascribe 
to  the  hero  of  this  work,  I  have  nevertheless  distinctly  indicated,  in 
the  public  print  referred  to,  my  opinion  that  the  biography  of 
Salmon  Portland  Chase,  which  shall  represent  him  as  a  faultless 
character,  a  man  who  lived  a  wholly  blameless  life,  will  be  vainly 
false  and  foolishly  unfaithful. 

But,  be  that  as  it  may,  there  should  be  no  question  that,  in  the 
matter  drawn  from  his  letters,  diaries,  etc.,  the  attractiveness  of  this 
work,  in  point  of  substance,  is  at  once  various  and  great.  Be  the 
book,  in  point  of  form,  acceptable  or  unacceptable  to  critics,  who 
can  fail  to  see  the  richness  and  variety  of  its  contributions  to  the 
inner  history  of  Lincoln's  administration,  and  of  other  administra- 
tions? In  the  matter  so  derived,  we  see  much  of  Lincoln,  Seward, 
Stanton,  Sumner,  Grant,  McClellan,  McDowell,  Hooker,  Halleck, 
Hunter,  Garfield,  Butler,  and  somewhat  less  of  Sherman,  Sheridan, 
Pioscerans,  and  other  famous  figures.  If  I  have  not  used  my  large 
discretion  wisely,  I  have  at  least  used  it  conscientiously;  and  the 
result  is  an  extensive  presentation  of  matter,  as  to  which  I  can 
speak  freely. 

Mention  also  should  be  made  in  this  connection  of  the  light  shed 
by  passages  in  the  body  of  the  work  on  the  inner  history  of  John- 
son's impeachment,  and  on  the  character  and  conduct  of  the  man 
therein  impeached. 

Nor  should  this  Introduction  fail  to  mention  that  the  body  of  the 
work  presents  a  pretty  full  account  of  the  Wirt  family,  in  their  re- 
lation to  the  hero's  forming  traits  and  tendencies ;  and  that 
extracts  from  the  hero's  writings   yield  veiy   interesting  notices  of 


INTRODUCTION.  1 7 

John  Quincy  Adams,  Andrew  Jackson,  Martin  Van  Buren,  Henry- 
Clay,  Daniel  Webster,  John  Caldwell  Calhoun,  Chief  Justice  Mar- 
shall, Judge  McLean,  General  Harrison,  and  other  celebrities, 
whose  days  have  been  for  sometime  numbered  with  the  past. 

Of  Cincinnati,  particularly,  and  of  Ohio  at  large,  the  volume, 
though  entirely  free  from  local  partiality  and  sectional  aversion, 
naturally  takes  large  notice. 

I  have  been  charged  with  the  high  crime  of  not  abandoning  my 
trust.  I  plead  guilty.  1  am  proud  of  having  so  offended.  And  I 
venture  even  to  predict,  that  the  matter  just  referred  to,  having 
already  enabled  this  work  to  survive  prophetic  criticism  of  all 
kinds,  will  save  it  against  all  efforts  of  any  other  form  of  pre- 
tended criticism  to  "review"  it  out  of  existence,  or  to  circumscribe 
its  proper  circulation. 

EOBEET  BEUCE  WAEDEN. 
Washington,  1874. 


18  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER   I. 

ABOUT  THE  TOWN  OF  CORNISH  AND  THE  CHASES — ANCESTRAL  RELATIONS. 

SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE  was  born  at  Cornish,  in  New 
Hampshire.  January  13,  1808.  He  greatly  glorified  the  emi- 
nently honorable  name  he  bore ;  but  he  was  not  the  only  Chase  of 
whom  the  town  of  Cornish  may  be  proud. 

The  Chases  of  the  Cornish  race  appear  to  have  been  hardy,  worthy 
men  and  women.  In  a  note  of  the  Appendix1  will  be  found  a  pretty 
full  account  of  them  down  to  the  days  of  our  hero.2  Let  me  press- 
ingly  persuade  the  reader  to  examine  at  once,  at  least  cursorily,  the 
matter  offered  in  that  note. 

The  same  note  of  the  Appendix  calls  attention  to  the  so-called 
secession  from  New  Hampshire  of  Cornish  and  fifteen  towns  associ- 
ated with  her  in  the  act  so  designated.3  It  may  seem  to  some 
readers  not  a  little  remarkable  that  the  Chases  of  Cornish  should 
have  so  foreshadowed  the  action  of  the  Southern  States  attempting 
to  secede  from  the  Union.  And  it  may  be  thought  that,  in  view 
of  the  course  of  Mr.  Chase  in  1861, 4  the  tract  of  Cornish  history 
referred  to  tends  to  show  that  there  was,  if  one  may  so  express  him- 
self, secession  in  the  hero's  very  blood.  But  this  volume  clearly 
proves,  if  it  proves  any  thing,  that  Mr.  Chase  was  not,  in  1861,  in 
favor  of  secession ;  that  he  never  was  in  favor  of  secession  ;  that  he 
never  held  the  singular  political  and  social  tenet,  that  a  member  of 
the  Union  may,  by  a  simple  exercise  of  sovereignty,  without  cause 
of  revolution,  and  against  the  will  of  the  States  united  with  her, 
cease  to  be  a  member  of  the  Union. 

And  it  can  not  be  necessary  to  devote  much  space  in  order  to  ef- 


1  Note  A. 

2  Quite  ridiculous  appeared  to  me  the  ridiculing  of  the  words  "  our  hero,"  as  used 
in  a  former  work  of  mine.  They  are  convenient  words  for  use  in  such  a  work  as 
this,  and  I  have  used  them  freely,  simply  to  avoid  too  frequent  use  of  other  words. 

3  Note  A,  Appendix. 

*  Post,  Chapter  XXVI. 


OF    SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  19 

feet  the  showing  that  the  so-called  "  seceding  towns  "  of  New  Hamp- 
shire did  not  really  secede  at  all. 

This  volume  docs  not  undertake  to  vindicate  the  views  of  Mr. 
Chase  in  1861,  as  indicated  in  his  noble  letter  to  Judge  Taft.  The 
object  of  these  pages  has  been  fairly  set  forth  in  the  Introduction — 
as  indication  rather  than  vindication.  But  of  that  no  more  need 
now  lie  said. 

A  memory-haunted  edifice  of  architectural  pretensions  faces  the 
memory-haunted  house  in  a  room  of  which  some  of  these  paragraphs 
have  been  composed.  That  is  the  building  in  which  Lincoln,  look- 
ing on  a  stage  of  mimic  life,  was  wounded  mortally  by  a  professional 
tragedian;  this  is  the  plain  structure  in  which  the  assassinated  Presi- 
dent expired.  I  look  over  my  left  shoulder  as  I  write  and  see  the 
facade  of  what  was  Ford's  Theatre.  What  wonder  if  I  find  myself 
comparing  Chase  with  Lincoln? 

Let  me  say,  that,  in  my  judgment,  Lamon's  Life  of  Lincoln  is  not 
written  in  the  proper  spirit  where  it  touches  Lincoln's  lineage.  The 
lineage  of  Chase  is  here  respectfully  and  even  tenderly  regarded. 
In  a  certain  sense  it  is  a  noble  lineage.  It  has  not  what  is  often 
written  and  spoken  of  as  gentle  blood;  yet  it  is  gentle,  in  the  best 
sense  of  that  term.  But  had  I  found  our  hero's  lineage  like  that  of 
Lincoln,  as  described  by  Lamon,  I  would  not  have  felt  at  liberty  to 
treat  it  as  that  writer  treats  his  hero's  origin. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  have  not  felt  at  liberty  to  begin  this  work 
in  such  fashion  as  that  in  which  Kennedy  began  the  Life  of  William 
Wirt,  our  hero's  legal  teacher.     Kennedy  set  out  as  follows: 

"A  narrative  of  the  Life  of  William  Wirt  will  present  us  the 
career  of  one  who,  springing  from  an  humble  origin,  was  enabled  to 
attain  to  high  distinction  among  his  countrymen." 

What  do  we  mean  by  humble  origin?  I  acknowledge  that 
the  origin  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase  does  not  appear  to  me  an 
humble  origin.  It  rather  seems  to  me  a  highly  honorable  origin, 
like  that  of  William  Wirt,  as  I  had  the  honor  to  explain  to  the  only 
surviving  daughter  of  the  last-named  worthy,  Mrs.  Admiral  Golds- 
borough,  who,  I  may  passingly  remark,  has  allowed  me,  in  this 
volume,  to  use  a  letter  of  her's,  written  to  me  on  a  very  interesting 
occasion,  during  the  life  of  her  dear  friend,  Chief  Justice  Chase 

Eleven  years  ago,  for  the  special  benefit  of  a  student-soldier 
(mentioned,  we  shall  find,  in  moving  terms,  by  Secretary  Chase,  in 
3 


20  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

a  letter  to  the  author  of  this  work),  I  contributed  to  a  paper  habit- 
ually read  by  that  young  charge  of  mine,  a  piece  called  At  the  Doctor's. 
In  that  seeming  story,  Dr.  Frisch,  depicted  as  a  person  of  the 
Hamlet  mold,  according  to  the  views  of  Goethe,  in  his  Wilhelm 
Meister — namely,  of  the  fat  and  philosophic  type — is  represented  as 
discoursing  of  a  science,  by  him  invented,  which  he  calls  Typonomy 
— the  science  of  the  thing  called  type,  as  it  variously  manifests 
itself  in  individuals,  in  families,  in  nations,  and  in  races.  Dr. 
Frisch  is  represented  in  one  passage  as  explaining  that  what  we 
often  call  the  type  of  character  "  appears  to  be  more  sharply  cut  and 
boldly  prominent  in  field  and  workshop  than  in  drawing-rooms  and 
boudoirs." 

"But,"'  adds  the  T3'ponomer — so  Dr.  Frisch  is  called — "we  can 
discern  great  typic  differences,  even  in  the  'higher  circles. '  Goethe, 
I  know,  has  ridiculed  an  English  author  for  pretending  to  view 
nations  by  comparing  the  ton  of  each;  but  the  ridicule  itself  appears 
to  me  somewhat  ridiculous.  The  gentleman  is,  indeed,  a  type  of 
cosmic  dignity.  We  find  it  under  the  equator,  at  the  tropics,  and 
bej'ond  the  explorations  made  by  Dr.  Kane.  And  every-where  we 
find  the  ton  attempting  to  divest  itself  of  type." 

"Explain  that  sentence,  please,"  said  America. 

"What  I  mean,"  said  Dr.  Frisch,  "is  only  this:  that  the  lady  and 
the  gentleman  are  such,  in  part,  by  virtue  of  the  efforts  which  they 
make  to  become  pure  woman  and  man — gentlewoman,  gentleman  ; 
that  is  to  say,  refinement,  culture,  what  you  please  to  call  it,  seeks 
to  eliminate  all  habits,  tendencies,  etc.,  which  set  up  typical  distinc- 
tions in  the  untaught  lowly.  It  succeeds  imperfectly,  however.  Still 
we  have  well-marked  varieties,  or  types,  of  gentlehood,  as  well  as 
well-marked  t}*pes  of  boorhood,  or  villeinhood.  Gentlehood  appears, 
indeed,  to  be,  to  some  extent,  a  blood  hood — to  be  born  into  a  man  or 
woman  quite  as  much  as  it  is  taught  into  a  man  or  woman.  It  ap- 
pears accordingly  in  all  conditions,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest, 
from  the  cottage  to  the  palace.     Ah ! 

"The  man's  the  man  for  a'  that!" 

•Yes,"  continues  Dr.  Frisch,  "refinement  fails  to  obliterate  type 
Ton  is  only  tone,  and  tone  is  sometimes  type.  The  differential  char- 
acters of  a  people — its  types — may  be  studied  in  its  'best  circles,'  in 
its  upper  tens,  as  well  as  in  its  field  or  workshop  classes.  True, 
these  type  differences  may  appear  less  striking  in  the  drawing-room 
than  in  the  workshop  or  the  field,  in  the  man  of  fashion  than  in  the 
peasant  :  tor  I  repeat,  the  aim  of  ton  is  ever  to  divest  itself  of  type  " — 

"Rather,"  interrupted  America,  "to  appear,  as  itself,  the  type  of 
all  types." 

"Not  so,"  insisted  Dr.  Frisch.  "A  type  is  a  peculiar  stamp  im- 
pressed on  a  variety,  by  which  it  differs  from  the  model  form  of  all 
its  kind — the  standard,  in  other  words,  from  which  its  typical  dis- 
tinctions vary  it." 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  21 

In  the  same  piece,  the  attention  of  the  reader  is  directed  to  the 
daring  lines  of  Dekker: 

"Patience !  why  'tis 
The  very  soul  of  peace.     The  best  of  men 
That  e'er  wore  earth  about  him  was  a  sufferer; 
A  mild,  meek,  patient,  gentle,  tranquil  spirit — 
The  first  true  gentleman  that  ever  breathed." 

Perhaps,  a  bitter  man  might  say  that  "the  first  true  gentleman 
that  ever  breathed"  was  also  the  last.  Let  us  here  avoid  all  bitter- 
ness, however,  and  remember  that  the  terms  in  question  evidently 
refer  to  the  perfection  of  the  qualities  by  which  a  gentleman  is 
marked.  Assuredly  there  are,  of  native  as  of  foreign  birth  and 
breeding,  real  gentlemen,  most  amiable,  admirable  gentlemen,  in 
every  portion  of  America.  But,  just  as  certainly,  each  bears  about 
him  some  characteristic  imperfection  or  defect,  directly  traceable  to 
the  characteristics  of  his  people  or  his  province;  and  each  bears  the 
credit  also  of  provincial  or  national  distinctions. 

A  deeper  study  of  New  England  manners  has  made  me  more  and 
more  admire  the  households  of  that  portion  of  the  country.  It  ap- 
pears to  me,  the  "Yankee"  portion  of  our  hero's  life  was  no  bad 
preparation  for  his  life  at  Dartmouth  College  and  elsewhere. 

Ruskin  says  that  "you  shall  know  a  man  not  to  be  a  gentleman, 
by  the  perfect  and  neat  precision  of  his  pronunciation."  Certainly, 
the  pronunciation  of  New  England,  generally  speaking,  was  not 
perfect ;  certainly,  in  some  particulars,  New  England  manners  could 
not  be  regarded  as  entirely  unexceptionable.  But  good  society,  in 
the  best  sense  of  that  expression  was  to  be  found  at  Cornish,  Keene, 
and  Rovalton,  at  each  of  which  places,  as  well  as  at  Washington  and 
Cincinnati,  part  of  Chase's  boyhood  made  its  way  toward  manhood. 

A  dash  of  Western  manner  may  have  shown  itself  in  our  young 
hero  on  returning  to  New  Hampshire  from  Ohio.  Well,  that  dash 
mav  have  improved  him  not  a  little. 

It  was  an  Eastern  man  who  said,  some  years  ago:  "The  Western 
man  is  the  most  representative  of  all  our  types,  and  best  expn 
the  American  idea."  As  this  work  unfolds  its  revelations,  we  may 
find  that  there  is  reason  to  reject  that  doctrine,  if  the  Western  man 
intended  is  a  native  of  the  West.  The  life  before  us  is,  perhaps,  to 
show  that  the  most  representative  of  all  our  types  is  the  man  born 
in  the  East  and  liberally  educated  there,  who  early  wanders  west- 
ward and  soon  settles  down,  as  a  man  of  action  and  reflection,  at  the 
West,  as  did  the  hero  of  this  narrative. 


22  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Lincoln  was,  no  doubt,  in  the  thoughts  of  Theodore  Tilton,  when 
he  wrote  the  words  just  quoted,  to  the  effect  that  the  Western  man, 
as  be-t  expressing  "  the  American  idea,"  must  be  deemed  "  the  most 
representative  of  all  our  types."  As  already  intimated,  Chase  ap- 
pears to  me  more  representative  than  Lincoln. 

Chase,  in  one  respect,  was  clearly  very  representative.  He  repre- 
sented the  mixed  population  of  the  country. 

While  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  Chase  wrote  to  Hon.  John 
H.  Prentiss,  of  Xew  Hampshire,  a  letter,  containing  a  most  inter- 
esting autobiographic  sketch.  Composed  hurriedly,  one  morning 
before  breakfast,  that  bit  of  writing  is  nevertheless  a  fair  sample  of 
the  epistolary  style  and  diction  of  the  pen  by  which  it  was  worked 
off.     Its  tenor  is,  in  part,  as  follows: 

•  My  father  was  an  upright  Christian  man  ;  was  honored  by  the 
confidence  of  his  fellow-citizens  in  an  unusual  degree.  He  was  a 
farmer  in  Cornish,  and  is  well  remembered  there.  It  was  from 
Cornish  that  he  was  sent  so  often  by  the  district  to  represent  it  in 
the  State  Council.  My  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Alexander 
Ralston,  of  Keene,  one  of  the  early  settlers,  ami  a  considerable  pro- 
prietor. She  inherited  from  her  father,  in  the  division  of  the  estate, 
the  large  yellow  building,  occupied  as  a  tavern,  nearly  opposite  to 
the  old  Shantliff  tavern.  When  m}~  father  removed  from  Cornish  to 
Keene.  late  in  1815  or  earl}'  in  1816,  he  kept  that  tavern  for  a  time — 
perhaps  a  year  or  more.  He  died  there  in  1817,  and  his  tombstone 
yet  stands  in  the  burying-ground  of  Keene.  The  change  in  the 
tariff,  and  other  causes  connected  with  the  close  of  the  war,  had  em- 
barrassed his  affairs;  for  he  was  concerned  in  mercantile  business 
and  in  the  manufacture  of  glass  ;  and  my  mother  was  left  with  a  con- 
siderable estate,  heavily  incumbered  by  debts.  When  these  were 
paid  she  was  comparatively  poor,  and  we  children  had  to  depend 
somewhat  on  ourselves.  She  sacrificed  and  stinted  herself  as  a 
mother  only  can  to  secure  to  us  the  best  education  she  could.  After 
my  father's  death  she  sold  the  tavern  place  and  removed  to  the  old 
yellow  house." 

Here  is,  quite  clearly,  indication  of  an  eminently  proper  feeling 
toward  parentage  and  pedigree.  And  here  are,  just  as  clearly,  indi- 
cations of  an  origin  which  ought  not  to  be  characterized  as  "  humble." 

Never  was  a  word,  good  in  itself,  so  shamefully  misused  as  has 
been  that  word  humble.  Chase  was  no  Uriah  Heep.  He  was,  on 
the  other  hand,  at  one  time,  clearly  tinctured  with  what  he  himself 
has  called,  perhaps  not  happily,  aristocratic  feeling;  but  he  never 
was  a  flunkey  or  a  snob.  He  never  was  ashamed  of  father  or  of 
mother.  He  was  always  proud  of  mother  and  of  father;  always 
grateful  for  his  lineage  and  for  his  nurture. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  23 

One  account  that  has  boon  furnished  me,  in  answer  to  my  wishes, 

runs  as  follows  : 

"Chief  Justice   Chase's  mother  was  Jeanette   Ralston,  a  Scotch 

woman,  daughter  of  Alexander  Balston.  Esq.  Her  mot  hers  maiden 
name  was  Jeanette  Balloeh.  who.  in  company  with  three  of  her 
daughters,  (of  whom  Mrs.  Chase  was  one)  came  from  Scot  hi  ml.  in 
1792,  to  join  her  hushand,  who  had  preceded  her.  and  was  estab- 
lished in  business  in  Boston.  lie  afterwards  settled  in  Cornish,  New 
Hampshire,  and  finally  moved  to  Keene.  in  the  same  Stale,  where 
he  died.  In  the  same  ship  with  her  was  James  Balloeh,  her  cousin, 
grandfather  of  Gen.  Balloeh.  of  Washington,  and  her  nephew,  Janus 
Balloeh,  still  living  in  Baltimore  at  an  advanced  age.  Mrs.  Ralston 
was  a  woman  of  remarkable  energy  and  force  of  character,  and  from 
her  the  Chief  Justice  inherited  many  of  his  strong  points." 

Ithamar,  the  father  of  our  hero,  had  for  father  Dudley,  who, 
with  his  faithful  Alice  and  seven  children,  his  and  hers,  re- 
moved from  Sutton,  Massachusetts,  to  the  banks  of  the  beautiful 
Connecticut,  before  the  town  of  Cornish  had  become  a  considerable 
settlement.  According  to  Bishop  Chase,  he  was  the  first  white 
settler  of  that  town,  to  which,  in  memory  of  the  English  town  from 
which  his  ancestors  had  come,  he  gave  the  name  of  Cornish.  But 
the  Bishop  also  states  that  the  town  was  originally  granted  to  his 
father  by  Governor  Bowdoiu,  while  we  are  elsewhere  told  that 
Cornish  was  originally  granted,  June  21,  1763,  to  Rev.  Samuel 
MeClintock,  of  Greenland,  and  sixty-nine  other  persons.1  But  it 
is  also  related  that  the  town  was  settled  in  1765  chiefly  by  emi- 
grants from  Sutton,  Massachusetts,  whence,  as  we  have  seen,  came 
stout  Dudley  Chase  and  noble  and  devoted  Alice  Chase,  the  paternal 
grandparents  of  our  hero. 

If  I  trust  a  memorandum  furnished  me  by  the  Chief  Justice,  I 
may  set  down  that  Dudley  Chase  was  born  August  17,  1729.  Alice 
Corbett's  birthday,  however,  is,  in  that  memorandum,  set  down  as 
February  28,  1738,  while  the  inscription  on  her  tomb,  giving  the 
date  of  her  death  as  September  13,  1813,  sets  down  her  age  as 
eighty-one.     Some  accounts  represent  her  place  of  birth  as  Meridon, 


1  Historical  Facts  Relating  to  Cornish,  New  Hampshire,  by  H.  Chase.  Esq., 
Farmer  &  Moore's  collections,  II,  153.  An  article  in  Harper3 1  Weekly  Bays:  "A 
little  more  than  a  century  ago,  Judge  Chase,  with  his  sons,  General,  Doctor,  ami 
Deacon  Chase,  became  the  proprietor  of  the  township;  gave  two  hundred  acres,  as 
by  law  compelled,  to  the  church  of  England;  named  it  after  the  town  from  whence 
their  ancestors  came;  built  themselves  homes  on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut,  and 
in  1763  had  it  chartered." 


24  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Massachusetts.     In  that  memorandum,  Bellinghain,  in  that  State,  is 
given  as  her  birthplace. 

In  the  Cornish  graveyard  is  a  tomb  bearing  the  inscription :  "  In 
memory  of  the  Honorable  Samuel  Chase,  Esq.,  who  died  August 
12,  1800,  aged  93  years. 

"  Sweet  peace  and  heavenly  hope  and  humble  joy 
Divinely  beam  on  his  exalted  soul. 
Distraction  gild  and  crown  him  for  the  skeys 
AVith  incomunicable  luster  bright." 

Samuel's  wife  was  Mary  Dudley.  Dudley  Chase,  our  hero's 
grandfather,  was  their  second  son. 

On  Mary's  tomb  is  the  inscription  :  "  In  memory  of  Mrs.  Mary 
Chase,  the  amiable  wife  of  the  Honorable  Samuel  Chase,  Esq.,  who 
died  February  12,  1789,  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  her  age. 

"Here  lies  in  this  grave  the  pious  and  the  just, 
The  pattern  of  true  wisdom,  sleep  in  dust. 
The  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed." 

The  father  of  Samuel,  who  was  born  at  Sutton,  Massachusetts, 
was  Daniel,  born  at  Hampton,  September  20,  1685.  Moving  to 
Sutton,  Daniel  married  Sarah  March,  January  2,  1707.  This  mar- 
riage was  quite  fruitful,  Samuel  being  its  first  issue. 

Daniel's  father,  Moses  Chase,  was  the  youngest  son  of  Aquila. 
He  was  born  December  24,  1663,  and,  on  the  10th  of  November, 
1684,  he  became  the  husband  of  Ann  Folansbee,  who  bore  to  him 
many  children. 

Ithamar  Chase  married  Janet  Ralston  at  Keene,  New  Hampshire. 
Eleven  children,  of  whom  one  died  in  infancy,  were  the  issue  of  this 
union.1 

How  admirably  the  beloved  mother  of  this  household  knew  and 
loved  and  served  her  children  and  her  husband,  evidence  enough  has 


1  Those  who  did  not  die  in  infancy  were: 
Hannah  Ralston,  born  December  22,  1792. 
Alexander  Ralston,  born  April  17,  1797. 
Abigail  Corbett,  born  May  26,  1799. 
Dudley  Heber,  born  September  14,  1801. 
Janette  Logan,  born  November  8,  1803. 
Alice  Jones,  born  October  29,  1805. 
Salmon  Portland,  born  January  13,  1808. 
Edward  Ithamar,  born  March  2,  1810. 
William  Frederick,  born  June  8,  1813. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  25 

been  already  presented.     How  was  it  with  the  father  of  the  family, 
the  gentle  Ithamar? 

We  have  already  seen  that  his  renowned  son,  Salmon,  wrote  of 
him,  in  1864,  as  follows: 

"My  father  was  an  upright  Christian  man." 

Not  Christians  only  should  accept  that  sentence  as  at  least  in- 
tended to  express  much  meaning  and  convey  important  testimony. 
Christianity,  even  to  the  Jew,  or  to  the  Islamite,  should  seem  at 
least  the  best,  as  it  is  the  latest  civilization,  guided  and  directed  by 
religion. 

In  one  of  the  Trowbridge  letters  our  hero  says : 

"My  father  was  a  good  man,  and  well  informed  for  one  who  had 
only  the  education  of  country  schools  and  the  }~ellow  house.  He 
kept  me  pretty  straight  by  the  mildest  means." 

The  father  was,  perhaps,  by  nature  and  by  habit,  milder  than  the 
son  who  so  portrays  the  former's  character  and  conduct.  Salmon 
was,  it  seems  to  me,  of  sterner  stuff  than  his  father,  Ithamar ;  but 
we  shall  see  as  we  go  forward. 

The  same  letter,  in  the  next  sentence,  tells  this  anecdote  : 

"  One  day  I  and  two  or  three  more  were  rolling  nine  pins.  There 
was  an  alley  on  our  premise's.  My  father  came  and  said:  'Salmon, 
come  and  go  with  me  to  the  field.'  I  lingered,  hating  to  leave  the 
game.  'Won't  you  come  and  help  your  father?'  Only  a  look  with 
that.  All  my  reluctance  vanished,  and  I  went  with  a  right  good 
will.     He  ruled  by  kind  words  and  kind  looks." 

Here  is  another  account  by  the  same  son  of  the  same  sire : 

"  He  was  esteemed  among  his  neighbors  ;  was  elected  and  for  many 
years  reelected  to  the  Council  of  New  Hampshire  ;  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace,  with  Honorable  before  his  name  and  Esquire  after  it.  in  which 
prefix  and  addition  my  mother  took  an  innocent  pleasure,  mixed, 
perhaps,  with  a  little  pride.  lie  was  the  honored  and  beloved  friend 
of  Mason  and  Webster,  much  younger,  then  a  young  lawyer,  just 
entering  on  his  career." 

Long  live  the  memory  of  Ithamar,  our  hero's  father!  It  is 
wholesome  to  learn  all  we  can  of  characters  so  patriarchal. 

In  the  Prentiss  letter,  part  of  which  I  have  already  given,  are 
the  words  : 

"I  have  not  seen  the  Boston   Courier,  and   know  nothing  of  what 


26  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 

it  contained  concerning  me  or  my  honored  father,  except  from 
your  notice  of  it.  Why  any  body  should  seek  to  misrepresent  facts 
concerning  my  early  life  or  origin,  which,  in  themselves,  have  not 
the  least  possible  importance  "for  the  public,  is  not  easy  to  under- 
stand." 

What  the  Boston  Courier  contained  about  our  hero  and  about 
his  "  honored  father,"  I  have  not  investigated.  Not,  indeed, 
because  I  would  say  of  facts  relating  to  Chase's  early  life,  or  of 
facts  relating  to  his  origin,  that  they,  "  in  themselves,  have  not  the 
least  possible  importance  for  the  public."  That  Mr.  Chase  expressed 
himself  but  hastily,  and  rather  thoughtlessly,  when  he  so  wrote  to 
Mr.  Prentiss,  he  himself  had  shown  already  in  his  Trowbridge 
letters ;  and  when  he  came  to  furnish  me  with  matter  for  this  work, 
he  showed  himself  particularly  anxious  about  my  liberally  drawing 
matter  from  those  autobiographical  letters,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
devote  so  much  attention  to  his  origin  and  to  his  early  life. 

But,  before  I  read  the  Prentiss  letter,  I  had  heard  a  very  scan- 
dalous account  pretending  to  set  forth  the  parentage  of  the  Chief 
Justice;  and  it  was  striking  to  me,  that,  going  down  the  Potomac 
on  a  pleasure  trip,  not  long  after  the  death  of  the  Chief  Justice,  I 
was  told  a  story  not  less  scandalous  about  the  parentage  of  his  legal 
teacher,  William  Wirt.  I  have  no  reason  for  desiring  to  learn 
more  of  either  story.  Both  are  evidently  foolish  fabrications  or 
malicious  lies.  The  Boston  Courier,  indeed,  may  have  had  reason, 
or  apparent  reason,  for  putting  before  its  readers  what  it  said,  on 
the  occasion  here  referred  to,  about  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  and 
about  his  father,  Ithamar.  Of  the  Courier's  responsibility,  in  that 
behalf,  I  can  say  nothing. 

I  have  learned  that  Ithamar,  our  hero's  father,  was,  for  some 
time,  a  distiller.  That  he  was,  for  some  time,  also,  a  tavern-keeper, 
we  have  seen  already  ;  but  distillers,  in  those  days,  were  not  con- 
sidered murderers  by  poison;  and  there  was  nothing  at  all  degrading 
to  a  farmer  in  the  keeping  of  a  tavern  in  connection  with  his  farm. 

Let  me  now  invite  attention  to  the  feeling,  not  devoid  of  vanity, 
and  strongly  marked  by  pride,  with  which  our  hero  viewed  his 
blood  relations,  especially  on  the  paternal  side.  I  would  that  he 
had  seemed  to  care  a  little  more  for  the  kith  and  kin  of  his  never- 
theless well-beloved  mother. 

Montesquieu,  Madame  de  Stael,  and  other  writers,  magnify  the 
worth  of  vanity  in  nations.       Montesquieu,  indeed,  appears  to  look 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  27 

on  vanity  in  individuals  as  virtuous  rather  than  vicious.  Our  own 
Franklin,  who  was  himself  a  vain  man,  writes  in  a  half-serious, 
halt-jesting  manner,  in  excuse  for  self-laudation — nay,  in  praise  of 
self-praise.  At  least,  he  pleads  for  the  privilege  of  speaking  of 
one's  own  perfections.  Chase  was  not  like  Erskine,  Cicero,  and 
other  oratorio  worthies  as  to  egotism.  Generally,  he  avoided  with 
great  care  the  forms  of  egotistic  phraseology;  but  he  was  not  afraid 
to  use  the  terrible  word  /  on  tit  occasions.  Nor  did  he  pretend  not 
to  know  that  he  was  not  only  big,  but  brainy.  Writing  about  the 
house  in  which  he  first  beheld  the  light,  he  could  express  himself 
as  follows : 

"  The  yellow  house  was  more  famous  than  the  White  House  for 
brains.  Indeed,  the  neighboring  folk  used  to  say  that  in  that  yellow 
house  more  brains  were  born  than  in  any  other  house  in  New 
England.  The  Beecher  family  was  then  'in  the  loins'  of  I  know 
not  what  proprietor.  There  were  born  in  that  house  Simeon  Chase, 
the  eldest,  who,  being  eldest,  was  probably  caught  early  and  put 
on  the  farm.  He  lived  and  died  a  plain,  honest,  manly  farmer. 
There  was  Salmon  Chase,  who  went  through  Dartmouth,  became  a 
lawyer,  had  a  great  repute  for  sagacity  and  integrity;  is  much 
talked  of  even  now  by  old  people  at  Portland,  where  he  lived  and 
died  just  before  I  was  born,  whence  the  misfortune  of  1113'  name. 
Then  there  was  Barueh  Chase,  also  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth,  and 
also  a  lawyer  well  reported  of,  who  flourished  at  Hopkinton,  Xew 
Hampshire,  many  years;  and  there  he  died.  Heber  Chase  and 
Corbett  Chase  were  two  other  sons,  who  became  physicians,  I  think, 
and  died  comparatively  young;  one  of  them,  as  I  seem  to  remember 
having  heard,  at  Philadelphia.  Dudley  Chase,  Senator  from  Ver- 
mont, after  having  been  four  times  Speaker  of  the  Vermont  House 
of  Eepresentatives,  in  1813;  resigned  in  1817;  elected  Chief  Justice 
the  same  year,  and  continued  by  annual  election  till  1821  ;  again 
Senator  from  1825  to  1831 ;  and  brought  to  his  end,  after  an  honor- 
able career,  at  Randolph,  Vermont,  was  another  son.  Philander 
Chase  was  youngest  and  best.  When  a  student  at  Dartmouth,  the 
young  son  of  the  congregational  deacon,  poring  over  some  books 
which  had  somehow  found  their  way  into  the  college  library,  became 
convinced  that  the  Episcopal  Church  was  that  which  the  apostles 
had  planted,  and,  prompt  to  act  on  his  convictions,  joined  its  com- 
munion. His  zeal  or  his  logic  wrought  mightily  with  the  yellow 
house  folk.  They  all  became  Episcopalians — the  venerable  deacon, 
his  beloved  wife,  and  all  their  children,  so  tar  as  I  know,  without 
exception.  This  change  must  have  been  wrought  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century,  for  certain  it  is  there  an  Episcopal  Church  was 
built  and  consecrated;  and  the  family  were  devout  worshipers  there 
when  I  was  born.  The  Bishop's  history  you  know  from  the 
Reminiscences.  Ho  was  earnest,  able,  faithful,  valiant,  imperious, 
it  may  be;  confident  in  himself,  more  confident  in  Cod;  always 
saying  Jehovah  Jireh,  God  will    help,  and  always  finding  himself 


28  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

helped;  good-humored    when    not    angry;  always    ready   with    an 
anecdote,  always  ready  with  a  good  turn." 

Alexander  Ralston,  we  have  seen,  was  his  grandfather  on  the 
maternal  side.  But  who  and  what  was  Alexander  Ralston?  I  like 
the  character  of  Sandie  Ralston,  though  he  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  quite  a  modern  Joseph.  Sandie  was,  we  have  already  seen,  a 
native  of  the  land  whose  choicest  bard  composed  the  lines,  not 
seldom  sung  in  public  at  Burns'  Suppers : 

"Jennie's  always  wat,  pair  body, 
Jennie's  seldom  dry; 
She  draggled  a'  her  petticoatie 

Comin'  through  the  rye." 

But  Jennie  Balloch — Scotch  enough  that  patronymic  !— -whom 
our  Sandie  wedded  in  the  land  o'  Burns  and  cakes,  was  not  the 
Jennie  of  the  song.  She  seems  to  have  been  chaste  as  Diana,  and 
severe  as  "  Good  Queen  Bess,"  in  rigid  moods.  Tradition  tells  an 
anecdote  of  "  Stacey's  Pasture"  (pronounced  pastoor),  owned  by 
Sandie  Ralston,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Keene  —  an  anecdote  in 
which  Jennie,  Sandie's  "guid"  wife,  played  the  role  of  a  Scotch- 
Yankee  feminine  avenger,  and,  taking  her  unlucky  spouse  and 
another  "  party/'  flagrante  delicto,  vigorously  chastised  her  husband 
on  the  spot  with  what  she  fancifully  called  "a  wee  bit  hazel  rod," 
but  what,  in  point  of  fact,  tradition  says,  was  a  stout  cudgel. 

Sometime  between  April  29,  1830,  and  July,  1831,  our  hero 
made  this  entry  in  a  diary  which,  like  most  other  diaries,  was  only 
now  and  then  a  book  of  daily  entries : 

"The  modes  of  speech  in  the  rustic  parts  of  JSTew  England  are  so 
peculiar  that  I  have  determined  to  set  down  some  of  the  odd 
phrases  which  I  every  day  meet  with.     Here  they  are: 

"'Sharp  as  the  little  end  of  nothing,  whittled  down.'  'You  don't 
now,  do  you?'  'I  hain't  another  stick  to  save  my  gizzard  ' — this 
is  equivalent  to  a  Musselman's  oath  by  his  beard.  'Gumption.' 
'Never  saw  any  thing  like  this  growing  among  corn  ' — which  is  an 
exclamation  of  astonishment.  'A  plaguy  neat  kind  of  a  chap ' — 
which  is  an  expression  of  commendation.  '  Curious  varmint ' — 
which  signifies  curious  creature.  'Make  yourself  scarce' — an 
intimation  that  your  company  is  not  wanted.  '  Understood  the 
whole  squinting  of  the  business  as  slick  as  a  whistle' — know  all 
about  it.  '1  conclude,  it's  best  to  cut  stick' — a  resolution  to 
depart." 

The  mother  of  our  hero  probably  used  a  dialect  in  which  a  curi- 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  29 

ous  combination  of  Scotch-English  with  New  English — in  other 
words,  with  the  novel  English  of"  New  England — could  have  been 
traced.  One  of  her  surviving  relatives,  with  whom  I  am  acquainted 
— one  of  the  Ballochs — uses  the  English  well,  indeed,  but  so  that 
more  than  traces  of  the  combination  just  referred  to  are  distinctly 
visible  in  his  discourse.  However  marked  or  unmarked  the  dialect 
of  our  hero's  mother  may  have  been,  that  which  is  most  certain  is, 
that  she  was  one  of  the  best  women  who  have  yet  been  wives  and 
mothers.  A  future  chapter  offers  letters  which  appear  to  me  most 
precious  documents — letters  written  to  our  hero  by  his  mother.  I  am 
very  proud  of  their  contents,  and  very  grateful  for  their  indications. 
Buckle  says  : 

'•  "We  often  hear  of  hereditary  talents,  hereditary  vices,  and 
hereditary  virtues;  but  whoever  will  critically  examine  the  evi- 
dence will  rind  that  we  have  no  proof  of  their  existence.  The 
way  in  which  they  are  commonly  proved  is,  in  the  highest  degree, 
illogical;  the  usual  course  being  for  writers  to  collect  instances  of 
some  mental  peculiarity  found  in  a  parent  and  in  his  child,  and  then 
to  infer  that  the  peculiarity  was  bequeathed.  By  this  mode  of  rea- 
soning we  might  demonstrate  any  proposition,  since  in  all  large 
fields  of  inquiry  there  are  a  sufficient  number  of  empirical  coinci- 
dences, to  make  a  plausible  case  in  favor  of  whatever  view  a  man 
chooses  to  advocate.  But  this  is  not  the  way  in  which  truth  is  dis- 
covered, and  we  ought  to  inquire  not  only  how  many  instances  there 
are  of  hereditary  talents,  etc.,  but  how  many  instances  there  are  of 
such  qualities  not  being  hereditary.  Until  something  of  this  sort  is 
attempted,  we  can  know  nothing  about  the  matter  inductively; 
while,  until  physiology  and  chemistry  are  much  more  advanced,  we 
can  know  nothing  of  it  deductively."1 

In  nearly  all  that  Buckle  says  about  received  ideas,  one  can  easily 

discern  exaggeration  and  a  decidedly  morbid  disposition  to  reverse 

the  saying : 

"Whatever  is,  is  right." 

He  would  have  been  far  more  apt  to  write: 

"Whatever  is,  is  wrong," 

or,  perhaps, 

"Whatever  is,  is  not." 

But  let  us  hear  dear  old  Adam  Clarke  on  this  subject.     He  says  : 

"Though  it  has  not  been  found  that  any  branch  of  the  family  of 
the  Clarkes  claimed  nobility,  yet  it  has  always  appeared  that  the 


JNote  12,  1  Buckle  Hist.  Civ.  Eng.,  127. 


30  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

character  of  gentility,  generosi,  or  ingenui,  has  been  conceded  to  them, 
and  to  them  the  Roman  definition  of  ingenui  is  in  every  respect  ap- 
plicable. They  came  from  a  pure  and  ancient  stock;  the}'  had  never 
been  in  bondage  to  any  man;  had  never  been  legally  disgraced,  and 
never  forfeited  their  character.  In  this  family  1  have  often  heard 
the  innocent  boast,  None  of  our  family  has  ever  served  the  stranger."1 

Chase  might,  to  himself,  at  least,  have  whispered  the  like.  For, 
after  all,  we  all  believe  in  blood,  whatever  we  may  think  of  rank; 
and  quite  too  many  of  us  have  great  faith  in  rank  itself. 

If  our  snobocracy  believed  in  blood  rather  than  in  money,  it  were 
better  for  the  country  and  the  age  in  which  we  live — we  Americans 
about  to  enter  the  latter  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  Christian  cen- 
tury— we  New  World  Christians  and  non-Christians — we  adorers 
of  success  and  show. 

Yet  it  must  be"  owned  that  what  we  know  about  inheritance, 
in  point  of  personal  characteristics,  physical  and  psychical,  is  far 
from  great.  And  to  the  rules  we  think  we  have  discerned,  as  gov- 
erning the  transmission  of  parental  traits,  our  observation  forces  us 
to  acknowledge  very  numerous  exceptions.2 

Instances  are  by  no  means  rare  in  which  the  admixture  of  char- 
acters we  could  naturally  expect  to  find  in  the  offspring  of  a  pair 
well  known  to  us,  does  not  manifest  itself;  and,  indeed,  "  in  almost 
every  large  family  (and  sometimes  even  where  there  are  no  more 
than  two  children)  it  will  be  observed  that  the  likeness  to  the  father 
predominates  in  some  of  the  children,  and  the  resemblance  to  the 
mother  in  others." 3 

Do  we,  then,  know  nothing  on  the  subject?  We  consider  that  we 
know  a  little.  We  consider  that  we  know  that,  normally,  the  in- 
fluence of  both  parents  on  the  constitution  of  the  offspring  is  mani- 
fested in  the  admixture  of  their  characters,  perceptible  in  the  latter. 
We  consider  that  we  know,  that  the  same  influence  manifests  itself 
in  the  tendency  to  the  hereditary  transmission  of  perverted  modes 
of  functional  activity  which  may  have  been  habitual  to  either,  as, 
for  example,  in  gout,  in  scrofula,  and  even  in  insanity.4  True,  "  the 
subject  of  hereditary  temperament  and   tendency   to  disease  is  still 


1  Autobiography  of  Adam  Clarke,  41. 

2  Carpenter,  Human  Physiology,  780.     Am.  Ed.  3  Ibid. 

1  Ibid.  And  see  Holland's  Medical  Notes  and  Reflections,  chapter  on  Hereditary 
Diseases,  and  chapter  on  Gout  as  a  Constitutional  Disorder.  See  also  Holland's  Mental 
Physiology. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  31 

largely  open  to  inquiry  "l  I  have  given  much  attention  to  that  sub- 
ject ;  and,  therefore,  it  is  that  I  speak  of  it  with  caution  rather 
than  with  confidence.  But  1  think  it  is  well  established  that  the 
corporeal  peculiarities  of  the  parental  organisms  enter,  modified, 
into  the  organism  of  their  offspring;  and  that  habit,  as  it  is  per- 
ceptible in  the  parental  organisms,  often  reappears  in  their  offspring 
as  instinctive  action  or  tendency.2  And  I  think  it  ought  to  be  con- 
sidered reasonably  certain  that  the  instincts  of  the  soul,  if  1  may  so 
express  myself,  the  habits  of  the  intellect  and  the  affections,  may 
be  transmitted,  modified,  by  the  parents  to  their  offspring. 

"Less  familiar  to  the  popular  mind,"  I  have  elsewhere  observed. 
"are  certain  theories,  some  of  which  attribute  to  the  mother  the 
furnishing  of  certain  parts,  and  to  the  father  the  furnishing  of  other 
parts,  in  what  is  constitutive  of  the  offspring.  One  of  these  supp< 
that  the  characters  of  the  animal  portion  of  the  fabric  are  especially, 
but  not  exclusively,  derived  from  the  male  parent,  and  that  the  char- 
acters of  the  organic  apparatus  are,  in  like  manner,  derived  from  the 
female  parent."3 

I  consider  that  these  theories  are  far  from  well  defined,  and, 
therefore,  far  from  well  established. 

In  the  present  work,  I  think  we  have  a  special  interest  in  the 
phenomenon  called  atavism.  This  appears  in  instances  in  which, 
even  when  the  distinctive  peculiarities  of  one  parent  have  been  over- 
borne, as  it  were,  in  the  immediate  progeny,  by  the  stronger  influ- 
ence derived  from  the  other  side,  they  reappear  in  a  subsequent  gen- 
eration. 

It  appears  to  me,  that  in  Salmon  Portland  Chase  appear  more 
of  the  distinctive  traits  and  tendencies  of  Aquila  Chase,  than  ap- 
peared either  in  our  hero's  father,  Ithamar,  or  in  his  father's  father, 
Dudley. 

Of  Aquila  Chase,  who  is,  practically,  it  would  seem,  for  us,  the 
jjropositus  of  the  Chase   lineage,   we  know  far  less  than  we  could 


1  Holland's  Medical  Notes  and  Reflections,  chapter  on  Hereditary  Diseases. 

2 Dr.  Holland  teaches  thai  habit,  in  such  cases,  appears  as  ''superimposed"  on 
instincts,  which  it  is  aide  to  modify. 

3 Carpenter,  779.  "The  Physiologists  distinguish  between  the  Organic,  or  Vegeta- 
tive Life  of  Man  and  his  Animal  Life,  or  Life  of  Relation.  The  Organic  Life  of 
Man,  although  most  intimately  connected  with  the  Life  of  Will,  and  constantly 
affected,  more  or  less,  by  willful  acts,  and  by  emotions  springing  out  of  willful  acts, 
is  quite  involuntary.  It  belongs,  therefore,  to  nature,  which  I  would  distinguish  as 
the  realm  of  the  Involuntary."     Warden,  Man  and  Law,  9. 


32  THE    PRIVATE    LTFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

wish  to  learn.  But  all  we  learn  about  him  tends  to  prove  that  he 
was  a  man  of  extraordinary  energy — of  energy  not  seen  in  either 
the  father  or  the  grandfather  of  our  hero,  but  in  him,  himself,  re- 
markably apparent. 

But  I  respectfully  warn  the  reader  against  thinking  too  much  of 
theories  of  any  kind,  relating  to  inheritance  in  instinct  or  in  habit; 
in  corporeal  characteristics,  or  in  spiritual  proclivities. 

If  rank,  like  blood  (of  which  it  is  designed,  in  some  degree,  to  be 
the  sign),  deserves  to  be  considered,  much  of  the  consideration  due 
to  it  must  be  referred  to  culture.  Rank,  in  general,  is  in  associa- 
tion with  pecuniary  means;  and  money,  while  it  can  not  purchase 
blood,  can  pay  the  salaries  of  tutors  and  tutresses. 

The  force  of  education  may,  itself,  indeed,  be  overrated.  Even 
education  can  not  work  miracles.  Though  mind  is  very  evidently 
mightier  than  matter,  education  can  not  lengthen  a  leg  or  prolong 
an  arm,  or  make  a  bull-necked  man  a  man  of  well-shaped  upper 
person,  or  make  that  man  an  Apollo  who  was  born    to  be  an  .ZEsop. 

Possibly,  Lavater  hits  the  nail  pretty  squarely  on  the  head,  where 
he  conveys  the  pleasing  lesson,  that  a  man  is  as  free  as  a  bird  in  a 
cage — the  cage  the  Swiss  enthusiast  alludes  to  being  just  the  human 
body.  Education  can  do  much  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  freedom 
limited  by  the  dimensions  of  that  cage ;  perhaps,  it  can  even  widen, 
deepen,  or  exalt  them  somewhat ;  but  what  more  ? 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  33 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE   HERO'S    EARLIEST    RECOLLECTIONS. 

VERY  interesting  seem  to   me  the   earliest   recollections   of  our 
hero,  as  communicated  in  the  Trowbridge  Letters.      Here  are 
a  few  specimens: 

i-  T  remember  the  Frenchmen  who  came  over,  refugees  from  La 
Belle  France  and  from  the  Bourbon  restoration.  They  fled  when  the 
great    Captain  fell — Bonapartists  all  of  them — ready  for  any  thing, 

willing  to  work — versatile — a  few  days  with  the  Yankee  tanner. 
chopping  wood  and  teaching  his  little  tow-headed  boy  wn,  deux, 
trois,  quatre,  cinq,  and  so  on,  till  he  could  count  a  hundred  in  French, 
and  thought  himself  a  proficient  in  the  tongue — then  gone,  none 
knew  whither. 

"I  remember,  too,  the  hired  man.  who,  vexed  beyond  all  hearing 
with  a  corn  on  his  big  toe,  performed  rash  surgery  on  the  offending 
memher,  with  a  chisel,  a  mallet,  and  a  block  of  wood.  The  corn 
troubled  him  no  more,  but  the  toe  was  gone." 

Here  is  another  extract  from  the  same  letter  : 

"And  I  remember  the  school,  and  my  sister,  the  school-mistress — 
a  young  girl  fresh  from  Parson  uncle  Philander  Chase's  female  semi- 
nary at  Hartford,  but  who  seemed  to  me  as  awful  as  Minerva  and 
Juno — not  of  my  acquaintance  then — as  I  walked  respectfully  on  the 
other  side  of  the  road,  creeping  to  school  ;  and  the  soldiers,  going  to 
or  coming  from  the  war,  Avho  amused  themselves,  when  they  saw 
my  attempts  to  avoid  them,  by  catching  me  and  questioning  me.  and 
letting  me  go;  and  the  birds  I  attempted  to  catch  by  putting  salt  on 
their  tails  ;  for  had  I  not  been  told,  and  that  by  my  mother  herself, 
that,  if  I  could  put  salt  on  the  birds'  tails.  I  should  be  sure  to  catch 
them? — ami  was  there  not  a  Avhole  flock  of  yellow  birds  on  the  bank 
of  the  ravine,  just  under  a  bridge  I  crossed  on  my  way  to  school; 
and  did  I  not  rush  eagerly  home,  clutch  a  handful  of  salt.  ami. 
hastening  back,  fling  the  whole  of  it  over  the  whole  flock:  and  must 
not  some  of  it  have  fallen  on  some  bird's  tail?  And  yet  did  they 
not  all  fly  away,  so  that  catching  of  them,  or  any  of  them,  was  a 
simple  impossibility?  How  1  reproached  mother  and  all  tor  deceiv- 
ing me;  and  how  I  was  laughed  at  for  my  pains;  and  what  abate- 
ment my  proneness  to  belief  received,  what  need  to  tell? 

"These,  and  such  as  these,  were  the  events  of  my  most  youthful 
.  l  I  had  a  kind  aunt,  my  mother's  sister — whose  husband,  a 


1  A  word  illegible. 


Si  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

gruff,  but  honest  man,  son  of  old  General  Chase,  a  Judge  also,  seemed 
great  in  our  eyes,  and  had  what  seemed  better,  stores  of  grapes  and 
honey  and  other  good  things.  Of  these  things  my  aunt  was  liberal — 
her  husband  not  so  liberal — and,  sometimes,  when  my  mother  wanted 
me  to  take  medicine,  and  I  was  rebellious,  my  good  aunt  would  sub- 
due my  refractoriness  by  a  promise  of  a  cup  of  hone}-,  which  eagerly, 
devoured,  made  me  sicker  than  the  medicine.  This  kind  aunt  was 
another  of  the  gentle  sort — like  my  mother,  and  always  sweet  and 
good.  Her  face  shines  now,  indistinctly  but  sweetly,  upon  me, 
through  the  mists  of  time. 

"  It  was  in  the  summer  of  1815,  I  think,  that  my  father  sold  his 
farm  in  Cornish,  to  our  neighbor,  Marsh  ;  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year, 
we  set  out  on  the  long  journey  of  forty  miles — how  long  it  did  seem 
then  ! — to  Keene.  I  think,  Ave  stopped  the  first  night,  at  Walpole  or 
Drewville,  and  the  next  day  reached  Keene." 

Here  is  another  extract  from  the  same  letter  : 

"1  remember  parties  of  boys  and  girls  to  the  cold  spring  meadow, 
where  we  gathered  fresh  wild  strawberries,  which,  were  doubtless, 
small  and  sour,  but  which  imaginative  memory  makes  large  and 
sweet." 

That  passage  is  far  sweeter  than  the  fruit  that  it  so  neatly  pictures. 
Not  less  interesting  is  the  statement : 

"  I  remember,  also,  the  great  eagle  which  soared  high  in  air,  over 
our  farm-houses,  and  which  the  boys  could  see,  and  I  fancied  I  could  ; 
for,  it  they  saw  something  1  thought  I  must;  for  I  had  no  idea  of 
differing  powers  of  vision,  and  fancied  my  eyes  could  see  what  every- 
body's eyes  could.  Now,  1  think  I  saw  nothing,  but  simply  im- 
agined I  saw. 

"  1  remember,  too,  a  sleigh-ride  with  my  father,  up  the  Connecti- 
cut, and  the  joy  of  the  sleigh-bells,  and  how  pleasant  it  seemed,  with 
the  sparkling  snow,  the  jingling  bells,  and  the  warm  sleigh-robes; 
and  ray  visit  to  the  Cornish  Flats,  the  town,  with  my  father,  and 
how  important  I  felt  at  the  tavern  table  for  the  first  time  in  my  life. 

••  And  1  remember  my  calf  of  which  i  was  so  proud  and  so  fond, 
and  which,  after  all,  I  found  to  my  sorrow  was  not  mine.  And  the 
going  a -fishing  with  my  brother  on  the  Connecticut,  the  pulling  up 
stream  in  a  small  boat  to  where  a  little  brooklet  came  in  and  made 
a  sort  of  quiet  eddy  in  the  water,  where  we  put  out  our  lines  and  I 
felt  something  nibbling  at  the  end  of  mine,  and  pulled  up,  and  lo  ! 
nothing — whereupon  my  brother  told  me  I  must  not  pull  till  I  felt 
the  fish  running;  and  J  let  my  line  down  again  and  gave  heed  to  his 
instructions,  when  pretty  soon  the  nibbling  began  again,  and  then 
the  line  seemed  lo  begin  to  move  off,  and  I  gave  a  twitch  and  a  pull, 
and  a  pull,  until  at  length  a  big  snake  came  squirming  and  wrig- 
gling lo  the  side  of  the  boat,  and  my  brother  caught  hold  of  the  line, 
and  said,  ' It'8  an  eel '  — my  first  introduction  to  those  slippery  gen- 
tlemen. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  35 

"And  the  sliding  down  hill  on  the  snow  over  what  seemed  steepest 
descents  and  longest  distances,  headling,  on  my  wooden  sled— dis- 
tance and  declivity  which  seemed  tame  enough  when  I  saw  them 
years  alter." 

This  most  interesting  document  concludes  as  follows : 

"  There,  my  dear  Mr,  Trowbridge,  you  have  the  substance  of  what 
I  told  you  when  you  were  here — in  a  shape,  perhaps,  fitter  for  your 
use.  You  see,  I  was  a  rustic  boy — very  rustic — full  of  faults — not 
very  much  given  to  asking  for  the  causes  of  things — read}*  to  accept 
what  was  told,  me,  but  equally  read}*  to  correct  errors  of  informa- 
tion by  better  information  or  by  experience;  ambitious  to  be  at  the 
head  of  my  class,  but  without  much  other  ambition;  and  not  grudging 
that  place  to  any  one  who  fairly  won  it,  and,  least  of  all,  to  pretty 
Betty  Marble. 

"  Now.  it'  with  a  kind  father  and  mother  watching  over  such  a  boy, 
with  old  Ascutney  looking  on  him  every  morning  from  his  mists 
and  every  evening  from  his  royal  panoply  of  gilded  cloud;  and  the 
Connecticut  river  rolling  by,  and  the  Connecticut  meadows  and  Con- 
nectieut-Xew  Hampshire  hills  over  which  to  roam  and  make  hay, 
and  gather  flowers,  and  pluck  strawberries — if,  with  these  materials, 
and  a  good  imagination  of  your  own,  you  can't  make  something — 
why.  it  can't  be  helped." 

Autobiographic  writing,  everybody  knows,  is  full  of  difficulty. 
It  is  difficult  even  if  one  do  not  demand  of  it  that  which  certain 
writers1  seem  to  consider  essential,  namely,  an  unusual  degree  of 
self-knowledge  and  a  still  more  unusual  love  of  truth.  Did  Burns 
display  his  usual  hard  sense  when  he  wrote: 


"  0  wad  some  power  the  giftie  gie  us 
To  see  oursels  as  others  see  us  ?  " 


Is  it  certain  that 


"It  wad  frae  mony  an  error  free  us 
An'  fulish  notion?" 


On  the  contrary,  seeing  how  others  differ  in  their  judgments  of 
us,  and  feeling  how  unjust  many  of  the  curiously  differing  opinions 
of  us  are,  perhaps  we  would  be  tempted  to  yet  vainer,  prouder  self- 


1"Es  gehoert  zur  Autobiographic  ein  6eltener  Grad  von  Selbsterkenntniss  and 
ein  noch  seltener  Grad  von  Wahrheitsliebe,  zwei  Eigenschaften,  die  nur  von  Dem- 
jenigen  zu  erwarten  sind,  der  im  gerechten  Gefuehle  seines  moralischen  Werthes 
auch  seine  Schwaechen  und  Febler  ohne  Beschaemung  bekennen  darf,  wie  wir  dies 
z.  B.  in  Alfieri's  trefiiicher  Autobiographie  linden."     Brockhaus'  Conv.  Lex. 

4 


36  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

appreciation.     I  believe,  indeed,  most  men  of  sense  are  far  better 
judges  of  themselves  than  of  their  neighbors. 

Here  is  an  account  that  seems  to  me  suggestive: 

"My  father  took  possession  of  a  large  tavern  house  which  my 
mother's  father1  had  built,  and  opened  it  to  the  public.  It  was  an 
old  yellow  building  with  a  lung  portico  before  it,  and  pretty  large 
for  those  days.  The  number  of  the  rooms  seemed  very  great  to  me, 
though  I  now  hardly  think  there  could  have  been  more  than  twelve 
or  fourteen.  There  was  a  garden  immediately  in  the  rear,  and  be- 
hind a  tract  of  land,  extending  back  to  the  Ashuelot,  narrow  in  front 
and  width,  but  deep,  containing,  say  forty  or  fifty  acres,  perhaps 
less.  I  remember  only  one  spring  and  one  summer  at  the  old  tavern 
— the  spring  by  the  melting  of  the  snow  and  the  rushing  of  the 
water  through  the  channels,  natural  and  artificial,  which  conducted 
them  to  the  Ashuelot — the  summer  by  a  ridiculous  attempt  I  made 
to  dry  up  a  small  pool  of  water  by  building  a  fire  on  an  extempo- 
rized raft  of  planks,  and  setting  it  afloat  upon  it.  I  had  somehow 
lost  a  shoe  in  the  pool,  and.  knowing  that  water  can  be  dried  up  by 
heat.  I  undertook  to  dry  up  the  pool.  It  would  probably  have  been 
no  great  undertaking  had  the  fire  been  under  instead  of  over  it,  for 
the  quantity  of  water  was  not  considerable.  As  it  was,  I  was  not 
long  in  finding  that  I  was  not  likely  to  recover  my  shoe  in  that  way, 
and  abandoned  the  experiment  in  disgust." 

How  often  older  boys  try  like  experiments,  in  legislation  as  in 

physics  ! 

"I  remember  the  summer  time  also."  continued  Secretary  Chase, 
"by  the  lessons  I  used  to  take  of  my  sister,  the  same  who  kept  the 
school  at  Cornish,  who  undertook  now  to  initiate  me  into  the  mys- 
teries of  Latin  grammar  ;  and,  when  I  failed  to  accomplish  my  pre- 
scribed tasks,  would  insist  that  will,  not  capacity,  was  in  fault,  and 
send  [me]  out  in  the  garden  to  stay  by  myself  till  I  could  say  my 
lesson — not  a  very  serious  punishment,  and  not  repeated  often.  And 
I  remember  the  fall  by  the  black  cherries  in  the  big  black  cherry 
tree,  which  I  climbed  for  the  fruit,  and  from  which,  climbing  too 
venturously,  one  day,  on  a  branch  of  it,  I  fell,  dislocating  my  wrist; 
but.  determined  not  to  show  a  faint  heart  to  my  elder  brother,  who 
was  with  me.  and  was  hastening  down  from  the  tree  to  my  relief,  I 
sprang  up,  and  shouted  to  him,  'I  got  down  first.'  And  when  he 
asked  me.  -Are  you  much  hurt,'  answered.  ;  Xo.  only  broke  my 
wrist.' 

This  anecdote  appears  to  me  decidedly  denotive.  It  denotes,  it 
seems  to  me,  quite  clearly,  the  peculiar  temper  of  the  man  who  tells 
it  of  himself.  He  never  was  a  wliiner.  He  was  able  to  endure 
great  suffering  with  but  little  demonstration  of  the  inward  anguish. 

1  The  aforesaid  Sanclie  Ralston.     Chapter  II. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  37 

The  experiences,  the  observations,  of  young  Salmon  at  that  tavern 
home,  were  not  all,  perhaps,  of  the  best  order.  Yet,  on  the  whole, 
they  probably  did  not  affect  him  prejudicially. 

Doubtless,  there  was  talk  there  about  party  politics — about  Jack- 
son, Madison,  and  Monroe.  We  must  not  fail  to  note  the  time. 
We  have  already  seen  that  our  hero  was  seven  or  eight  years  old  : 
that  it  was  in  1815  or  1816  that  his  father  became  a  tavern-keeper. 

Salmon  was  then  old  enough  to  listen  to  political  discussions. 
Did  he  care  to  hear  them?  AVe  shall  see  that,  while  at  school  at 
Windsor,  opposite  his  native  Cornish,  he  began  to  study  printed 
politics;  but  had  he  not  already  learned  at  least  a  little  about  such 
matters  as  the  war  with  Great  Britain,  the  Hartford  Convention, 
Jackson's  victory  at  Xew  Orleans,  the  peace? 

Of  that  more  may  be  said  hereafter.  Let  us  now  go  back  to 
those  Latin  lessons,  given  by  a  sister. 

Franklin  represented  Latin  as  like  a  French  chapeau  at  a  party — 
not  to  be  worn,  but  only  shown — the  chapeau  being  carried,  not  on 
the  head,  but  under  the  arm.  How  utterly  mistaken  Franklin  was 
in  that  respect  it  is  unnecessary  here  to  indicate.  Xo  man  of  lib- 
eral culture  ought  to  be  without  some  knowledge  of  the  Latin 
language.  How  was  it  with  Salmon's  sister,  giving  him  instruction 
in  that  idiom?  Was  Latin  good  for  her  as  well  as  for  her  brother 
Salmon  ? 

That  it  actually  was  I  venture  not  to  say.  It  is  enough  to  say  it 
might  have  been  as  good  for  her  as  for  her  brother. 

I  have  heard  that  Ithamar,  her  father,  said,  in  effect,  respecting 
his  intention  to  give  Salmon  a  better  "  schooling,  than  that  given  to 
his  other  children  ;  that  that  discrimination  was  occasioned  by  the 
fact  that  Salmon  had  not  wit  enough  to  take  care  of  himself  with- 
out a  thorough  education."  It  would  seem,  accoi'ding  to  that  story, 
that  'Squire  Ithamar  did  not  discern  in  his  son  Salmon 

"A  mother  wit  and  wise  without  the  schools." 

But  Ithamar  but  jested.     He  knew  well  that  Salmon  had  mother 
wit  as  well  as  other  wit  beyond  his  brethren. 

Ithamar,  we  shall  discover,  was  more  marked  by  love  of  substance 
than  by  care  for  form,  though  he  did  have  Honorable  before  his 
name  and  Esquire  after  that  already  locally  distinguished  patronymic. 
He  was  a  judicial  and  no  doubt  judicious  person — justice  of  the 
peace,  to-wit.     If  he  allowed  his  young  son  to  read  Shakspeari 


38  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

we  .shall  find  he  did,  no  doubt  he  read  "Sweet  Will"  himself,  and 
was  by  no  means  a  New  English  type  of  the  Dogberrian  magistrate. 

The  office  that  he  held  is,  every-where  in  the  United  States,  an 
office  ill-considered,  yet  of  great  importance  to  the  welfare  of  com- 
munities and  individuals.  A  justice  of  the  peace,  though  not,  in 
theory,  invested  with  the  power  of  suspending  the  execution  of  the 
laws,  possesses,  practically,  in  his  narrow  sphere,  that  fearful  power. 
Ho  can  mitigate  or  harden  justice  in  his  ministry  thereof.  Far 
more  importance  ought  to  be  attached  to  the  selection  of  good  men 
for  this  neglected  office. 

I  suppose  Ithamar  was  a  federalist,  as  was  his  brother,  Philander, 
whose  relation  to  the  early  education  of  Chief  Justice  Chase  Ave 
shall  find  to  have  been  so  important. 

Let  me  here  invite  attention  to  a  statement  in  a  biographic  doc- 
ument to  which  Ave  have  already  been  under  obligation : 1 

"At  the  age  of  nine  years  he  read  Eollin's  Ancient  History  and 
Shakspeare's  plays,  with  a  boy's  relish  for  the  entertainment  they 
afforded." 

He  Avas  not,  perhaps,  precocious  as  John  Stuart  Mill  appears, 
from  his  own  statement,  to  have  been.  And  how  different,  particu- 
larly as  to  religion,  Avas  the  education  of  that  English  thinker  from 
the  education  of  our  hero !  Yet,  Avhen  we  take  into  consideration 
that  there  Avas  a  nine-pin  alley  on  the  premises  of  Ithamar  Chase; 
that  that  alley  Avas  no  stranger  to  young  Salmon's  love  of  pleasure; 
and  that  Salmon,  at  the  age  of  nine  years,  Avas  free  to  read  such 
works  of  fiction  as  Rollin's  history  and  Shakspeare's  plays,  it  would 
hardly  seem  that  there  was  much  of  puritanic  rigor  about  the  religi- 
ous training  of  our  hero's  boyhood. 

Yet  that  training  Avas  unquestionably  such  as  to  dispose  him  to 
unfeigned  religiousness — a  consideration  the  momentousness  of  which 
can  hardly  be  entirely  manifest  at  present.  Gradually  its  impor- 
tance, with  reference  to  a  thorough  comprehension  of  the  life  we 
study,  must  become  quite  evident. 

Secretary  Chase  Avrote  to  Mr.  TroAvbridge : 

"  I  Avas  about  five  years  old  Avhen  I  received  the  first  impression 
that  men  must  die.  My  venerable  grandmother  went  aAvay  with 
the  floAvers  in  the  early  fall  of  1813. 2     She  was  eighty-one  years  of 


1  Very  often  I  have  found  myself  unable  to  agree  with  the  writer  of  that  piece 
which,  however,  coming  down  to  1856,  has  been  of  some  service  as  a  guide. 
2  I  think  this  is  an  error. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND    CHASE.  39 

age,  and  died  on  the  13th  of  September.  The  plain  stone  at  the 
head  of  her  grave  in  the  Cornish  churchyard  hears  the  inscription  : 
•This  is  the  road  to  i  mortality.'  I  have  the  most  indistinct  impri  8- 
sion  of  her  death  and  burial;  so  indistinct  that  J  can  hardly  distin- 
guish recollection  from  impressions  from  hearsay.  It  seems  to  me 
that  1  remember  more  of  my  grandfather's  death.  Ilv  survived  his 
wife  just  seven  months.  A  fall  on  the  frozen  ground,  passing  be- 
tween the  two  houses,  perhaps  hastened  his  departure.  He  died  on 
the  13th  of  April,  1814,  aged  eighty-four  years.  On  his  headstone 
is  still  Legible  an  inscription  from  his  favorite  poet,  Young,  the 
greater  part  of  whose  Sight  Thoughts  he  could  repeat  from  memory. 
I  am  not  sure  that  I  have  the  inscription  correctly : 

"  'What  though  we  wade  in  wealth  or  soar  in  fame, 
Earth's  highest  station  ends  in  'Here  he  lies,' 
And  'dust  to  dust'  concludes  her  noblest  song." 

Among  the  matter  furnished  me  by  the  hero  of  this  work  him- 
self was  a  biographic  sketch  of  him,  composed,  I  understood,  under 
his  guidance.  That  document — for  such  it  is  in  relation  to  this 
work — contains  these  words  : 

"  At  Sunday  school  he  committed  more  verses  than  an}*  other 
scholar  ;  once  repeating  accurately  almost  an  entire  gospel,  in  a  sin- 
gle recitation." 

But  no  memory  goes  back  to  the  beginning  of  existence.  Writing, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  to  Mr.  Trowbridge,  Secretary  Chase  could 
not  relate  all  his  experience  and  observation.  He  could  not  go  back 
to  the  beginning  of  his  days.  We  can  not  use  Lis  language  in 
endeavoring  to  frame  a  reasonable  fancy  as  to  what  he  must  have 
been  in  earliest  infancy. 

One  is  schooled  when  one  is  reprimanded.  All  the  life  of  Chase, 
at  home  and  abroad,  may,  on  the  other  hand,  be  treated  as  a  school, 
in  the  sense  of  an  instruction,  without  special  reference  to  repri- 
mands or  to  rewards.  But  the  schooling  that  our  hero  took  directly 
in  the  school,  so-called,  is  of  great  interest  to  this  whole  work. 

The  biographic  document  first  referred  to  has  the  words: 

"The  first  school  of  Salmon  was  the  District  school — that  first 
public  institution  of  his  country  with  which  the  citizen-child  becomes 
identified.  A  little  State  of  itself — with  its  riders,  its  ranks,  its 
parties,  strifes,  and  ambitions,  all  engrossing  tor  the  time.  There  be 
learned  the  alphabet  from  a  strip  of  birch  bark  on  which  his  father 
had  printed  it.  There  he  was  taught  to  spell  and  read — and  then' 
his  emulous  spirit  pointed  him  to  the  head  of  the  class,  where  he 
generally  stood,  except  when  sometimes  the  luckier  star  of  a  neigh- 
bor's daughter  was  in  the  ascendant." 


40  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Trowbridge,  Mr.  Chase  said : 

"  Of  the  two  years  and  odd  months — almost  another  year — which 
elapsed  after  my  father's  death,  before  I  went  West,  I  passed  several 
months,  including  a  part,  if  not  the  whole,  of  one  winter,  at  Windsor, 
Vermont,  under  the  charge  of  Col.  Dunham,  who  had  established  a 
ladies'  school  of  great  repute  there.  The  Colonel  was  a  friend  of  my 
father,  and  proposed  to  my  mother  to  send  me  and  my  sister  Alice 
to  his  school,  which  she  did." 

I 

Of  the  schooling  in  the  District  school  at  Keene  we  have  already 

seen  a  little.     Let  us  look  a  little  more  attentively  at  the  evidence 

relating  to  that  portion  of  our  hero's  training.1 

•i  I  have,"  wrote  Secretary  Chase  to  Mr.  Trowbridge,'1  "a  dim 
l'ecollection  of  the  District  school — there  were  several  in  the  town — 
as  a  dark  room  with  a  great  many  boys  in  it;  on  our  side  of  the 
street,  between  the  tavern  and  the  meetingdiouse.  One  day  I  got 
into  a  fight  with  a  neighbor  boy,  the  only  personal  fight  I  was  ever 
in." 

In  this  connection  let  me  quote  a  letter  written  by  Chief  Justice 
Chase,  in  1868,  to  Rev.  Mr.  Blanchard — the  same  letter  to  which  I 
am  indebted  for  the  motto  of  this  work.     That  letter  says  : 

"  It  is  curious  how  men  best  acquainted  with  each  other  mistake 
as  to  matters  of  personal  history." 

After  giving  an  important  instance  aifecting  himself,  the  writer 
adds  : 

"And  you,  too,  are  mistaken  in  your  facts Judge 

Burnet.  Groesbeck  &  Co.  never  cut  me.  Judge  Burnet  was  a  very 
kind,  personal  friend;  though  neither  he  nor  Mr.  G.  approved,  I  dare 
say,  of  my  ant i -slavery  views,  and  I  should,  no  doubt,  have  been 
better  received  in  society  had  I  better  suited  the  prevailing  Cincin- 
nati tone." 

It  is,  indeed,  curious  how  men  best  acquainted  with  each  other 
mistake  as  to  matters  of  personal  history.  But  it  is  also  curious  how 
a  man  may  be  mistaken  as  to  matters  of  his  own  personal  experience. 


*Be  our  views  friendly  or  unfriendly  to  the  public  schools,we  must  agree  that 
the  facts  to  which  attention  is  here  given  are  of  capital  importance  to  a  study  of 
our  hero's  character  and  to  a  proper  understanding  of  his  conduct  in  important 
crises  of  his  life.  The  system  of  our  public  schools  appears  to  me  affected  quite  too 
much  by  an  unwholesome  zeal,  political  and  religious;  but.  with  all  its  faults,  the 
system  has  worked  wonders,  and,  well  managed,  it  may  render  yet  more  admirable 
service  to  the  welfare  of  society  in  this  new  world. 

2  January  19,  1864. 


OF    SALMON    POKTLAND    CHASE.  41 

A  letter  from  my  friend,  Gen.  Thomas  Kilby  Smith,1  describes  what 
certainly  must  have  seemed  to  him  at  least  quite  like  a  "  personal 
fight,"  of  which  the  hero  was  none  other  than  the  modest  hero  of 
this  work.  And  I  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  Secretary  Chase 
forgot  some  parts  of  his  life  when  he  wrote,  as  we  have  seen,  to  Mr- 
Blanchard,  as  well  as  when  he  said  to  Mr.  Trowbridge,  that  that 
affair  of  his  boyhood  was  the  only  personal  fight  he  was  ever  in. 

But  let  us  look  at  the  account  given  by  our  hero  of  that  boyish 
battle.     It  runs  thus  : 

"He  threw  a  brick  or  stone  at  me.  I  closed  on  him  with  1113'  fist : 
but  we  were  soon  parted,  and  there  were  no  serious  consequences. 
I  remember  well  that  I  did  not  want  to  fight ;  but  thought  a  crisis 
had  come — I  did  n't  know  the  word,  then — and  thought  I  must  hit 
him.  and  I  did." 

When  that  was  only  an  "  impending  crisis,"  how  did  our  young- 
Salmon  feel?  Was  he  a  physically  plucky  boy,  or  had  he  only  moral 
courage?  Rosecrans  reported  that  he  had  fired  several  shots  at 
the  retreating  foe  in  order  to  produce  a  moral  effect.  What  was  the 
moral  effect  of  the  missile  hurled  at  Salmon  by  that  neighbor  boy? 
The  brick  or  stone,  it  seems,  like  the  issues  of  the  cannons  fired  by 
Rosecrans  on  the  occasion  just  referred  to,  did  not  reach  the  enemy  ; 
but  in  the  case  of  Chase,  the  foe  was  not  retreating.2 


1  Post. 

2  Anecdotes  of  this  description  are  not  trivial.  One  only  wishes  that  this  anec- 
dote had  been  a  little  less  imperfect. 

School-boy  battles  are  not  necessary,  it  may  be,  to  the  perfection  of  scholastic 
education.  Yet  it  is  not  quite  unpleasant  to  be  able  to  record  that  Salmon  Portland 
Chase  once  used  the  sublime,  unsurrendered,  unsurrenderable  right  of  self-defense 
through  the  balled  list,  and  actually  brought  that  natural  weapon  into  active  use. 

Did  he  know  how  to  use  it  with  effect?  At  that  time,  was  he  able  to  defend  him- 
self with  skill  and  force  combined?  One  doubts  that.  Such  boys  as  he  are  apter  to 
excel  in  dialectics  than  in  duels. 

Many  of  the  old  ideas  of  the  English  law,  the  ancient  usages  now  legally  con- 
sidered obsolete,  survive  at  school.  The  wager  of  battle  still  remains  a  mode  of  trial 
among  school-boys.  Boys,  indeed,  at  home  and  at  school,  still  hold  to  the  old  notion, 
that  it  is  the  greatest  merit  that  is  destined  to  be  most  successful — that  the  stroi 
are  the  mightiest — that  conclusive  proof  of  capability  is  given  by  success  in  all 
enterprises  of  great  pith  and  moment  as  well  as  in  affairs  of  little  consequence. 

Indeed,  we  shall  soon  see  that  our  hero  long  believed  that  merit  could  command 
success. 

That  is,  as  we  shall  more  and  more  perceive  as  we  progress,  a  doctrine  as  pernicious 
as  untrue;  and  never  was  a  life  more  illustrative  of  the  truth  to  which  it  is  opposed 
than  we  shall  find  the  life  traces  back  to  its  birth  and  follows  throughout  its  career. 


42  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SEEIVCES 

Here  is  another  extract  from  the  letter  of  January  19,  1864 : 

"My  father  was  a  farmer's  son,  and  himself  a  farmer.  Through 
my  mother  he  came  into  possession  of  considerable  property,  for 
those  days,  in  Keene  ;  and  invested  a  part  in  the  manufacture  of 
glass.  After  we  went  to  Keene,  I  sometimes  visited  the  factory, 
and  wondered  at  the  way  bottles  were  blown  out  of  little  lumps 
of  metal,  and  plates  were  cut  from  layers  of  the  same,  spread 
thinly  out." 

Was  Ithamar,  the  father  of  our  Salmon,  thrifty?  Was  he  an 
economist?  Had  he  read  Franklin's  Way  to  Wealth f  Perhaps, 
he  knew  the  way  to  wealth,  if  there  be  such  a  way,  but  could  not 
walk  therein.  It  may  be  questioned  whether,  even  if  there  were  a 
well-defined  way  to  affluence,  the  greatest  difficulty  would  be  so  much 
in  finding  out  that  way  as  walking  in  it  when  discovered.  Econom- 
ics is,  no  doubt,  a  science.  One  of  its  cognitions,  I  would  say,  is, 
that  success  is  not  to  be  commanded  by  desert  in  the  pursuit  of  riches. 
Every  man  can  not  become  a  modern  Croesus.  All  of  us  can  not  be 
rich.  Did  gentle  Ithamar  aspire  to  be  a  millionaire?  That  may 
be  doubted.  But  he  seems  to  have  tried  many  ways  to  better  his 
condition. 

Possibly,  indeed,  the  difficulty  with  him  was  that  he  tried  too 
many  ways.     Perhaps  he  had  "  too  many  irons  in  the  fire." 

What  was  the  teaching  of  the  local  clergy  on  that  subject? 
Worldly  wisdom  often  seems  to  be  the  wisdom  which  the  preacher 
is  most  studious  to  learn  and  to  disseminate.  Our  miraculous  Beecher 
seems  to  be  not  less  devoted  to  the  object  of  at  least  marking  out  the 
way  to  wealth  than  was  Poor  Richard. 

But  your  preacher  often  seems  to  have  but  little  knowedge  of  the 
Biblical    philosophy  relating  to    accumulation.1      That    philosophy, 


1  Not  long  ago,  I  listened,  possibly  somewhat  too  critically,  to  a  sermon  on  the 
gospel  of  the  day,  which — I  mean  the  sermon — rendered,  most  imperfectly  I  thought — 
the  meaning  of  the  words : 

"And  for  raimemt  why  are  you  solicitous?  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how 
they  grow  :   they  labor  not,  neither  do  they  spin. 

"  And  yet  I  say  to  you,  that  not  even  Solomon,  in  all  his  glory,  was  arrayed  as  one 
of  these. 

"Now,  if  God  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field,  which  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is 
cast  into  the  oven:  how  much  more,  0  ye  of  little  faith? 

"  Be  not  solicitous,  therefore,  saying :  What  shall  we  eat,  or  what  shall  we  drink, 
or  wherewith  shall  we  be  clothed? 

"For  after  these  things  do  the  heathen  seek.  For  your  Father  knoweth  that  ye 
have  need  of  all  these  things. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  43 

well  studied,  can  be  completely  reconciled  with  the  doctrine  on  the 
same  subject,  ascribed  by  Plato  to  his  master,  Socrates. l 
Writing  of  his  early  life  at  Keene,  our  hero  said,  in  1864  : 

"  I  remember  little  about  my  school  days  while  I  lived  there.  One 
winter  I  attended  the  District  school — not  the  same  as  that  I  went 
to  while  we  lived  at  the  tavern  house,  but  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
town.  The  school  that  winter  was  kept  by  young  Wilson,  a  student 
of  Harvard,  and  son  of  'Squire  Wilson,  one  of  the  Keene  magnates. 
He  was  afterwards  member  of  Congress  from  New  Hampshire,  and 


"Seek  ye,  therefore,  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his  justice  :  and  all  these  things 
shall  be  added  to  you." 

The  last  verse  is  thus  given  in  a  French  Protestant  version: 

"  Mais  cherchez  premierement  le  royaume  de  Dieu  et  sa  justice,  et  toutes  ces  choses 
vous  seront  donnees  par  dessus.  " 

In  a  French  Catholic  translation,  we  have  the  words : 

"  Cherez  done  promitrement  le  royaume  de  Dieu  et  sa  justice ,  et  tout  le  reste 
vous  sera  donn  '•  par  surcroit." 

In  parallel  columns,  here  are  a  Catholic  German  and  a  Protestant  German  render- 
ing of  the  same  verse: 


"  Peswegen  suchet  zuerst  das  Reich 
Gottes  und  dessen  Gerechtigkeit,  so  wird 
euch  dieses  Alles  auch  beigegeben  werden." 


"  Trachtet  am  ersten  nach  dem  Reich 
Gottes,  und  nach  seiner  Gerechtigkeit,  so 
wird  euch  solches  Alles  zufallen." 


It  is  evidently  necessary  to  a  full,  clear  exposition  of  the  doctrine  here  in  ques- 
tion, be  it  human  or  divine,  to  notice  the  whole  tendency  of  the  context,  which  is 
clearly  to  the  point,  that  too  great  solicitude  about  material  things  is  unworthy  of  the 
sublime  mission  of  a  human  soul,  completely  conscious  of  its  capabilities  and  of  the 
obligations  which  spring  out  of  its  relations  to  the  other  beings  of  its  order,  in  the 
midst  of  whom  it  has  to  choose  between  noble  and  ignoble  objects  and  pursuits. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  no  man  can  be  happy  without  goodness;  but  whoever 
teaches  that  a  good  man  can  not  be  unhappy,  or  that  merit  can  command  success, 
has  not  yet  learned  that  sublime  philosophy  of  aspiration  after  goodness,  which 
alone  can  comprehend  why  it  is  always  bad  to  be  bad,  always  good  to  be  good. 

1  Post.  See  birthday  letter  to  Chief  Justice  Chase,  Jan.  13,  1873.  I  heard  a  ser- 
mon from  the  lips  of  Lyman  Beecher,  which  I  never  can  forget.  It  contrasted  the 
Protestant  propagandist  with  the  "  Romish  "  propagandist,  and  advised  the  former 
to  imitate,  in  some  respects,  the  latter;  and  particularly  as  to  due  attention  to 
corporeal  compassion.  Baxter's  "Saint's  Rest"  he  lauded  as  a  truly  admirable 
work;  but  as  a  propagator  he  considered  that  it  might,  in  some  cases,  prove  inferior 
to  bread  and  butter,  coffee,  tea,  and  sugar.  But  I  have  no  doubt  that  Lyman 
Beecher  understood  the  doctrine  of  success  and  failure  pretty  well,  not  only  in  the 
pursuit  of  material  happiness,  but  in  more  exalted  matters. 

Nothing  succeeds  like  success  in  all  things,  lthamar,  our  hero's  father,  did 
not,  as  a  fortune  hunter,  in  a  certain  sense,  succeed ;  but  let  us  not  too  rashly  judge 
him  as  a  failure.  Economics  was  not  taught  in  the  schools  as  a  science  in  his  day. 
It  is  not.  well  taught  now,  in  the  schools  or  thereout.  Of  that,  however,  more  must 
be  advanced  hereafter. 


44  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

subsequently  held  an  important  position  in  California.  I  remember 
his  coming  to  our  house  in  a  furious  snow  storm  to  see  me  safe  to 
school.  He  was  always  genial  and  kindly,  and  remains  so,  I  believe, 
to  this  day." 

Let  us  dwell  a  little  on  that  grateful  tribute.  It  is  equally  of 
credit  to  Wilson  and  to  Chase. 

"Before  my  District  school  experience,"  continued  Secretary 
Chase,  "I  attended  Miss  Fiske's  school  for  youug  ladies,  to  which, 
by  favor,  two  or  three  boys  were  admitted.  It  was  a  great  day  for 
us  when  'Squire  Wilson  invited  us  all  to  his  house — how  grand  it 
seemed  to  me,  that  moderate,  square,  brick  house,  with  its  grounds 
and  garden  ! — and  we  had  the  privilege  of  the  garden,  and  of  the 
ripe  currants.     It  was  one  of  the  few  holidays  I  ever  had." 

Here  is,  no  doubt,  exaggeration,  though  unpurposed.  He  who 
wrote  the  sentence  I  have  just  laid  under  special  stress,  was  a  good 
worker, and  he  lived  a  most  laborious  life;  but  he  might  have  been 
a  harder  worker,  and  he  might  have  lived  a  more  laborious  life. 
Of  that,  however,  I  propose  to  say  a  farther  word  or  two  hereafter. 

In  the  chapter  following,  I  have  attended  somewhat  to  the  teach- 
ing of  the  circumstances  that  surrounded  Chase's  early  life,  at 
Cornish,  Keene,  and  Windsor — to  the  force  of  aspect  and  the  force 
of  use  and  usage,  which,  while  he  was  yet  a  young  observer  of  this 
world,  affected  the  peculiarization  of  his  modes  and  tendencies  of 
action  and  reflection.     If,  indeed, 

"The  boy  is  father  to  the  man," 

we  do  not  pay  too  much  attention  to  this  portion  of  the  study 
given,  in  this  volume,  to  the  life  of  a  man,  who,  in  spite  of  all  his 
foibles  and  his  graver  faults,  was  truly  great  in  spirit  as  in  body, 
though,  as  I  have  intimated,  he  w?as  not  particularly  marked  by 
philosophic  depth. 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  45 


CHAPTER    III. 

A   FARTHER    STUDY     OP    THE     HERO'S    EARLY    LIFE   —  FORESHADOWINGS. 

THE  present  volume  is  to  be  in  itself  complete.  In  another 
volume,  I  propose  to  offer  to  the  public  An  Edition  of  the  Speeches 
and  the  Writings  of  Chief  Justice  Chase,  with  Annotations  and  Con- 
nective Commentary.  In  the  present  work,  accordingly }  great  pref- 
erence is  given  to  the  matter  that  relates  to  the  hero's  private  life, 
especially  his  early  life.  Much  of  his  life  belongs  to  history,  and 
much  of  that  which  interests  us,  in  the  present  studies,  may  well  be 
supposed  to  be  somewhat  known  to  every  reader;  but  the  matter 
that  relates  to  his  first  years  can  not  be  supposed  to  be  known  to 
even  the  best-informed  reader. 

Secretary  Chase  wrote  thus  to  Mr.  Trowbridge: 

"As  I  have  told  you,  I  don't  remember  much  about  my  earliest 
years.  I  have  been  told  that  one  day,  when  m}T  father  and  mother 
were  absent  on  a  visit  to  my  uncle  Philander,  at  Hartford,  Connect- 
icut, I  came  home  from  school  complaining  of  headache,  and  was 
put  into  a  cradle  or  on  a  couch  by  my  sister,  and  fell  into  a  heavy 
Bleep.  It  so  happened  that  Dr.  Toucy,  of  Windsor,  our  relative  and 
physician,  came  by  and  looked  in  to  see  my  sister.  Observing  me, 
he  inquired  what  was  the  matter.  My  sister  told  him,  and  he  exam- 
ined me  more  closely,  and  pronounced  me  in  great  danger  of  a 
malignant  fever  then  epidemic.  My  sister,  greatly  alarmed,  pro- 
posed to  send  for  her  father,  eighty  or  a  hundred  miles  distant. 
The  doctor  thought  it  was  useless.  The  crisis  would  pass  before 
they  could  return  ;  he  would  stay  and  watch.  Anxious  hours  were 
those  which  followed,  and  the  issue  seemed  very  doubtful;  but  God 
spared  my  life — the  fever  yielded;  and  I  was  on  the  high  road  to 
recovery  when  my  parents  came  back." 

The  same  letter  relates  as  follows : 

"  I  was  religiously  educated,  but  not  held  under  any  very  severe 
restraint.  I  was  baptized  into  the  Episcopal  Church,  and,  among 
my  earliest  recollections  are  those  of  a  square  pew  on  the  south  side 
of  the  church,  about  halfway  from  the  west  to  the  east  wall,  where, 
I  think,  I  did  more  sleeping  than  any  thing  else.     The  impressions 


46  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

made  by  parental  teaching  on  my  moral  nature  were  strong.  Some- 
times I  would  infringe  their  rules.  Once,  on  Sunday,  I  went  sliding 
down  hill,  with  some  hoys,  on  the  dry  pine  leaves,  and  when  I  came 
home  my  father  took  me  into  a  private  room,  and  reproved  me  so 
impressively  that  I  never  felt  inclined  to  transgress  that  way  again. 
"It  shocked  me  greatly  to  hear  boys  swear,  and  I  obeyed  my 
mothers  injunction  to  keep  away  from  them  as  much  as  I  could." 

The  moral  Hygiene  and  the  moral  Medicine,  if  I  may  so  express 
myself,  with  which  our  hero's  earliest  years  were  made  familiar, 
appear  to  have  been  somewhat  of  the  puritanic  order ;  yet  I  would 
consider  that  they  were  of  the  very  mildest  type  of  puritanic  theory 
and  practice. 

Let  us  now  consider,  somewhat  more  particularly,  how  his  early 
years  were  influenced  by  the  aspects  and  the  uses  of  the  things  that 
formed  its  "  physical  conditions."  l 

It  appears  the  town  of  Cornish  is  a  tract  chiefly  made  up  of  hill 
farms.  Its  greatest  glory  is  the  river  by  which  part  of  its  extent  is 
washed. 

Among  the  best  descriptions  of  this  interesting  stream,  I  remem- 
ber, but  I  have  not  now  within  quoting  reach,  one  made  by  Harriet 
Martineau,  in  her  Society  in  America,  a  work,  I  was  surprised,  some 
years  ago,  to  find  quite  rich  in  graphic  contributions — contributions 


1  Aspect  force  may  seem  a  novel  term.  But,  very  clearly,  aspect  is  a  force  as  well 
as  use,  with  reference  to  education.  I  am  not  about  to  follow  Dr.  Draper,  Henry 
Thomas  Buckle,  Charles  de  Secondat,  Baron  de  la  Brcde  et  de  Montesquieu,  or  any 
other  writer,  into  any  known  exaggeration  on  the  subject  of  the  educating  force  or 
influence  of  physical  "surroundings." 

Once,  I  talked  with  Chase  himself  about  the  long  nameless  science  which  Hum- 
boldt might  have  been  expected  to  denominate  Toponomy,  a  science  to  which  his 
immortal  Kosmns  has  most  admirably  furnished  light  and  guidance.  1  excepted  to 
the  minuteness  of  Tyler's  Life  of  Taney  in  describing  a  place,  where  Taney  lived, 
not  in  his  infancy  or  in  his  youth,  but  at  a  time  when  it  was  to  be  supposed  that 
his  character  was  too  distinctly  molded  to  be  greatly  influenced  by  his  surround- 
ings, physical  or  psychical.  But  "my  Chief,"  a  little  curtly,  more  suo,  told  me  that 
my  criticism  was  but  hypercriticism — that  too  much  attention  had  not  been  devoted 
by  Tyler  to  the  matters  to  which  I  referred. 

More  meo,  1  adhered  to  my  opinion,  not  quite  lightly  formed,  and  thereupon 
launched  into  some  account  of  wliat  I  had  discovered,  or  apparently  discovered,  in 
the  course  of  what  I  called  my  toponomic  explorations. 

Chase  apparently  approved  that  designation.  And,  indeed,  it  seems  to  me  en- 
tirely fit  to  name  the  purely  scientific  cognitions  which  relate  to  the  appreciable 
influence  of  place  on  individuals  and  nations.  The  Chief  Justice  took  a  lively  in- 
terest in  my  desire  to  have  him  dictate  to  me  a  good  description  of  his  native  town. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  47 

to  American  topography.     Here  is  an  extract  drawn  from  Bryant's 
admirable  Letters  of  a  Traveler:1 

"  Soon  after  reaching  the  highest  elevation  on  the  road,  we  entered 
the  State  of  New  Hampshire.  Our  way  led  us  into  a  long  valley 
formed  by  a  stream,  sometimes  contracted  between  rough  woody 
mountains  and  sometimes  spreading  out  for  a  short  distance  into 
pleasant  meadows  ;  and  we  followed  its  gradual  descent  until  we 
reached  the  borders  of  the  Connecticut.  We  crossed  this  beautiful 
river  at  Bellows  Falls,  where  a  neat  and  thriving  village  has  its  seat 
among  craggy  mountains,  which,  at  a  little  distance,  seem  to  impend 
over  it.  Here  the  Connecticut  struggles  and  foams  through  a  narrow 
passage  of  black  rocks,  spanned  by  a  bridge.  I  believe  this  is  the 
place  spoken  of  in  Peters's  History  of  Connecticut,  where  he  relates 
that  the  water  of  the  river  is  so  compressed  in  its  passage  between 
rocks,  that  an  iron  bar  can  not  be  driven  into  it." 

A  river  must  be  badly  shored  if  it  be  not  an  object  of  great  invi- 
tation to  the  lover  of  the  picturesque.  The  shoring  of  the  picturesque 
Connecticut  is  not  like  that  of  the  Ohio,  which,  indeed,  appeared  to 
Parton,  as  did  the  other  rivers  of  the  West,  as  little  better  than  a 
drainage  ditch,  cut  by  the  hand  of  nature,  in  a  mood  of  the  prosaic 
order,  I  suppose.  The  banks  of  the  Ohio  are  not  firm;  they  have 
been  cut  away,  in  places,  almost  as  the  Mississippi  banks  have  been 
operated  upon  by  that  resistless  current ;  yet  I  would  as  soon  ac- 
cept John  Randolph's  character  of  the  Ohio  River  as  agree  that 


He  would  have  clone  so  had  his  occupations  and  his  health  permitted  him  to  render 
that  not  unimportant  service  to  this  work.  But,  for  the  time  being,  he  referred  me 
to  the  Trowbridge  letters,  which  I  had  not  then  found,  and  to  the  curious  book  in 
aid  of  which  those  letters  were  composed — The  Ferry  Boy  and  the  Financier. 

What  he  thought  about  that  work  of  Mr.  Trowbridge  I  have  elsewhere  shown,  in 
language  used  by  Secretary  Chase  himself.  I  call  the  book  a  curious  production, 
chiefly  on  account  of  its  mixture  of  mere  fancy  with  more  solid  and  substantial 
matter.  I  have  not  made  much  use  of  it  at  any  time,  and  some  one  having  carried 
off  the  copy  furnished  me  by  our  hero  himself,  I  have  not  been  able  to  procure 
another  copy. 

Of  its  topographic  matter  I  have  made  no  note,  and  my  remembrance  is  quite 
faint.     The  topographic  matter  of  this  chapter  is  derived  from  other  sources. 

Of  the  inner  life  of  Cornish  a  note  of  the  Appendix  gives  a  pretty  full  account, 
extending  over  a  considerable  and  a  very  interesting  tract  of  history.  I  much  re- 
gret that  I  have  been  so  situated,  during  the  preparation  of  this  work  for  printing, 
that  I  have  not  felt  at  liberty  to  pay  the  once  intended  pious  pilgrimage  to  our 
hero's  place  of  birth.  It  is  with  u  mind's-eye"  vision  only  that  I  have  been  able  to 
behold  the  Cornish  landscapes. 

!Page  141. 


48  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Partem  has  described,  correctly  or  appreciatively,  the  River  Beau- 
tiful of  the  Ohio  Valley.1 

The  Connecticut  I  never  saw,  though,  as  already  hinted,  I  have 
naturally  desired,  and  even  purposed  to  pay  to  its  waters  a  pious 
pilgrimage,  in  memory  of  him  whose  life  is  here  related.  But 
that  river,  I  am  sure,  must  be  a  very  interesting  water-course  to 
every  observer.  That  it  must  have  greatly  interested  Chase's  in- 
fancy is  hardly  to  be  questioned. 

In  the  spring  it  overflows  its  banks.  We  shall  read,  by-and-by, 
a  good  description  by  our  hero  of  a  flood  in  the  Ohio — that  of  1832. 
Most  of  us  have  read,  in  school-books,  vivid  accounts  of  the  Con- 
necticut's performances  in  flood  time. 

Windsor,  where  our  hero  passed  some  time  at  school,  has  for  its 
eastern  limit,  a  beautiful,  mile  wide  meadow,  dividing  it  from  the 
Connecticut,  into  which,  on  the  south,  flows  the  Mill  River,  while, 
on  the  north  and  north-wTest,  Polk-Hole  Brook  empties  into  the 
same  main  artery  of  water.  By  the  brook  and  Mill  River  is 
formed,  at  the  west  of  the  village,  a  natural  isthmus.  The  whole 
site  of  the  village  is  uneven,  and  the  main  street  is  what  Mrs. 
Malaprop  would  have  called  decidedly  turpentine. 

Chase  wrote  to  Mr.  Trowbridge,  of  the  Dunham  grounds,  at 
Windsor : 

"  The  place  was  beautiful,  and  beautifully  situated — shrubbery, 
fruits,  and  flowers,  and  walks,  and,  that  wonder,  to  my  young  farmer- 
boy's  eyes,  a  little  pond  with  gold  fishes,  made  it  very  pleasant. 
These  months,  perhaps,  passed  as  agreeably  as  any  other  of  my 
younger  years."2 

How  was  it  with  the  aspects  and  the  uses  of  the  scenery  at 
Keene?  Writing  of  that  lovely  village,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Trow- 
bridge, dated  January  21,  1864,  Secretary  Chase  employed  these 
terms : 


1  Referring  to  article  Cincinnati  in  the  Atlantic. 

2  We  must  not  fancy  that  the  landscapes  of  that  region  lacked  the  charm  pro- 
ceeding from  the  harmony  of  works  produced  by  art  with  works  fashioned  by  the 
hand  of  nature.  Art  and  nature  are  not  naturally  enemies,  if  the  expression  may 
pass  criticism.  Landscape  gai'dening  (which  should  be  called  landscape  architect- 
ure or  landscape  building,  if  the  tasteful  reader  pleases),  often  mars  the  face  of  a 
fine  landscape;  and  the  works  of  merely  useful  art  not  seldom  unintentionally 
spoil  a  prospect  which,  but  for  them,  would  be  beautiful  or  picturesque ;  but,  after 
all,  the  term  "betterments,"  and  the  term  "improvements,"  as  applied  to  changes 
of  the  purely  natural  in  landscape,  are  not  without  teaching  truth. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  49 

"The  town  of  Keene  occupies  quite  a  level  plain,  through  which 
the  Ashuelot  makes  its  way  toward  the  Connecticut." 

It  seems  the  Ashuelot  runs  a  little  west  of  the  village  site,  and 
enters  the  Connecticut  a  little  above  the  line  of  Massachusetts.  A 
pond  in  Washington  is  its  source.  At  Keene  it  receives  a  branch 
issuing  from  ponds  in  Stoddard.  Having  passed  Keene,  it  takes  its 
way  to  Swanzey,  where  it  receives  another  considerable  branch. 

According  to  Bryant's  Letters  of  a  Traveler,  Keene  bears  descrip- 
tion as  "a  flourishing  village  on  the  rich  meadows  of  the  Ashuelot, 
with  hills  at  a  moderate  distance  swelling  upward  on  all  sides.  It 
is  a  village  after  the  New  England  pattern,  and  a  beautiful  specimen 
of  its  kind — broad  streets  planted  with  rock  maples  and  elms,  neat 
white  houses,  white  palings,  and  shrubs  in  the  front  inclosures."  l 
The  principal  street  is  a  mile  long. 

Some  notion  of  its  neighborhood  is  yielded  by  this  farther  extract 
from  that  pleasing  book  of  Bryant: 

"During  this  visit  to  New  Hampshire,2  I  found  myself  in  a  hilly 
and  rocky  region,  to  the  east  of  this  place,  and  in  sight  of  the  sum- 
mit of  Monadnock,  which,  at  no  great  distance  from  where  I  was, 
begins  to  upheave  its  huge,  dark  mass  above  the  surrounding 
country. 

"I  took  much  pleasure  in  wandering  through  the  woods  in  this 
region,  where  the  stems  of  the  primeval  forest  still  stand — straight 
trunks  of  the  beech,  the  maple,  the  ash,  and  the  linden,  towering 
to  a  vast  height.  The  hollows  are  traversed  by  clear,  rapid  brooks. 
The  mowing  fields,  at  that  time,  were  full  of  strawberries  of  large  size 
and  admirable  flavor,  which  you  could  scarce  avoid  crushing  by 
dozens  as  you  passed." 

Though,  when  I  first  met  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  he  had  evi- 
dently been  long  accustomed  to  contend  with  the  difficulties  of  short- 
sightedness, his  diaries  afford  clear  evidence  that  there  was  once 
a  time  when  he  could  see,  or  fancy  that  he  saw,  quite  distant 
points  of  landscape.  This  appears  to  me  the  more  remarkable,  be- 
cause I  have  always  understood,  that,  while  the  vison  of  Myopia 
is,  or  may  be,  a  great  magnifier  of  the  near  and  the  minute,  it  can  not 
clearlv  view  the  distant.3 


1  Pages,  141,  142.  2That  was  in  1843. 

3  "  The  ordinary  forms  of  defective  vision,  which  are  known  under  the  names  of 
Myopia  and  Presbyopia,  or  'short-sightedness'  and  'long-sightedness,'  are  entirely 
attributable  to  defects  in  the  optical  adaptation  of  the  eye.  In  the  former,  its  re- 
fractive power  is  too  great;  the  rays  from  objects  at  the  usual  distance  are  conse- 


50  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

I  have  now  at  hand  the  earliest  diary  he  furnished  for  ray 
biographic  use.  It  opens  on  the  first  of  January,  1829.  The 
handwriting  in  it  is  distinguished  by  minuteness  in  the  characters, 
although  these  are  less  minute  than  the  characters  used  in  his  later 
chirographical  performances.  Any  one  who  ever  saw  him  working 
off  a  letter,  sitting  with  his  back  against  the  light,  and  writing  in 
comparative  obscurity,  must  have  thought  the  spectacle  a  curious 
phenomenon.  I  have  not  learned  how  it  was  with  him  at  school. 
Did  he  then  bend  down  closely  to  the  page,  or  bring  the  page  up 
closely  to  his  eyes?  I  know  not.  This  I  know,  that  he  must  have 
taken  a  "  fine  sight"  of  all  the  pages  presented  for  perusal. 

Doubtless,  the  small  characters  he  used  in  writing  were  much 
magnified  to  him.  And  yet  he  seemed  to  wish  his  private  secretary 
to  write  a  large,  bold  hand — perhaps  with  special  reference  to  its 
general  legibility. 

To  return  to  his  visual  relation  to  the  scenery  with  which  his 
earliest  years  were  most  familiar.  Doubtless,  the  whole  aspect-force 
at  Cornish,  influenced  his  modes  of  thought  and  feeling.  Every 
sight  and  every  sound  with  which  his  infancy  was  well  acquainted, 
must  have  tended  to  affect  his  tastes  and  traits.  But  let  us  not 
forget  that  aspect-force  at  Cornish  was  but  gentle.  There  was 
nothing  there  of  Mountain  Gloom  or  Mountain  Glory  as  described 
by  Ruskin. 1  True,  New  Hampshire  has  been  called  the  Switzer- 
land of  North  America;  but,  even  in  its  most  characteristic  moun- 
tainous expanse,  it  is  not  of  the  Swiss  pronoun cedn ess;  and,  though 
the  mountainous  was  not  entirely  absent  from  the  scenery,  near 
which  the  Cornish  Flats  approached  the  spot  where  Chase  first 
looked  on  landscape,  there  was  nothing  of  the  rugged,  nothing  of 


quently  brought  too  soon  to  a  focus,  so  as  to  cross  one  another  and  diverge  before 
they  fall  upon  the  retina,  only  those  rays  which  were  previously  diverging  at  a 
large  angle,  from  an  object  in  its  near  proximity.  Hence,  a  '  short-sighted '  per- 
son, whose  nearest  limit  of  distinct  vision  is  not  above  half  that  of  a  person  of 
ordinary  sight,  can  see  minute  objects  more  clearly;  his  eyes  having,  in  fact,  the 
same  magnifying  power  which  those  of  the  other  would  possess,  if  aided  by  a  con- 
vex glass  that  would  enable  him  to  see  the  object  distinctly  at  the  shortest  distance. 
But,  as  the  myopic  structure  of  the  eye  incapacitates  its  possessor  from  seeing  ob- 
jects clearly  at  even  a  moderate  distance,  it  is  desirable  to  apply  a  correction;  and 
this  is  done  by  simply  interposing,  between  the  object  and  the  eye,  a  concave  lens 
of  which  the  curvature  is  properly  adapted  to  compensate  for  the  excess  of  that 
of  the  organ  itself."  Carpenter,  Human  Physiology,  670,  671. 
1  Modern  Painters,  IV,  311-338. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  51 

the  gloomy,  in  the  scenery  whose  features  he  beheld  in  infancy  and 
childhood. 

Even  had  the  fact  been  otherwise,  it  is  not  for  a  mind  like  his 
that  the  influence  of  physical  "surroundings"  is  a  force  of  irresist- 
ible power.  Such  a  mind  creates  for  its  own  use  a  spiritual  climate. 
In  the  presence  of  the  mountains,  capped  with  iee,  it  freezes  not  into 
an  intellectual  rigidity  or  into  a  spiritual  gloom.  The  region  of  the 
Palm  is  not  for  it  within  the  tropics,  in  so  far  as  tropic  influences 
are  of  the  noxious  order. 

Let  us  not  forget  another  matter  of  great  practical  concern  in 
this  connection. 

Salmon  Portland  Chase's  life  was  half  nomadic.  He  did  not 
remain  long  under  the  influence  of  any  place  whatever. 

These  remarks  with  reference  to  the  purely  physical  parts  of  his 
shifting  dwelling-places,  naturally  lead  to  like  remarks  about  the 
spiritual  life  of  Cornish,  and  the  spiritual  life  of  Washington,  and 
about  that  of  Cincinnati,  and  about  the  inner  life  of  Columbus,  and 
about  the  same  life  at  the  seat  of  government.  In  one  sense,  Chase 
was  neither  a  Western  man  nor  an  Eastern  man,  neither  a  Northern 
man  nor  a  Southern  man,  when  he  became,  comparatively  speaking, 
settled  in  Ohio! 

Secretary  Chase  wrote  to  Mr.  Trowbridge : 

"  Dudley  thought  he  would  like  to  get  his  own  living,  and  his  fancy 
led  him  to  the  ocean.  One  day  he  set  out  for  that  strange,  distant 
Boston,  and  soon  after  we  heard  he  had  shipped  as  a  seaman.  How 
anxiously,  after  that,  we  all  followed  the  course  of  that  ship.  We 
heard  of  her  in  the  Mediterranean,  at  Barcelona  ;  in  other  seas  and 
at  other  ports.  Two  or  three  years  later,  I,  at  uncle  Philander's 
(Bishop  Chase's)  learned  that  he  had  left  the  ship;  and  had  died  in 
Demarara.  South  America.  His  was  the  first  depaz-ture  and  the  first 
death  in  our  family." 

How  many  speculations  were  indulged  in  by  widow  Janette  Chase 
and  Salmon  and  the  other  brothers  of  the  wandering  seaman,  it  is 
natural  to  fancy  but  impossible  to  ascertain.  But,  surely,  there  was 
education  in  the  thoughts  which  were  occasioned  to  our  young  hero 
by  the  distant,  perilous,  unknown  adventures  of  the  absent  brother. 
Of  the 

'  Watery  kingdom  wnose  ambitious  head 
Spits  in  the  face  of  heaven," 

Shakspeare    often  speaks  in  terms  almost  bombastic,  as  in  the  just 
5 


52  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 

quoted  language.  Buskin  says,  indeed,  he  had  no  reverence  for 
mountains,1  and  that  he  was  corrupted  by  the  Renaissance;2  but 
the  Tempest  and  some  passages  in  other  plays,  clearly  evince  his 
feeling  for  what  Humboldt  calls  the  lower  ocean,  over  which  the 
airy  ocean  of  the  heavens  passes  through  its  fearfully  lovely 
changes. 3 

Only  a  short  line  of  ocean  coast  belongs  to  Chase's  native  State. 
His  native  landscapes  were  but  fluvial.  But  it  is  curious  how  con- 
stantly he  had  his  home  in  fluvial  regions.  Born  at  Cornish,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Connecticut,  he  early  wandered  to  Ohio,  where  at 
Worthington,  he  had  the  Whetstone  (or  the  Olentangy)  for  resort  to 
fish  or  to  swim — was  he  a  swimmer? — and  ere  long  he  found  him- 
self in  the  Cincinnati  Valley, through  which  la  belle  riviere  winds  on 
its  gentle  way  toward  the  rushing  Mississippi. 

Aspect-force  at  Cornish,  as  at  Keene  and  at  "Windsor,  must  have 
had  its  appreciable  influence  in  educating  such  a  mind  as  his.  His 
prose  is  often  almost  poetry  at  times,  and  though  his  verse  (whereof 
some  examples  are  given  elsewhere  in  this  volume)  was  not  so  com- 
pletely touched  with  the  divinest  fire  of  fancy  and  imagination  as 
to  prove  that  he  was  born  to  be  a  bard,  it  will  be  found  sufficiently 
poetic,  as  to  form  and  substance  both,  to  prove,  beyond  all  question, 
that  he  had  deep  feeling  for  the  picturesque  in  all  its  presentations. 

But  we  must  not  dwell  too  long  on  the  aspects  of  the  scenery  that 
was  familiar  to  the  childhood  or  to  the  boyhood  of  our  hero.  Let 
us  now  attend  to  the  uses  of  that  tract  of  human  habitation  and  to 
its  inhabitants. 

There  were  few  negroes  and  no  slaves  at  home  there.  Has  the 
reader  made  himself  acquainted  with  Frederick  Douglass's  My  Bond- 
age and  my  Freedom  f  If  not,  let  me  most  respectfully  advise  the 
studious  perusal  of  that  remarkably  suggestive  work.  In  studying  the 
traits  and  tendencies  of  our  colored  element  of  population,  fourteen 
rears  ago,  I  found  that  volume  full  of  interest.  I  think  at  present 
of   its   curious    account   of  the   Lloyd   plantation,  which,  in   some 


1  Modern  Painters,  IV,  355-362.  2  lb.  359. 

3  Kosmos,  I,  321.  "Die  Tiefe  des  Oceans  und  des  Luftmeeres  sind  uns  beide 
unbekannt.  .  .  .  Das  Luftmeer  ruht  theils  auf  der  festen  Erde;  deren  Rergketten 
und  Hocliebenen.  .  .  .  als  gruene,  Avaldbewachsene  Untiefen  aufsteigen;  theils  auf 
dera  Ocean;  dessen  Oberfiaeche  den  beweglicken  Boden  bildet,  auf  dem  die  unteren. 
dichteren,  wassergetraenkten  Luftschichten  gelagert  sind." 


OF    SALMON    POETLAXD   CHASE.  53 

respects,  appeared  to  Mr.  Douglass,  who  was  there  a  human  thing — 
no  person — just  a  chattel — in  some  respects,  I  say,  that  lordly  place 
appeared  to  Mr.  Douglass,  in  remembering  its  chief  distinctions,  not 
unlike  an  English  manor. 

Nothing  like  that  place  appeared  where  Chase's  infancy  and  boy- 
hood passed,  in  honorable  toil  and  creditable  study.  Not  until  he 
went  to  the  Ohio  Valley  did  his  eyes  behold  aught  like  the  Lloyd 
plantation.  In  that  noble  valley,  on  the  Kentucky  side,  he  must 
have  seen,  on  Col.  Taylor's  place,  the  spectacle  of  many  men  and 
women  owned  by  one  rich  proprietor.  But  in  the  spots  first  known 
to  him,  he  saw  no  spectacle  so  wounding  to  the  eyes  of  a  discerning- 
viewer. 

Col.  Lloyd  owned  so  many  slaves,  that,  passing  over  his  planta- 
tion, and  saluted  by  his  human  chattels,  he  was  often  unacquainted 
with  their  persons. 

Chase  relates  as  follows: 

"  One  winter — perhaps  the  winter  I  attended  Mr.  Wilsom's  school 
— I  went  with  my  sister  Abigail — school  ma'am — to  see  our  married 
sister,  Hannah,  Mrs.  Whipple,  aJt  Hooksett,  Hooksett  Falls  of  the 
Merrimac.  We  set  out  in  a  sleigh  with  one  horse,  I  driver.  My  idea 
of  sleighing  was  bells  and  fast  driving,  and  I  put  up  the  poor  horse 
to  all  he  knew.  He  soon  tired  out,  and  I  was  compelled  to  let  him 
moderate  his  pace.  We  aimed  to  reach  Peterboro  and  Col.  Steele's. 
but  the  horse  was  very  tired  ;  a  snow  storm  came  on  and  oblitera- 
ted the  track  ;  we  missed  the  road  and  had  a  fair  prospect  of  a  night 
in  the  sleigh;  but  at  length  we  reached  a  house,  and  obtained  a  small 
boy  to  guide  us  to  Col.  Steele's,  where  we  found  food,  shelter,  and 
welcome.  The  next  day  we  were  at  Hooksett,  where  there  was  a 
warmer  welcome,  and  I  found  myself  an  uncle. 

"  From  Hooksett  we  went  to  visit  uncle  Baruch,  my  father's 
brother,  a  reputed  lawyer,  at  Hopkinton,  where  we  had  another 
warm   welcome  from    aunt  Ellen   and  our  cousius.  as  well  as  our 

uncle.     Here  I  found  the  Life  of  Steph ,  or  Memoirs  of  some 

other  rascal ;  which,  when  my  good  aunt  found  me  reading  with 
eager  interest,  she  snatched  it  away  in  great  horror,  and  gave  some 
earnest  advice  against  such  reading,  from  which,  I  fear,  I  profited 
little.  Boys  will  read  of  adventurers  when  they  can,  even  it  not 
adventurei-s  themselves." 

Thank  heaven  for  the  boyishness  of  Chase's  boyhood  !  Would 
that  he  had  been  even  a  little  more  a  boy!  But,  after  all,  no  doubt 
the  "  good  aunt  "  had  the  best  intentions. 

The  narrative  of  that  excursion  closes  in  this  fashion: 

"Home  from  Hooksett  and  Hoj)kinton.     There  was  nothing  of  the 


54  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

journey  worth  remembering,  unless  a  disappointment  on   finding 
the  tavern  fires  at  Francestown  not  so  good  as  my  mother's." 

Cold  New  England,  region  of  hard  earth  and  hard,  clear  heads, 
but  not  of  flinty  hearts,  the  Scotland  of  America,  was  much  misun- 
derstood at  Cincinnati  when  our  hero  first  went  to  the  Cincinnati 
Valley.  I,  myself,  first  knew  that  valley,  and  compared  it  with 
some  places  in  Kentucky,  about  five-and-forty  years  ago.  Away 
from  it  above  two  years,  I  once  more  found  myself  a  dweller  there 
in  1832 ;  and,  since  that  time,  I  have  observed  it  with  affectionately 
close  attention.  There  I  find  the  most  characteristic  tract  of  land- 
scape, and  the  most  characteristic  population  in  this  country.  There, 
however,  I  observed  the  Sectional  Aversion,  which  Miss  Martineau 
so  well  describes  as  marking  Cincinnati  in  1835,  if  I  remember 
rightly.  There,  at  that  time,  and  for  some  time  afterward,  there 
was  almost  a  hatred  of  New  England  and  New  Englishmen,  assid- 
uously cultivated  by  some  classes  of  the  population,  and  especially  by 
"  river  men,"  with  whom  I  had  much  intercourse,  and  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  church,  that  seemed  to  me  a  very  mother.  But  the 
prejudices  here  alluded  to,  though  not  annihilated,  have  been  greatly 
modified. 

Had  the  composer  of  this  work  continued  to  participate  those 
prejudices,  he  could  not  have  felt  at  liberty  to  undertake  a  work  of 
this  description.  Every  American  should  hasten  to  acknowledge 
that  those  little  less  than  stupid  prejudices  have  done  much  to  dam- 
age most  important  interests  throughout  the  land. 

The  New  England  education  of  our  hero,  comprehending  all  the 
influence  of  aspect  and  of  use,  as  recognized  in  some  of  the  forego- 
ing paragraphs,  appears  to:me  to  have  prepared  him  admirably  for 
his  residence  at  Cincinnati.  What  a  Cincinnatian  he  was  to  be — 
how  much  that  once  western  but  now  rather  central  city  owes  to  his 
enlightened  and  unselfish  public  spirit — many  Cincinnatians  have 
yet  to  learn.  But  if  that  city  owes  so  much  to  Chase,  let  her  ac- 
knowledge that,  through  him,  her  obligation  to  New  England,  and 
especially  to  Cornish,  Keene,  and  Windsor,  is  a  heavy  debt  of  grati- 
tude. 

Here  is  another  extract  from  a  Trowbridge  letter : 

"I  have  said  nothing  yet  of  my  father.  What  his  precise  order 
was  I  do  not  know — nor,  indeed,  that  of  the  rest.  I  think  he  may 
have  been  some  eight  or  ten  years  older  than  Dudley,  who  was  born 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  55 

in  1771.  He  never  went  to  college,  but  had  the  common  school  ed- 
ucation of  other  farmer's  boys,  and  the  educational  influences  of  the 
yellow  house." 

What  he  had  already  said  in  the  same  letter,  about  the  yellow 
house,  was  partly  this  : 

"  I  told  you  about  the  little  old  j-ellow  house  where  my  father 
lived,  and  lived,  I  suppose,  when  I  was  born." 

In  Chapter  I  we  found  our  hero  writing  that  that  yellow  house 
was  more  famous  than  the  White  House  for  brains.  But  had  the 
education  of  our  hero's  father  been  collegiate,  he  might  have  been 
much  better  fitted  for  the  duties  he  had  to  discharge  as  educational 
director  of  .his  household.  Self-made,  or  self-educated,  truly  he  was 
not ;  indeed,  he  was,  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  too  well  made  for 
that ;  your  self-made  man  being,  for  the  most  parff,  ill-made;  but,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  he  had,  apart  from  the  educational  influences 
of  the  yellow  house,  only  those  of  the  pulpit  and  the  common 
school. 

What  manner  of  man,  after  all,  was  Ithamar,  the  husband  of 
Janette?  Was  he  a  man  well  worthy  of  that  woman?  We  have 
seen  that  she  was  innocently  proud  of  the  Honorable  before  and  the 
Esquire  after  his  name.  Was  he  a  man  of  decorous  demeanor? 
His  distinguished  son  thus  wrote  of  him  : 

"  As  he  grew  in  years,  he  married  my  mother,  then  a  handsome 
young  woman,  daughter  of  Scottish  parents,  Ralston  pere,  Balloon 
mere,  herself  just  excepted  from  birth  in  Scotland  because  her  par- 
ents came  over  the  very  year  she  saw  the  light — a  sort  of  heiress. 
too,  for  was  not  her  father  proprietor  of  a  great  part  of  what  is  now 
the  beautiful  town  of  Kecne?  And  my  father,  tun.  was  held  in  good 
esteem  among  his  neighbors.  For  thirteen  years.  1  have  heard,  he 
represented  his  district  in  the  council  of  New  Hampshire  under  the 
Federal  regime,  and  was  much  talked  of  for  Governor.  He  was.  I 
believe,  never  a  candidate.  He  was.  however,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
and  administered  equity!  I  have  heard  that  he  was  Less  careful  of 
form  than  substance,  so  much  so  that  once  when  a  couple  called  on 
him  to  be  married  at  a  rather  late  hour,  when  he  had  retired  to  bed, 
the  worthy  'squire,  unwilling  to  disappoint  the  young  folks,  and 
equall}'  unwilling  to  dress  himself  and  come  down,  married  them 
from  the  window,  and  told  the  groom  to  come  for  his  certificate  next 
morning  I  A  kindly  gentleman  was  my  father,  honest  and  faithful  ; 
a  just  magistrate;  a  diligent  representative:  a  true  man.  lie  had 
oxen,  and  cows,  and  sheep,  and  well-filled  barns,  and  a  gentle  wife, 
and  loving  children.     He  ruled  his  family  as  well,  I  think,  as  most 


56  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

families  are  ruled;  but  I  remember  no  angry  word  or  violent  ex- 
clamation from  his  lips,  nor  from  those  of  my  blessed  mother. 

"Ho  must  have  been  about  forty-five  when  1  was  burn,  in  180S, 
and  my  mother  must  have  been  eleven  or  twelve  years  his  junior." 

A  paragraph  relating  to  our  hero's  early  memories  reads  thus: 

•It  is  strange  to  me  how  dim  every  thing  is  in  that  distant  time. 
I  see  just  one  little  part  of  things — glimpses  of  transactions — the 
i reality — totality?)  hid  behind  clouds  with  little  fissures  revealing  a 
part  of  an  affair  or  person,  and  that  little  with  mist  clinging  round 
and  obscuring  it.  I  dare  not  vouch  for  the  entire  authenticity  even 
of  what  I  seem  to  remember  best." 

Yet  one  of  the  great  gifts  of  this  great  man  was  memory,  or, 
perhaps  one  ought  to  say  the  faculty  of  committing  to  memory,  or 
"  getting  by  heart."  Let  us  be  thankful  that,  amid  his  busy  life, 
before  the  lapsing  of  the  years  belonging  to  his  middle  period,  our 
hero  could  so  well  remember  his  good  father's  ways  and  works. 

Here  are  some  sentences  relating  to  that  father's  last  sickness  and 
his  death  : 

'They  called  it  the  numb  palsy.  No  remedies  availed.  He  lin- 
gered some  days,  and  then  we  were  called  into  his  room.  Father  was 
dying.  How  still  the  room  was.  except  the  heavy  breathing  and  the 
ominous  rattle.  He  could  not  speak  to  us,  and  we  stood  mute  and 
sobbing.     Soon  all  was  over.     AVe  had  no  father. 

'Then  came  the  funeral.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Strong,  of  Northampton, 
eame  up  to  preach  the  funeral  sermon.  His  brother  masons  paid 
the  last  tributes  of  respect  and  honor.  And  all  was  over.  The  light 
was  gone  out  from  our  home." 

That  was,  indeed,  the  going  out  of  a  great  light.  Yet  not  the  only 
light.  The  mother  of  the  household  still  remained;  a  softer  light, 
indeed,  but  a  true  flame  of  purest  lustre. 

Was  there  ever  written,  for  the  stage,  aught  more  beautiful  for 
the  closet  than  the  last  act  in  the  Merchant  of  Venice  f  It  sums  up 
the  beauty  of  the  whole  enchanting  piece  like  some  grand  peroration, 
only  so  much  more  completely  and  so  very  variously.  Let  us  recall 
to  mind  the  words  : 

"Portia.     That  light  we  see  is  burning  in  my  hall. 
How  far  that  little  candle  throws  its  beams  ! 
So  shines  a  good  deed  in  a  naughty  world!" 

The  good  deeds  of  our  hero's  unpretending  father  toward  his 
so   splendidly  destined   Salmon    are   to   shine    much  farther   in  this 


OF    SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  57 

"naughty  world"  of  ours  than  any  one  imagined  while  our  hero  was 
a  child. 

But  Xerissa  says,  with  almost  bitter  wisdom,  all  unconscious  that 
her  words  untold  a  whole  volume  of  philosophy  : 

••  When  the  moon  shone  we  did  not  see  the  candle." 

Portia,  more  philosophic,  grasps  at  once  the  lesson  of  that  almost 
automatic  utterance.     She  says: 

"So  doth  the  greater  glory  dim  the  less. 
A  substitute  shines  brightly  as  a  king, 
Until  a  king  be  by ;  and  then  his  state 
Empties  itself  as  doth  an  inland  brook 
Into  the  main  of  waters." 

Bv-and-by,  alas!  we  shall  forget  the  worthy  father's  candle  in  the 
brightness  of  the  son's  great  glory.  Cornish  and  Keene  must  give 
place  to  Cincinnati  and  to  Washington.  Instead  of  local  prominence, 
we  shall  engage  attention  with  a  prominence,  not  only  national,  but 
cosmopolitan.  But  let  us  not  despise  the  obligations  of  our  hero's 
education  to  the  gentle  ministry  of  Ithamar,  his  father. 

Ithamar  was  a  true  gentleman.  He  was,  indeed,  a  truly  gentle 
man,  and,  after  all,  what  more  is  necessary  to  the  make-up  of  a  real 
gentleman  ? 

The  following  sentence  oifers  interesting  matter: 

'.'The  war  had  closed  just  before  my  father  removed  his  family  to 
Keene.  and  with  the  close  of  the  war  came  reduction  of  duties  and 
the  restoration  of  commerce,  and  importation  of  foreign  glass,  and 
reductions  of  price  of  the  home-made:  and  the  factory  proved  a  seri- 
ous loss,  and  my  father's  affairs  had  fallen  into  some  disorder  before 
his  death." 

That  is  a  strange  expression  in  the  Lady  of  Lyons : 

"There  is  no  guilt 
In  the  decrees  of  Providence." 

No  guilt,  indeed,  is  to  be  found,  nor  any  real  shame,  in 
"  The  uses  of  adversity," 

except  where  poverty  is   punishment   for  prodigality  or  other  sin 
against  well-being. 


58  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Chase  was  never  very  rich.  He  came,  indeed,  to  live  in  fashion- 
able style,  or  almost  fashionable  style — a  style  most  different  from 
that  of  his  young  life;  but  he  was  never  avaricious;  never  ardently  in 
love  with  ostentation  of  the  fashionable  order. 

But  of  that  we  shall  see  more  as  we  proceed. 

Here  is  another  extract  from  the  Trowbridge  letters : 

"After  the  affairs  of  the  estate  had  been  settled,  my  mother  found 
herself  with  only  a  remnant  of  property.  She  removed  from  the 
tavern  place  as  soon  as  she  could,  into  a  yellow  stoiy  and  a  half 
house,  at  the  north-east  corner  of  the  main  street  and  the  Swanzey 
road  to  Boston.  A  guide  post  stood  opposite  the  house  at  the  inter- 
section, and  jgQP"  To  Swanzey  7  miles,  jg®0"  To  Boston  77  miles,  often 
sent  my  young  imagination  to  the  neighboring  town  and  to  the  great 
city.     It  seemed  very  far  off  and  very  huge." 

That  huge,  far-off  city  was  to  know,  quite  well,  the  boy  that  then 
was  so  obscure.     But  did  he  then  resolve,  by  means  of 

"those  inspiring  tools 
By  which  man  masters  men," 

to  make  his  name  immortal"?     Did  he  sometimes  find  himself  say- 
ing: 

"Ye  glorious  stars,  high  heaven's  resplendent  host, 
To  whom  I  oft  have  of  my  lot  complained, 
Hear  and  record  my  soul's  unaltered  wish: 
Living  or  dead,  let  me  but  be  renowned?  " 

He  has  been  called  inordinately  ambitious.  I  have  found  no  ev- 
idence to  justify  the  charge.     He  may,  indeed,  have  prayed : 

"Oh!  grant  an  honest  fame,  or  grant  me  none." 

The  love  of  fame  is  not  ignoble.  It  is  not  a  noxious  passion,  but 
a  spiritual  flame  of  purest  source  and  loveliest  lustre. 

Salmon  Chase,  the  boy,  as  father  unto  Salmon  Chase  the  man, 
in  the  poetic  sense  already  noticed,  did  not  live  a  blameless  life, 
perhaps.  But  I  have  laid  at  least  the  corner-stone  of  perfect  dem- 
onstration, that,  if  he  became  corrupt,  his  manhood  mocked  his  boy- 
hood. Soon  the  broad  and  deep  foundations  of  that  proof  shall  be 
completed;  and,  above  it,  I  dare  prophesy,  shall  be  seen  to  rise  the 
statue-crowned  shaft  of  evidence  surmounting  evidence,  that,  if  this 
work  could  but  be  worthy  of  its  object — of  its  hero — it  would  be 
among  the  noblest  monuments  of  the  literary  order. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  59 

This,  it  is  the  easier  to  say,  because  as  already  intimated,  and,  in- 
deed, already  shown,  the  body  of  this  volume  offers  to  its  readers 
but  a  compilation  of  Chase's  own  pen-work,  with  biographic  and 
historic  commentary  and  some  annotations. 

One  of  the  Trowbridge  letters  has  this  paragraph  : 

"My  eldest  sister,  Hannah,  was  married  in  that  house  in  1818. 
From  that  house  my  brother,  Dudley,  a  youth  of  sixteen,  perhaps, 
went  away  to  sea.  He  was  the  only  musician  in  our  family  except 
my  youngest  sister.  We  were  ten  in  all.  He  used  to  amuse  us  all 
by  setting  me  to  march  to  time  as  he  played;  but  I  could  never  keep 
step.  1  tried  to  play ;  but  could  not  tell  the  difference  between  the 
notes  well  enough  to  succeed." 

Had  our  hero,  then,  no  music  in  his  soul?  Much  in  his  soul, 
but  little  in  his  fingers  and  his  feet.     He  was  not 

"  fit  foi%  treasons,  stratagems,  and  spoils," 

but  loved  the  concord  of  sweet  sounds,  especially,  as  we  shall  find,1 
when  made  by  the  guitar. 

Was  he  a  gallant  in  his  boyhood?  Did  he  have  his  little  loves 
in  due  succession?     Here  is  a  suggestive  statement: 

"There  was  a  sort  of  country  tavern  between  the  two  houses,  kept 
by  a  Mr.  Marble,  who  had  two  pretty  daughters,  Gratia  and  Eliza- 
beth, or,  as  we  used  to  call  them.  Grace  and  Betty,  who  went  to  the 
same  district  school  with  me.  Betty  was  my  little  sweet-heart  and 
rival.  She  was  my  most  formidable  competitor  for  the  head  of  the 
spelling-class,  and  my  best  liked  playmate  out  of  school.  Poor  Betty  ! 
she  grew  up  to  be  a  very  handsome  girl.  I  remember  a  visit  she 
made  us  with  her  sister,  several  years  after  in  Keene,  and  how  wond- 
erful I  thought  their  singing  of  the  'Star  of  Bethlehem.'  She  was 
well  married,  and  died.     Alas!  the  common  fate  of  lovely  women! ': 

How  much  hidden  meaning  lurked  in  this  last  sentence  must  be- 
come apparent  as  this  narrative  unfolds  its  revelations,  though  the 
subject  is  almost  too  sacred  to  be  treated  of  in  any  words  save  those 
of  Chase  himself. 

But  now  we  must  give  closer  attention  to  the  subject  of  our  hero's 
early  schooling.  The  importance  of  that  theme  to  the  whole  work 
is  evidently  capital. 

Writing  of  his  school  days  at  Windsor,  our  hero  says : 

"Here   I   began   Latin,  and  was  a  diligent  scholar.    I   attended 
1  Post,  Chapter  IX.  ' 


60  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Sunday  school  and  committed  prodigious  numbers  of  verses.  I 
joined  the  boys — for  there  were  half  a  dozen  or  more  at  the  ladies' 
school — who  occupied  one  room  as  dormitory — at  their  pranks;  at 
which,  when  the  Colonel1  caught  us,  woe  to  the  boy  with  the  long- 
est locks.  One  roguish  fellow  shaved  off  all  his  front  hair  so  as  to 
allow  no  hold,  which  the  Colonel  regarded  as  a  contempt  of  author- 
ity and  insubordination — and  found  another  way  to  get  at  his  cor- 
poreal sensibilities.  One  night  we  undertook  to  have  a  good  time 
with  nuts,  jaekstraws,  etc.,  and  had  built  a  rousing  tire,  and  were 
in  full  tide  of  successful  experiment,  when  a  well-known  tread  was 
heard  on  the  stairs.  Like  rabbits  to  their  burrows  the  bo}*s  hur- 
ried into  bed,  and  were  virtuously  asleep.  The  Colonel  appeared 
at  the  door,  spectrally,  in  his  night  dress.  But  we  soon  realized 
it  was  no  spectre.  He  was  not  deceived  by  our  shallow  artifice. 
Suddenly,  one  bo}T,  seized  by  the  hair,  found  himself  in  the  middle 
of  the  room — then  another — then  another.  At  length,  after  making 
us  cover  up  the  fire,  and  having  satisfied  the  offended  majesty  of  the 
law  b}"  sufficient  punishment,  he  left  us,  discomfited,  to  seek  relief 
in  sleep.     I  think  this  must  have  been  in  1818  or  1819." 

Not  in  this  immediate  connection  we  have  the  following  para- 
graph : 

"  I  went  through  the  Latin  grammar  at  Mr.  Dunham's ;  through 
Historia  Sacra;  through  a  great  part  of  Viri  Romre,  and  began  to 
read  the  Bucolics  of  Virgil.  I  was  counted  quite  a  prodig^y;  but  I 
see  now  that  thorough  instruction  and  acquisition  of  one  quarter 
would  have  been  much  better  than  superficial  coursing  through  the 
whole." 

Perhaps  it  may  be  well  once  more  to  anticipate  a  little. 

Writing,  in  1864,  to  Mr.  Trowbridge,  Secretary  Chase,  relating  his 
experiences  as  a  teacher  in  Washington,  expressed  himself  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  There  was  nothing  special  to  mark  eighteen  months  that  fol- 
lowed. I  kept  my  school  and  on  the  whole  succeeded,  though  I  was 
not,  I  fear,  a  very  accurate  teacher.  Mr.  Wirt,  I  remember,  com- 
plained that  I  did  not  teach  the  boys  correct  prosody,  and  1  am 
sure  justly,  for  1  had  never  been  taught  to  consider  prosody  as  of 
any  consequence.  I  made  some  attempts,  to  master  it,  but  did  not 
succeed,  and  never  have  succeeded.  Mr.  Wirt  once  wrote  me  that 
he  should  remove  his  bo37s,  but  I  replied  by  an  appeal  which  pre- 
vailed with  him  to  continue  them." 

Secretary  Chase  farther  wrote  to  Mr.  Trowbridge : 

"  It  was  at  Mr.  Dunham's  that  I  first  undertook  to  '  speak  a  piece.' 


1  Colonel  Dunham,  principal  of  the  school. 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  61 

How  awkward  I  was  !  How  little  notion  of  what  I  had  to  do,  or 
of  the  way  to  do  it.  How  seared  I  was  as  I  walked  out  before  the 
boys  and  girls,  and,  with  hands  dangling  and  head  down,  'went 
through.'  There  were  other  boys  who  did  better.  There  was  one 
who  stood  at  the  head  of  us  all  for  talent  and  general  capacity. 
After  a  varied  experience — preacher,  author,  lawyer,  perhaps — this 
boy  became  an  old  man.  and,  older  in  wear  and  impairment  than  in 
years,  came  into  my  library  at  "Washington,  feeble,  ill-clad,  and 
almost  hopeless,  and  asked  for  help.  1  gave  him  money  and  em- 
ployment in  the  Treasury  Department,  and  thought  he  was  saved  ; 
but  the  liquor  devil  was  too  strong.  After  some  months  he  gave 
way — was  excused;  gave  way  again — was  excused  again;  and  again 
gave  way,  and  he  was  dismissed.     There  was  no  help  for  it." 

Here  is  a  pleasanter  statement : 

••  There  were  young  girls  from  Georgia  there,  and  from  other  parts 
of  the  south;  young  girls  from  the  north,  some  of  them  famous 
afterward  for  beauty  and  talent." 

Does  the  reader  wonder  now  that  Chase  was  a  great  venerator 
and  a  lively  lover  of  the  sex  ?  AVe  have  already  seen  that  these 
lovely  schoolmates  of  his  were  with  him  at  a  place  marked  by  great 
beauty.1 

Here  is  an  interesting  statement  relating  to  the  life  at  Windsor: 

"At  Mr.  Dunham's  school  I  first  got  a  notion  of  political  parties. 
He  had  been  an  editor,  and  up  in  the  attic  of  his  house  were  still  to 
be  seen  files  of  his  newspapers,  the  Washingtonian,  I  believe,  or  the 
Columbian — fiercely  federal.  I  had  already  learned  from  my  mother 
that  newspapers  were  not  to  be  implieitl}'  relied  upon  for  truth  and. 
veracity,  and  did  not  receive  the  statements  of  the  Washingtonian 
with  absolute  credence;  but,  certainly,  1113*  impressions  of  James 
Madison  and  his  supporters  were  not  of  a  flattering  sort." 

Perhaps  Mr.  Hildreth  read  that  file  before  he  wrote  his  volumi- 
nous and  remarkably  entitled  diatribe,  The  History  of  the  United 
States.  Farther  statement  of  facts,  here  of  special  interest,  was 
thus  made  to  Mr.  Trowbridge: 

"  I  think  it  was  in  1818-19  that  I  was  at  Mr.  Dunham's — perhaps 
soon  alter  my  sister  Hannah's  marriage,  in  the  fall  of  1818,  which 
was  an  event  in  our  family. 

"  If  I  am  right  in  this  date,  I  recited  to  Mr.  Barstow  after  my 
return  [to  Keene],  ami  1  am  pretty  certain  it  was  so;  for  with  Mr 
Barstow  I  began  Greek,  going  through  the  grammar,  and  making 
some  progress  in  the  Greek   testament.     I  took  up  Euclid,  too.     I 


1  Ante,  Chapter  II. 


62  THE    PEIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

am  not  likely  to  forget  the  first  proposition.  Nobody  explained 
any  thing  to  me,  and  I  had  not  the  least  idea  of  what  was  to  be 
done.  I  knew  I  had  a  lesson  to  get,  and  I  got  it.  I  did  not  know 
that  any  thing  was  to  be  reasoned  or  proved,  and  I  neither  reasoned 
nor  proved  ;  but  simply  committed  the  proposition  to  memory.  I 
was  not  long,  however,  in  finding  out  what  problems  and  theorems 
meant,  and  went  to  work  the  right  way,  not  unsuccessfully." 

Was  Chase  a  very  hard  student,  then  or  afterward  ?  In  a  diary 
he  kept  in  Washington,  he  entered,  November  5,  1829,  words,  else- 
where1 quoted,  relating  to  an  article  that  he  had  read  reviewing 
Dwight's  Travels  in  Germany.  On  coming  to  those  words  we  may 
be  readier  to  answer.     Said  Secretary  Chase  to  Mr.  Trowbridge: 

"  By  the  way,  I  must  tell  you  how  my  faith  in  newspapers  received 
its  first  and  rude  shock.  I  had  been  reading — it  was  while  we  lived 
at  the  old  tavern  place — an  article  on  the  brevity  or  uncertainty 
of  life.  The  writer  supposed  the  possibility  of  the  whole  human 
race  perishing  within  a  year.  I  took  his  supposition  for  an  asser- 
tion, and  hurried  to  my  mother,  asking  :  '  Is  every  thing  printed  in 
the  newspapers  true?'  'I  suppose  so,  my  son.  What  makes  you 
ask?'  '  Why,  mother,  the  paper  says  eveiybody  will  die  this  year.' 
She  relieved  my  apprehensions  on  this  head  by  some  pretty  positive 
words,  and  my  faith  in  the  credibility  of  newspaper  paragraphs  has 
never  since  been  restored.     It  may  be  at  its  lowest  ebb  just  now." 

These  words  were  written  on  the  19th  of  January,  1864.  The 
last  sentence,  clearly,  was  a  product  of  grim  humor.  Chase,  in 
point  of  fact,  was  always  deeply  interested  in  the  newspaper  press. 
In  him,  indeed,  appeared  what  may  be  called  the  printing  instinct 
— that  which  makes  men  authors,  editors,  and  correspondents  or 
essayists  ;  contributors  to  that  which,  in  spite  of  its  defects,  and  even 
vices,  makes,  this  day,  the  greatest  glory  of  the  arts  and  sciences, 
and  constitutes,  perhaps,  the  surest  safeguard  of  our  civil  and  religious 
freedom. 

The  New  England  papers,  doubtless,  had  more  than  a  little  to  do 
with  Chase's  early  education. 

January  21,  1864,  our  hero  said  to  Mr.  Trowbridge,  in  relation 
to  the  life  at  Keene  : 

"The  lane  I  have  spoken  of  ran  back  to  the  hills,  and  there,  turn- 
ing northward  along  their  side,  joined,  at  no  great  distance,  a  road 
which  went  east  from  near  the  meeting-house  at  the  upper  part  of 
the  town.  This  lane  bordered  my  mother's  little  farm  near  half  a 
mile,     doing  along  it   one  cold  morning   in  the  late  fall  or  early 

1  Chapter  XIII. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  63 

winter,  I  received  a  lesson  which  I  never  forgot.  Lying  by  the 
side  of  the  road  was  a  man  stark  dead.  His  face  lay  downward 
in  the  shallow  center  of  the  road-side  ditch.  He  had  been  in  the 
town  before  ;  had  become  intoxicated  ;  sought  his  way  to  his  home 
on  the  hill-side;  had  stumbled  probably;  had  fallen,  face  forward, 
into  the  water,  not  deep  enough  to  reach  his  cars;  and  then,  unable 
to  recover,  had  perished.  Some  neighbors  came  and  removed  the 
body;  and  Mr.  JJarstow  preached  a  sermon  on  the  evils  of  intem- 
perance before  their  were  any  temperance  societies  ;  but  what  sermon 
could  rival  in  eloquence  that  awful  spectacle  of  the  dead  drunkard 
— helplessly  perishing  where  the  slightest  remnant  of  sense  or 
strength  would  have  sufficed  to  save !  " 

That  lesson  never  was  forgotten.  Other  lessons  of  like  tendency, 
however,  were  to  be  learned  at  "Washington.  Our  hero  early 
came  to  be  what  he  remained  through  life,  a  hearty  hater  of  in- 
temperance. 


64  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER   IV. 

FIRST  SOJOURN  IN   "THE  OHIO  COUNTRY." 

UNDER  date  May  24,  1813,  the  work  of  which  the  short  title 
is  Annals  of  Congress,1  shows  that  "  Dudley  Chace,  appointed 
a  Senator  by  the  Legislature  of  Vermont  for  the  term  of  six  years, 
commencing  on  the  fourth  day  of  March  last,"  produced  his  creden- 
tials, which  were  read,  and  thereupon,  having  taken  the  oath  pre- 
scribed by  law,  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  Under  date,  Septem- 
ber 21,  1814,  the  same  work  records  that  Dudley  Chace,  from  the 
State  of  Vermont,  appeared  and  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate. 

When  his  uncle  Dudley  first  appeared  in  the  Senate  of  the  Union, 
Salmon  was  but  five  years  of  age.  No  doubt,  however,  that  event 
impressed  him  ;  and  no  doubt  it  beckoned  him  toward  political  agi- 
tation and  aspiration.  That,  when  he  came  on  to  Washington,  the 
presence  of  his  uncle  in  the  Senate  greatly  aided  him  in  gaining  in- 
fluential friends,  need  not  be  said  ;  it  goes  without  saying,  as  the 
French  express  themselves. 

Our  hero  heard  in  boyhood  wonderful  accounts  of"  The  Ohio,"  as 
the  State  of  which  he  was  to  be  Chief  Magistrate  was  called;  but 
the  reality,  though  quite  unlike  the  fable,  was  more  wonderful  than 
it  would  have  been  had  it  indeed  had  waters  like  New  England 
rum,  or  cucumbers  that  grew  on  trees. 

Ohio  was  no  El  Dorado.  Nor  was  the  fertility  by  which  its  soil 
invited  agriculture  such  as  that  of  the  region  whereof  was  reported 
that  it  responded  to  the  tickling  of  a  hoe  with  the  laughter  of  a 
harvest.  Yet  the  region  was,  as  Mr.  Chase  himself,  in  a  sketch  of 
its  history,  was  to  show,  more  blessed  than  it  would  have  been  had 
its  agriculture  been  but  as  the  light  gardening  labor  of  the  pair  in 
Paradise  before  the  fall.  The  blessing  so  appreciated  was  in  part 
corporeal,  in  part  spiritual.  In  the  body,  we  shall  find  Ohio  repre- 
sentative of  all  that  is  best  in  physical  conditions  in  this  wide  extent 


1  13th  Congress,  1813-1814,  vol.  1,  9. 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  65 

of  landscapes  under  one  vast  rule  of  laws  and  manners;  in  the  soul, 
in  population,  institutions,  legislation,  she  is  wonderfully  typical  of 
the  whole  country.  But  the  greatest  wonder  of  her  past  was  that 
which  most  distinguished  the  condition  of  her  pioneers  from  the 
condition  of  the  first  white  penetrators  of  the  Dark  and  Bloody 
Ground — a  legal  system,  guarding  her  domain  from  the  invasion  of 
the  institution  known  as  slavery,  and  giving,  at  the  same  time,  to 
the  white  man  and  the  red  man  of  Ohio  a  relation  to  each  other 
very  different  from  that  of  the  red  race  and  the  white  race  in  Ken- 
tucky. 

Chase  wrote  to  Mr.  Trowbridge : 

"It  was  probably  in  February  or  March,  1820,  that  I  visited  my 
sister  at  Hooksett.  as  already  mentioned. 

"At  any  rale,  it  was  about  that  time  that  my  mother  received  a 
letter  from  my  uncle,  the  Bishop,  offering  to  take  charge  of  me,  and 
my  mother  accepted  the  offer,  and  early  in  April  I  started,  with  my 
brother,  Alexander,  who  was  going  west  with  the  expectation  of 
joining  Gen.  Cass'  expedition,  in  company  with  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  who 
afterward  became  so  famous. 

"For  several  months — at  least  weeks — before  going,  I  knew  that 
my  uncle  had  proposed  to  take  me  and  that  I  was  to  go  to  him  in 
Ohio.  I  tried  to  find  out  where  I  was  going  and  got  sonic  queer  in- 
formation. 'The  Ohio,'  as  the  country  was  then  called,  was  a  great 
way  off — it  was  very  fertile — cucumbers  grew  on  trees — there  were 
wonderful  springs  Avhose  waters  were  like  New  England  rum — deer 
and  wolves  were  plenty — people  few.  A  copy  of  Morse's  Gazetteer 
gave  me  somewhat  better  but  still  scanty  information." 

Our  hero's  narrative  of  his  first  going  to  Ohio  opens  in  this 
manner : 

"At  last  the  day  arrived,  and  we  were  off.  Almost  the  whole  jour- 
ney to  Buffalo  is  now  a  blank  in  my  memory.  We  must  have 
started — my  brother  and  I — in  the  spring — probably  early  in  April. 
My  impression  is  that  we  crossed  the  Green  Mountains  on  a  rainy 
or  very  misty  day.  I  have  a  faint  recollection  of  passing  through 
clouds.  The  condition  of  the  atmosphere  was  peculiar.  Electricity 
seemed  to  saturate  our  clothes  and  buffalo  robes.  They  sparkled 
under  friction,  something  like  a  cat's  back  in  the  dark.  Our  road 
went  through  Bennington  to  Albany;  and  we  traveled  by  stage." 

Judge  Caldwell,  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Ohio,  paid  a  eharater- 
istic  tribute  to  the  flat-boat.  A  haughty  steamboat  had  been  sued 
for  damage  to  a  flat-boat.  Judge  Caldwell  considered  that,  at  least 
for  what  the  flat-boat  of  the  past  had  done,  she  well  deserved 
respectful  treatment.     So  one   might   maintain   about  stage  travel. 


66  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

If  we  do  not  feel  quite  moved  enough  to  drop  a  tear  or  two  in  mem- 
ory of  the  old  stage  coach,  which  once  seemed  to  us,  and  indeed  was, 
so  fine  a  type  of  rapid  progress,  let  us  at  least  remind  the  railroad 
of  the  vanished  glory  of  the  stage,  and  warn  the  locomotive  not  to 
bear  itself  too  proudly. 

Secretary  Chase  went  on  as  follows : 

"When  the  carriage  rolled  into  Albany  and  rattled  on  the  rough 
pavement.  I  said  to  my  brother:  -What  a  rocky  place  this  is.'  tip 
to  this  time  I  had  no  notion  of  paved  streets,  but  had  always  thought 
that  stones  should  be  taken  out  instead  of  being  placed  in  a  road. 
We  made  little  or  no  stay  in  Albanj",  but  pushed  on  again  by  stages 
to  Buffalo,  passing  through  Canandaigua,  which  I  remember  onlyby 
what  I  thought  its  stately  hotel  and  the  mansion  of  Gideon  Granger. 

''At  Albany  [Buffalo]  we  were  obliged  to  stop.  The  lake  was  not 
yet  opeu.  and  the  -Walk  in  the  Water,'  on  which  we  were  to  pursue 
our  journey,  lay  up  Black  Bock,  waiting  the  disappearance  of  the  ice. 

••Meantime,  at  the  tavern,  I  formed  some  acquaintances  with  per- 
sons who  were  kind  to  me.  I  remember  particularly  a  Mrs.  Devereux, 
who  was,  like  us,  going  up  the  lake,  and  a  young  lad  about, my  own 
age. 

"One  Sunday,  a  party,  of  whom  I  was  one,  went  out  to  the  mis- 
sionary service  at  the  Seneca  Tillage,  where  the  famous  chief,  Bed 
Jacket,  still  exercised  some  authority.  For  some  cause,  there  was 
no  service.  I  was  not  able  to  distinguish  the  chief  from  other 
Indians.  They  all  looked  odd  and  fantastic  to  me.  I  had  never 
seen  Indians  before." 

This  is  a  fact  worth  noting  as  we  pass.  We  shall  find  our  hero 
greatly  interested  with  his  legal  teacher,  Wirt,  for  justice  to  the  red 
man  of  the  South. 

The  narrative  goes  on  as  follows  : 

"I  made  one  other  little  excursion  while  at  Buffalo.  My  brother 
and  Mr.  Schoolcraft  had  gone  down  to  Niagara  Falls  leaving  me  be- 
hind. I  wanted  to  see  them  too,  and  with  started  on  foot. 
The  forest  was  burning  and  the  road  la}'  through  it,  and  it  seemed 
dangerous  to  me;  though  it  is  probable  there  was  no  real  danger. 
At  any  rate  we  went  through,  and,  almost  fagged  out,  stopped  at  a 
farmer's,  two  or  three  miles,  perhaps,  from  the  tails,  and  asked  lodg- 
ings for  the  night,  which  were  cheerfull\r  given.  Is  it  remembrance 
or  fancy,  that  a  pitchfork,  with  its  steel  points  driven  into  the  floor, 
so  as  to  hold  it  securely  erect,  vibrated  from  the  jar  of  the  cataract? 

"The  next  morning,  on  reaching  the  falls,  we  gazed  wonderingly 
on  the  indescribable  cataract.  We  descended  the  rough  steps  and  a 
rough,  precipitous  path,  which  led  down  into  the  gorge  and  to  the 
foot  of  the  falls,  and  there  was  a  new  wonder.  A  hillock  of  ice 
formed  by  the  spray,  rose  just  below  the  reach  of  the  falling  waters, 
forty  or  fifty  feet  high  and  shone  like  a  monstrous  pearl  in  the  sun. 
Near  it  I  found  my  brother  and  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  who  were  a  good 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  67 

deal  surprised  to  see  me,  and  perhaps  a  little  displeased.  But  they 
took  charge  of  me,  and  I  got  back  to  Buffalo  much  easier  than  I  got 
to  the  falls." 

What  an  opportunity  for  "fine  writing"  was  here  almost  thrown 
away  !  But  let  us  at  least  thank  Heaven  that  if  Chase  did  not  des- 
cribe, he  had  the  benefit  of  visiting,  in  boyhood,  that  true  wonder 
of  the  world. 

Let  us  read  on.     Said  Secretary  Chase  to  Mr.  Trowbridge : 

"The  sun  shone,  the  winds  blew,  the  ice  melted,  and  in  the  first 
day  of  Ma}'  the  lower  end  of  the  lake  was  clear.  The  '  Walk  in  the 
Water'  was  ready,  and  we  went  on  board  one  evening  at  Black 
Rock.  I  had  never  seen  a  steamer  before,  and  she  looked  prodigious 
to  me.  It  was  odd  to  be  tucked  away  into  a  berth  in  the  cabin — no 
state-room  for  me.  Indeed,  I  do  not  know  that  there  was  any  state- 
rooms for  passengers. 

"Toward  morning  I  was  roused  by  a  terrible  shaking,  and  rat- 
tling, and  clang.  I  thought  the  boat  was  breaking  in  pieces,  or, 
perhaps  had  got  loose  and  was  going  down  the  falls.  I  was  soon 
relieved,  however,  by  the  information  that  the  engines  were  working 
and  we  were  about  to  get  under  way.  On  getting  out  on  the  deck, 
sure  enough,  the  boat  wras  making  her  way  slowly  against  the  rapid 
current  toward  Buffalo.  It  was  Saturday  morning.  The  engines 
were  not  powerful  enough  to  stem  the  current,  and  were  assisted  by 
a  number  of  yokes  of  oxen  on  shore,  towing.  In  an  hour  or  two  we 
had  left  Buffalo  and  were  on  the  Lake,  steaming  toward  Cleveland, 
the  engines  being  assisted  now,  not  by  oxen  but  by  sails.  The  wind 
was  fair  and  the  air  clear  and  bright.  The  part}7  was  agreeable  and 
every  thing  went  pleasantly.  Night  came — my  first  night  on  the 
waters — but  I  am  afraid  I  was  not  conscious  of  any  thing  peculiar 
about  it.  And  the  next  day  seemed  so  like  other  days  that  I  quite 
forgot  it  was  Sunday,  and  asked  somebody  to  play  chequers  with 
me!" 

To  have  played  chequers  on  Sunday  would  have  seemed  to  Chase 
a  fearful  thing,  although,  as  we  have  seen,  his  training  in  religious 
matters  had  not  been  quite  puritanically  rigid  and  severe.  Perhaps 
he  never  came  to  look  at  Sunday  as  the  sunny  day  it  seemed  to  some 
of  our  best  Christians. 

"We  were  "  he  says,  "  at  dinner  when  the  boat  reached  Cleveland, 
and  her  motion  as  she  stopped  and  brought  to  anchor  off  the  town — 
for  there  was  no  harbor  then — gave  me  my  first  slight  experience 
of  home-sickness.  I  have  never  had  so  much  since.  We  went 
ashore  in  a  boat,  and  I  was  placed  under  the  care  of  Judge  Barber — 
not  a  lawyer,  but  one  of  the  Associate  Judges  of  the  Common  Pleas, 
of  whom  there  were  three  in  each  county,  usually  selected  from 
respectable  but  unprofessional  citizens. 
6 


68  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"Here  my  brother  left  me,  going  up  the  lake  with  Mr.  Schoolcraft 
to  join  Gen.  Cass." 

If  I  was  disappointed  on  discovering  that  Chase  had  not  described 
the  fall,  at  Niagara,  of  the  wonderful  water-way  of  which  Lake  Erie 
is  one  of  the  wide-spread  expanses,  I  was  disappointed  also  on 
discovering  that  he  had  not  described  the  aspects  of  the  lake.  He 
would  not  have  thought  of  playing  chequers,  had  he  duly  felt 
the  presence  of  that  inland  sea,  the  largest  water  surface  he  had  ever 
seen.  He  had  read  Shakspeare,  and  had  gained  some  knowledge 
of  the  classics,  which  especially  the  Greek,  as  Humboldt,  in  the 
second  volume  of  the  Kosmos,  has  so  admirably  shown,1  takes  so 
much  notice  of  the  sea.  But  he,  at  least  does  not  'pretend  to  have 
dissolved  in  rapture  at  the  sight  of  Erie's  waters.  He  confesses  that 
he  fears,  that  he  did  not  find  his  first  night  on  the  waters  marked  by 
any  great  peculiarity,  and  that  the  next  day  seemed  to  him  so  much 
like  other  days,  that  he  experienced  a  wish  to  play  at  chequers. 

We  shall  find  him  fond  of  chess.  And  let  it  be  recorded,  for  or 
against  this  volume,  that  I  question  whether  fondness  for  the  game 
of  chess  has  yet  appeared  in  any  man  in  whom  appeared  very  deep 
feeling  for  the  picturesque,  the  grand,  the  beautiful  in  landscape. 
No  one  who  loves  landscape  very  deeply  will  be  apt  to  give  much 
time  to  chequers  or  to  chess. 

Had  one  the  pen  of  Ruskin,  or  the  pen  of  Sunset  Cox,  one  might 
attempt  to  pen-paint  a  "  great  old  sunset,"  or  a  "  bully  "  sunrise, 
such  as  Chase  may  have  short-sightedly  beheld  on  that  Sunday, 
when,  forgetting  that  it  wras  the  first  day  of  the  week,  he  had  a  mind 
to  play  chequers.  I  forbear.  I  have,  indeed,  no  recollection  more 
entirely  tempting  than  the  recollections  of  some  Erie  sunsets  and 
some  Erie  sunrise  views  ;  but  to  let  off  descriptions  of  them,  at  this 
instant,  would  be  at  once  inconvenient  to  the  writer  and  annoying 
to  the  reader. 

Let  the  reader  fancy  for  himself  the  wonders  worked  on  the 
aspects  of  the  waters  and  the  heavens  by  sunrise,  and  by  high  noon, 
and  by  the  sun's  decline,  while  Chase  was  a  passenger  in  the  "  Walk 
in  the  Water,"  or  while  he  remained  at  Cleveland. 

1  "  Vergessen  wir  nicbt,  class  die  griechiscbe  Landschaft  den  eigenthuemlichen 
Reiz  einer  innigeren  Verscbmelzung  des  Starren  und  Fluessigen ;  des  mit  Pflanzen 
geschmueckten  oder  malerisch  felsigen,  luftgefaerbten  Ufers ;  uud  des  wellenschla- 
genden,  lichtwechselnden,  glanzvollen  Meeres  darbietet."  Kosmos,  zweiter  Band, 
seite  10,  Verlag  dei'  Cotta'scben  Buchbandlung. 


OF    SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  69 

"Judge  Barber  received  me  very  kindly,  having  probably  been 
informed  of  my  coming,  and  of  his  own  wishes,  by  the  Bishop.1 

"I  spent  several  days — perhaps,  a  couple  of  weeks — at  his  house, 
on  the  west  bank  of  the  Cuyahoga,  amusing  myself  by  going  down 
to  the  Perry  and  playing  ferryman,  taking  passengers  to  and  from 
the  Cleveland  or  Eastern  side,  and  sometimes  paddling  down  toward 
the  lake  till  the  waves  rolling  in,  rocked  my  canoe." 

The  last  quoted  letter  thus  proceeds : 

"But  my  destination  was  Worthington,  in  the  center  of  the  State, 
where  my  uncle  resided  ;  and  I  was  anxious  to  get  there.  So,  hear- 
ing one  day,  that  a  wagoner  was  going  down  that  way,  I  went  to 
him.  and  tried  to  make  a  bargain  for  his  taking  me.  He  was  a 
Pennsylvania  German  who  had  settled  in  Ohio,  and  had  been  bring- 
ing wheat  or  something  else  to  the  Cleveland  market." 

Here  we  see  two  marked  Ohio  types — the  emigrant  of  German 
lineage,  and  the  product  of  the  wheat  plant — each  remarkable  as  a 
symbol  of  the  best  civilization  in  this  country. 

Secretary  Chase  proceeds  : 

"He  was  willing  to  take  me  for  '  ein  tollar,'  but  was  going  no 
farther  than  Canton.  2  I  did  not  like  the  strange  jargon  which  he 
spoke — having  never  heard  any  such — and  was  a  little  afraid  of 
him.  Besides,  to  get  to  Canton  was  not  reaching  Worthington.  So 
the  wagon  project  was  abandoned. 

"Judge  Barber  sent  me.  then,  to  the  Bev.  Mr. ,  3  an  Episco- 
pal Minister,  at  Medina.  The  Episcopal  Convention  was  about  to 
be  held  at  Worthington,  and  I  could  probably  go  down  with  some 

of  the  delegates.     I  remained  at  Mr. 's  probably  a  week.     His 

house  was  one  of  the  primitive  log  cabins  of  the  country — one  or 
two  rooms  below —  a  single  room  above,  where  all  the  children  slept, 
with  coarse  curtains  for  partitions. 

"There  was  a  mineral  spring  of  sweet  water  which  was  a  great 
attraction  to  me;  and  those  pleasant  rambles  in  the  woods  and 
openings. 

"Finally,  two  young  men,  delegates — one  of  them,  at  least — to 
the  Convention,  left  Medina, 4  taking  me  with  them.  The  settlement 
of  the  country  was  only  begun.  Great  forests  stretched  across  the 
State.     Carriage  wa}*s  Avere  hardl}r  practicable.     Almost  all  travel- 


1  It  will  be  noticed  that,  admirabl}7  as  our  hero  could,  and  generally  did  construct 
a  sentence,  faults  of  construction,  such  as  that  just  made  apparent,  not  seldom  show 
themselves  in  his  less  studied  compositions.  After  all,  in  letter-writing,  one  must 
not  he  too  particular  about  correctness. 

2  115  N.  AV.  of  Worthington;  124  from  Columbus. 
3 1  can't  make  out  the  name. 

4  108  miles  from  Worthina-ton. 


70  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

ing  was  performed  on  foot  or  on  horseback.  The  two  young  men 
had  two  horses,  and  the  arrangement  was  to  ride  and  tie.  That  is 
to  sa}",  one  was  to  ride  on,  dismount,  and  tie  his  horse,  and  walk  on. 
The  one  on  foot  was  to  come  up,  take  the  horse,  ride  on  beyond  the 
walker  in  front,  and  tie,  and  so  on. 

"Once,  when  I  was  riding,  I  came  to  a  place  where  the  roads 
parted,  and  was  at  a  loss.  Taking  that  which  seemed  most  traveled, 
I  rode  on,  and  before  long,  came  to  its  end  at  a  spring.  It  was  a 
path  beaten  by  animals  going  to  drink.  I  made  my  way  back  to 
the  less  traveled  road. 1 

"  We  passed  through  Wooster, 2  passing  a  night  there.  The  place 
seemed  great  to  me,  and  the  lighted  houses,  as  we  went  in  after 
dark,  very  splendid. 

"In  three  or  four  days  we  reached  Worthington.  I  entered  the 
town  walking,  and  met  my  uncle  in  the  street,  walking  with  one  of 
his  clergy  or  friends." 

The  next  letter,  dated  January  25,  1864,  contains  the  sentences: 

"  My  uncle,  at  the  time  I  went  to  him,  was  in  the  maturity  of 
his  intellectual  and  physical  powers.  He  was  a  great  worker,  a 
thoroughly  practical  man,  always  thinking  of  something  to  be  done, 
and  then  doing  it  with  all  his  might.  There  was  not  a  particle  of 
flam  or  cant  in  his  make  up.  Thoroughly  religious,  he  always 
looked  to  God.  His  motto  was,  Jehovah  Jireh — God  will  provide. 
But  his  faith  in  God  only  animated  him  to  most  strenuous  personal 
labor.  It  was  not  passive  but  active.  If  any  thing  was  to  be  done, 
he  felt  that  he  must  do  it ;  and  that,  if  he  put  forth  all  his  energy, 
he  might  safely  and  cheerfully  leave  the  event  to  Divine  Providence." 

Can  we  say,  with  confidence,  like  uncle  like  nephew  as  to  that? 
We  "  shall  see  what  we  shall  see,"  in  this  respect.  The  nephew 
thus  farther  characterized  his  remarkable  relative: 

"Usually  exceedingly  kind  and  a  delightful  companion  to  young 
and  old,  he  was  often  very  harsh  and  severe,  not  because  he  liked  to 
be,  but  because  he  was  determined  to  have  every  thing  just  as  he 
thought  it  ought  to  be." 

Here,  at  least,  we  can  with  certainty  pronounce,  like  uncle  like 
nephew.     Of  the  uncle,  however,  adds  the  nephew : 

"  He  was  thoroughly  imbued  with  a  sense  of  the  importance  of 
his  episcopal  office,  and  a  thorough  believer  in  the  subordination  of 
the  orders  to  the  Episcopate.  Certainly,  he  lived  to  Govern  ;  3  but 
he  liked  to  govern  for  the  good  of  others,  not  his  own." 


1  What  a  figure  of  what  so  often  happens  in  the  spiritual  ways  of  life  !     Here,  too, 
the  less  traveled  way  is  often  the  true  course  to  the  right  destination. 

2  84  miles  from  Worthington. 

3  So,  in  the  original,  with  a  big  G.     To  Govern  (with  a  big  G)  was  also  a  marked 
liking  of  the  nephew.     Every  man  his  own  Pope,  was  not,  indeed,  our  hero's  motto, 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  71 

So,  it  seems  to  me,  was  it  with  this  nephew  of  his  uncle.  Willing 
but  not  anxious  to  be  President,  his  propensity  to  govern,  strongly 
and  almost  despotically,  was  at  all  times  animated  by  regard  for 
what  appeared  to  him  the  good  of  others,  not  his  own.  Of  his  uncle 
he  farther  says,  in  the  same  letter: 

"  He  liked  to  overcome,  too ;  great  obstacles  stimulated  but  did  not 
discourage  him." 

Gentle  reader! 

"  Dost  thou  like  the  picture  ?  " 

It  seems  quite  like  a  portrait  of  the  very  man  by  whom  it  was 
portrayed.     Our  hero  thus  proceeds  : 

"Among  us  boys  he  was  almost,  and  sometimes,  indeed,  quite 
tyrannical." 

That  statement  may  be  impeached.  The  author  of  it  once  con- 
fessed to  me  and  others,  that  he  had  told  a  lie !  Shall  we  say,  false 
in  one  false  in  all,  according  to  the  maxim  of  the  legists,  falsus  in 
uno,  falsus  in  omnibus  ?  (See  Davis  v.  Ohio,  15  Ohio  State  Reports, 
overruled  in  a  subsequent  case,  of  which  I  do  not  now  remember  the 
title,  but  in  which,  as  counsel,  I  labored  for  that  overruling.)  Our 
hero,  relating  an  acknowledgment  made  to  his  uncle,  to  the  effect 
that  he  had  wrongly  called  that  personage  "  a  darned  old  tyrant," 
said  to  me  and  others,  on  the  seventh  of  December,  1872,  that  when 
he  asked  the  pardon  of  his  uncle  and  made  that  acknowledgment,  he 
lied;  for  that,  in  point  of  fact,  he  well  knew  at  the  time,  that  his 
uncle  was — what  he  had  called  him,  as  we  have  just  seen.  But 
the  angel  that  tearfully  blotted  out  the  oath  of  uncle  Toby  may  have 
blotted  out  that  lie. 

Our  hero  adds  about  Philander  Chase: 

"But  he  was  not  disliked — much  less  hated — he  was  revered  and 
feared.  He  was  not  loved  by  them  then — but,  afterward,  when  they 
had  left  him,  and  looked  back  on  the  days  they  had  spent  under  his 
charge,  and  saw  him  more  as  he  l'ealty  was,  love  mingled  with  their 
reverence,  and  became  its  equal  in  their  hearts." 


though  so  many  men,  though  simple  laymen,  act  as  though  they  had  divine  assur- 
ance of  their  own  infallibilly.  Infallibity,  in  my  poor  judgment,  is  an  attribute  of 
God  alone,  not  delegated  or  deputed;  but  I  feel  how  much  easier  it  is  for  a  man  to 
believe  in  his  own  infallibility,  than  in  the  infallibility  of  any  other  man  beneath 
the  heavens. 


72  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SEPvYICES 

I  can  but  think  just  here  of  what  Laboulaye  has  said  of  Franklin 
as  lived  with  in  his  writings.1  For,  the  more  that  I  have  lived  with 
Salmon  Portland  Chase  in  his  diaries  and  letters,  the  more  have  I 
been  astonished  that  so  much  of  their  contents  should  be  now  pre- 
sented, for  the  first  time,  to  the  public.  Here,  indeed,  we  have  not 
such  letters  as  an  American  Madame  de  Sevigne  might  have  written 
to  her  daughter.  Had  these  letters  been  written  to  our  hero's 
daughter,  Nettie,  whom  he  regarded  as  the  genius  of  the  family  for 
letter-writing,2  they  would  still  have  been  the  letters,  not  of  a 
mother  but  of  a  father ;  and  I  do  not  mean  to  intimate  that  Chase 
was  just  a  male  paragon  of  letter- writers,  at  any  time,  or  that  he 
ever  could  have  been  a  paragon  of  that  description  ;  yet  it  is  impos- 
sible to  read  such  sentences  as  those  last  quoted  from  the  Trow- 
bridge correspondence  without  feeling  a  watering  of  the  eyes  and  a 
quicker  beating  of  the  heart. 

And  yet  this  man  once  pardoned  me  for  having  furnished,  to  a 

widely-circulated  paper,  an  editorial,  which,  as  I  remember,  said  of 

him  in  substance: 

I 

"  We  do  not  sa}>-  that  Mr.  Chase  has  a  bad  heart.     We  only  any  he 

has  no  heart." 

True,  that  was  many  years  ago,  and  in  the  midst  of  stormy  agita- 
tion. But  now  the  gentle  reader  must,  at  least,  begin  to  understand 
the  holy  office  of  this  book,  in  which  mingled  expiation,  gratitude, 
and  justice,  modify  and  animate  each  paragraph,  each  sentence,  and 
each  word. 

Chase  wrote  as  follows  in  a  Trowbridge  letter  : 

"William  Walker3  was  a  Wyandot — a  half  or  quarter-breed.  He 
used  to  tell  us  stories  of  Indian  wars,  and  escapes  and  pursuits, 
while  I  listened  wonderingly.  I  have  read,  I  think,  in  one  of 
Cooper's  novels  one  of  his  stories,  which  I  must  not  stop  to  relate — a 
fight — a  defeat — the  flight  of  the  defeated — the  pursuit — the  adven- 
tures of  one  of  the  braves — plunging  into  the  water — concealing 
himself  among  a  drift  of  logs — the  pursuit  over  that  very  raft — ex- 
treme danger — final  escape. 

"In  the  vicinity  of  the  town  were  some  of  those  strange  fortifica- 
tions and  burial  mounds,  which  form  so  remarkable  a  feature  of  the 
Ohio    and   Mississippi   valleys — mysterious   monuments  of  an    un- 


1  "Plus  j'ai  vecu  avec  Franklin,  plus  je  me  suis  etonne  qu'on  n'ait  pas  donne-  plus 
tut  au  public  francais  cctte  correspondanee  si  pleiue  d'esprit  et  de  sens."  Preface, 
tome  second  de  la  Correspondanee  de  Benjamin  Franklin,  traduite  de  I' Anglais,  et  an- 
notee,  page  3. 

2  Post.  3  A  school-mate. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  73 

known  race.  I  took  great  interest  in  these.  I  used  to  take  Atwa- 
ter's  Antiquities  of  Ohio — I  am  not  sure  of  the  name  of  the  book — « 
when  I  went  out  into  the  forests  after  the  cows,  and  could  stop  at  an 
abandoned  clearing,  and  sit  down  in  the  old  log  hut  or  in  its  shade, 
and  read  and  wonder  by  the  hour;  and,  sometimes,  perhaps,  forget 
the  cows.  One  of  my  earliest  pieces  of  composition,  alter  I  went  to 
the  College  at  Cincinnati,  was  on  these  mounds — perhaps  it  was 
written  to  be  declaimed — I  forget. 

"One  of  the  most  noteworthy  things  I  saw,  during  the  time  I  was 
at  Worthington,  was  the  flight  of  vast  flocks  of  pigeons  and  their 
roost.  They  might,  if  it  were  possible  to  count  them,  be  numbered 
by  hundreds  of  thousands.  The}*  came  from  the  west  and  formed  a 
roost  south-east  from  our  house,  in  the  forest  between  Alum  Creek 
and  the  Olentangy — or,  as  it  was  then  called,  the  Whetstone.  From 
this  roost  they  departed  westward  each  morning,  and  returned  to- 
ward night-fall.  Their  flight  was  wonderful.  They  came  toward 
their  roost  in  vast  bodies — sometimes  bo  vast  that  they  actually 
darkened  the  sky  and  dimmed  the  light  below  like  thick,  black 
clouds.  Sometimes  a  flock,  flying  toward  the  forest,  would  sail  too 
low,  and,  coming  to  its  edge,  would  suddenly  stop,  turn  and  rise 
over  the  trees — the  clapping  of  their  wings  making  a  rattle  like 
the  noise  of  musketry- — or  more  like  that  of  sharp,  but  distant 
thunder. 

■'They  continued  to  come  and  go  for  perhaps  two  weeks — perhaps 
not  more  than  one.  One  night,  pretty  soon  after  they  had  estab- 
lished their  roost,  a  night  attack  on  it  was  planned.  A  hired  man 
of  my  uncle's,  a  neighbor  or  two,  and  perhaps  half  a  dozen  or  more 
boys,  of  whom  I  Mas  one,  formed  the  part}'.  There  was  one  gun 
and  a  few  charges  of  powder  and  shot — perhaps  a  dozen.  This  was 
our  only  artillery.  An  hour  or  so  after  dark,  we  started  in  high 
spirits,  not  knowing  where  the  roost  was,  but  guided  toward  it  by 
the  roar,  like  that  of  falling  waters,  which  the  pigeons  made.  We 
had  proceeded,  perhaps  half  or  three-quarters  of  a  mile,  when  we 
were  confused  by  similar  sounds  from  different  directions. 

■  After  considering  a  moment,  it  became  plain  that  one  sound 
came  from  a  mill-dam  in  the  Olentangy,  and  we  took  the  direction 
of  the  other.  It  was  not  long  before  we  came  to  the  outskirts  of 
the  pigeons'  camp.  Now  and  then  we  found  pigeons  roosting  on 
saplings  and  boughs  so  low  that  we  could,  by  bending  the  young 
tree  or  branch,  catch  one  or  two.  Our  gun  served  us  in  better 
stead.  Stopping  under  a  tree,  crowded  with  pigeons — the  branches 
bending  under  their  weight,  our  gunner  would  advance  boldly,  and. 
nothing  daunted  by  superior  numbers,  fire  into  the  mass.  Then 
such  dropping  of  birds — such  commotion  among  the  unhurt — such 
flights — such  inability  to  get  away  and  settling  down  again  into 
place.  I  think,  however,  that  no  more  than  one  shot  was  ever 
fired  into  the  same  tree.  Our  ammunition  was  soon  exhausted,  and 
we  addressed  ourselves  to  the  work  of  picking  up  what  birds  we 
could  find  by  the  help  of  a  torch-light.  Many  had  been  killed  out- 
right, but  vastly  more  were  hopping  round  wounded.  It  was  pitiful 
to  see  them.  We  caught  all  we  could  and  put  them  out  of  pain  by 
speedy  death.     In    some   instances,   their    own    weight   had    proved 


74  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE   AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

more  destructive  than  our  assaults.  Branches  were  broken  down  by 
the  mere  mass  upon  them,  or  the  shock  of  their  motion.  In  ono 
instance  a  very  large  branch  was  thus  broken  from  a  tree — large 
enough  to  be  a  tree  itself — four  or  five  inches  in  diameter.  Many 
pigeons  were  entangled  in  these  branches  carried  to  the  ground,  and 
wounded.  About  the  large  branch  we  picked  up  near  a  hundred. 
We  remained  in  the  woods  all  night,  and  satisfied  our  hunger,  made 
keen  by  the  exercise,  on  pigeons,  which  we  dressed  and  cooked  by 
extemporized  processes  and  fires.  Morning  came  at  length.  We 
gathered  our  spoils,  and  tying  the  pigeons  together,  and  placing  long 
strings  of  them  on  poles,  carried,  each,  by  two  boys,  one  before  and 
one  behind,  we  set  out  on  our  return.  Before  getting  off,  however, 
the  pigeons  had  started  for  their  mast  field.  And  what  a  sight  was 
that,  of  the  breaking  up  of  the  vast  camp,  for  the  march  and  work 
of  the  day.  Great  flocks  would  rise  from  their  roost-trees  and  sail 
away,  turning,  sometimes,  their  breasts  to  the  rising  sun,  and  mak- 
ing a  display  of  exceeding  beauty.  Other  great  flocks  would  follow, 
till  the  whole  host  was  gone.  We  did  not  hunt  again,  but  others 
did,  and  barrels  of  pigeons  were  salted  for  winter  stores." 

It  is  impossible  to  read  this  narrative  and  descriptive  matter 
without  feeling  what  a  relief  it  must  have  been  to  the  composer; 
yet  how  many  of  its  phrases  were  inspired  by  the  warlike  under- 
current of  his  feelings  and  his  thoughts. 

It  must  have  been  a  great  relief  to  go  back  in  memory  to  that 
almost  sylvan  village  and  to  its  vicinity  of  woods  and  waters. 

There  was  nothing  bold  or  grand  in  the  purely  telluric  features 
of  the  landscapes  thus  revisited  in  memory.  No  rapid  elevation,  no 
great  height  of  earth-form  was  there  visible.  The  Whetstone  (or  the 
Olentangy)  was  not  a  western  Connecticut  or  an  interior  Ohio. 
Yet  it  was  an  interesting  flow  of  water,  which,  had  Chase  set  out 
to  make  a  formal  topographic  sketch,  would  have  made  considerable 
figure  in  the  picture. 

Did  our  hero  care  much  for  the  fluid  elements  of  landscape? — for 
the  changing  heavens  and  the  ever-moving  waters?  He  did  not 
appear  to  have  marked  feeling  for  those  parts  of  scenery.  Indeed, 
he  would,  it  seems  to  me,  have  been  quite  ready  to  accept  the  doc- 
trine, eloquently  taught  by  Ruskin,  that  all  true  landscape  is  de- 
pendent for  its  interest  on  its  relation  to  the  works  and  ways  of 
human   life.1     That  doctrine  is,   indeed,  like  so   much  of  the  most 


]  "  We  find  that  all  true  landscape,  whether  simple  or  exalted,  depends,  primarily, 
for  its  interest  on  connection  with  humanity,  or  with  spiritual  powers.  Banish 
your  heros  and  nymphs  from  the  classical  landscape,  its  laurel  shades  will  move 
you  no  more.     Show  that  the  dark  clefts  of  the  most  romantic  mountains  are  unin- 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  75 

suggestive  matter  yielded  by  the  pen  of  Ruskin,  quite  too  highly 
colored;  but,  for  minds  like  the  mind  we  study — master  minds,  and, 
therefore,  missionary  minds — minds  forced  by  something  like  an  in- 
stinct to  move  men  to  better  action  and  to  more  exalted  thought — 
the  doctrine  here  alluded  to,  would  have  superior  claims  upon 
attention. 

Doubtless,  in  that  life  at  Worthington,  the  mind  of  Chase  was 
busier  with  animated  nature  than  with  any  lifeless  object  there 
observable. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  purposed  account  of  his  distinctively 
scholastic  occupations  at  the  place  now  under  view,  let  us  attend  a 
little  farther  to  his  life  as  an  assistant  and  protege  of  his  uncle,  the 
great  man  of  Worthington  and  its  vicinity. 


habited  and  untraversed  ;  it  will  cease  to  be  romantic.  Fields  without  shepherds 
and  without  fairies  will  have  no  gaiety  in  their  green ;  nor  will  the  noblest  masses 
of  ground  or  colors  of  cloud  arrest  or  raise  your  thoughts,  if  the  earth  has  no  life 
to  sustain,  and  the  heaven  none  to  refresh."     Modern  Painters,  V,  207. 


76  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 


CHAPTER   V. 

AT  WORTHINGTON  WITII    BISHOP   CHASE. 

AGAIN  I  ask  the  reader  to  refer  to  that  note  in  the  Appendix  which 
is  given  to  the  history  of  the  Cornish  Chases.  Having  once  more 
glanced  through  that,  one  will  be  better  able  to  appreciate  what 
follows. 

Bishop  Chase,  like  Adam  Clarke,  had  the  not  altogether  foolish 
fancy,  that  one  may  avoid  offensive  egotism  by  speaking  of  himself 
in  the  third  person.  Of  the  latter's  funny  manner  of  discoursing  of 
himself  I  knew  not  till  informed  of  it  by  Dr.  Elder,1  the  genial 
biographer  of  Dr.  Kane. 

But  he  was  no  vainer  than  had  been  before  him  Cicero,  and 
Erskine,  and  so  many  other  worthies,  prominent  among  them  the 
aforesaid  Adam  Clarke.  Charles  Hammond  and  Timothy  Walker 
of  Ohio  set  a  good  example  when  they  said  I  when  they  meant  I. 

But  though  our  hero's  bishop-uncle  was  a  vain  man  and  a  proud 
one,  he,  too,  was  a  real  worthy.  Franklin  was  less  proud,  but  quite 
as  vain.  John  Adams  was  as  proud,  and  vainer.  Alexander 
Hamilton  was  alike  vainer  and  prouder.  Gouverneur  Morris — but 
why  lengthen  such  a  list? 

No  one  is  ready  for  the  study  of  biography  who  does  not  know 
that  vanity  and  pride  may  be  quite  prominent  in  a  true  worthy, 
even  in  a  bishop. 

Bishop  Chase,  for  all  his  pride  and  vanity,  was  very  clearly  one 
of  the  best  men  that  ever  lived. 

He  relates  of  himself  that  he  had,  as  a  boy,  a  decided  preference 
for  an  agricultural  and  pastoral  life.  His  father,  like  the  patri- 
archs of  old,  had,  with  his  children  round  him,  fed  his  flocks  in 


1  "Dr.  Elder,"  wrote  Chief  Justice  Chase,  in  1865,  «  needs  no  commendation  of  mine 
He  is  reckoned  among  the  best  speakers  of  our  country  by  all  who  have  heard  him, 
and  among  its  best  writers  by  all  who  have  read  him.''— To  H.  W.  Shepard.  Esq. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  77 

green  pastures  by  the  side  of  living  waters  for  many  years,  till  he 
was  now  old  and  gray  headed.  The  most  of  these  children  had  left 
him  to  settle  in  life;  and  should  the  ....  youngest  ever  think  of 
leaving  him  also?  The  very  idea  of  such  a  separation  seemed  mad- 
dening to  his  youthful  and  filial  mind,  and  for  a  time  he  was  in- 
dulged in  the  pleasing  dream  of  being  the  favored  one  who  should 
occupy  the  home  farm,  and  minister  to  the  wants  and  wishes  of  his 
parents  in  their  declining  years.1 

But  his  parents  felt  otherwise,  and  it  was  otherwise  ordered. 

"At  Bethel,  when  visiting  his  sister,  he  cut  with  an  axe  his  foot 
transversely  nearly  through  in  the  middle.  When,  in  the  course  of  a 
year  and  more  this  was  healed,  he  had  the  misfortune,  as  it  was 
called,  while  in  the  pursuit  of  his  duty  in  preparing  a  field  for  wheat, 
in  Cornish,  to  break  his  leg,  and  otherwise  bruise  his  limb."2 

Philander  went  to  Dartmouth  College  after  not  quite  a  year  of 
hard  preparatory  study. 

"  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1793-94,  while  he  was  a  member  of  the 
sophomore  and  junior  classes,  he  became  acquainted  with  the  Com- 
mon Prayer-Book  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United 
States  of  America.  This  circumstance  formed  an  important  era  in 
his  life  and  that  of  his  venerable  parents  and  beloved  relatives  in 
Cornish.  New  Hampshire,  and  in  Bethel,  Vermont,  where  they  re- 
sided.    Hitherto  the}'  had  all  been  Congregationalists."  3 

"  As  such,"  says  the  bishop,  ''these  parents  and  relatives  had  much 
ignorance  and  many  prejudices  to  overcome  in  conforming  to  the 
worship  of  God  as  set  forth  in  that  primitive  liturgy." 

He  adds : 

"The  more,  however,  it  was  examined  and  compared  with  the 
Word  of  God.  the  more  forcibly  did  its  beauties  strike  their  minds." 

He  then  proceeds  to  set  forth  what  appeared  to  him  "the  princi- 
pal reasons  which  induced  so  many  of  his  relations  to  conform  to  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  instead  of  repairing  the  meeting- 
house, where  both  his  grandfather  and  father  had  officiated  as  Con- 
gregational deacons,  inclined  them  to  pull  it  down  and  erect  on  its 
spot  an  Episcopal  Church.  This,  he  relates,  was  effected  in  great 
harmony  ;  not  a  voice  was  raised  against  the  measure  throughout 
the  neighborhood.4 


1  Reminiscence*,  vol.  1,  p.  16. 

2  Ibid. 

3  Reminiscences,  vol.  1,  p.  18. 

4  Ibid. 


78  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 

He  says  that  he  was  ardently  desirous  of  entering,  when  he  could 
suppose  himself  qualified,  into  the  ministry.  Wherefore,  the  ques- 
tion, who  had  the  divine  power  and  authority  to  ordain  him,  and 
thereby  give  him  an  apostolic  commission  to  preach  and  administer  the 
sacraments,  became  to  him,  he  says,  a  matter  of  the  utmost  conse- 
quence, affecting  his  conscience.  How  that  question  seemed  to  him 
well  settled,  is  related  in  the  Reminiscences  at  length. 

He  was  graduated  in  the  degree  of  A.  B.,  1795.  He  taught  school 
in  Albany,  New  York,  soon  afterward.  On  the  10th  of  May,  1798, 
in  St.  George's  Chapel,  New  York,  he  was  ordained  deacon.  There- 
upon he  was  appointed  an  itinerant  missionary  in  the  northern  and 
western  parts  of  New  York.  From  that  time  forward  his  life  was 
almost  nomadic,  his  wanderings  extending  even  to  Europe. 

He  was  ordained  priest  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  New  York,  Novem- 
ber 10,  1799.  For  a  short  time  he  was  rector  of  Christ  Church, 
Poughkeepsie,  where  he  preached  a  rather  partial  discourse  on  the 
death  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  on  the  2d  of  July,  1804. 

In  the  year  1803  or  4,  he  taught  the  academy  in  the  same  place, 
about  half  of  his  pupils  being  well  advanced  youths,  and  the  other 
half  boys  of  seven  or  nine  years  of  age.  He  went  to  New  Orleans 
in  1805,  and  there  organized  Christ  Church,  the  pioneer  Episco- 
palian Church  of  the  Crescent  City.  At  NewT  Orleans,  also,  he  was 
a  school-teacher  as  well  as  a  pastor. 

Some  time  in  1811,  he  returned  to  Vermont,  chiefly  to  educate 
his  sons  at  the  North,  as  he  explains.  These  sons,  George  and 
Philander,  were  then  at  school  in  Randolph,  Vermont,  under  the  care 
and  roof  of  their  uncle  Dudley. 

In  the  fall  of  1811,  he  became  rector  of  Christ  Church,  Hartford, 
and  continued  to  reside  in  that  city  about  six  years. 

March  2,  1817,  he  left  Hartford  on  his  way  to  Ohio,  and  on  the 
16th  of  the  same  month  preached  at  Coneaut  Creek,  then  a  few  log 
houses,  now  a  considerable  village,  called  Salem.  When  he  reached 
his  destination  at  Worthington,  near  Columbus,  I  am  not  able  to 
state,  but  it  was  before  the  8th  of  May,  1817. 

At  Worthington  he  was  made  principal  of  the  academy. 

On  the  3rd  of  June,  1818,  Philander  Chase  was  elected  bishop 
of  Ohio.  Setting  off  for  Philadelphia  to  receive  consecration,  he 
learned  at  Baltimore  of  opposition,  and  at  Philadelphia  he  found  it 
even  so.  The  opposition,  we  learn,  imperfectly  however,  raised 
objections  "  affecting    his    moral    character."     Standing  committees 


OF    SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  79 

investigated  the  whole  matter  ;  inquiries  were  made  wherever  he 
had  lived  ;  all  was  found  satisfactory  to  the  committee;  and  Bishop 
White,  at  the  close  of  the  investigation,  having  attended  every 
meeting  of  the  board,  was  heard  to  say  that  he  was  fully  satisfied, 
and  that  the  gentlemen  who  had  opposed  the  consecrating  of  the 
bishop  elect  of  Ohio,  would  do  well  to  consider,  if,  on  a  similar  trial, 
their  own  lives  would  bear  like  investigation. 

Bishop  Chase  was  consecrated  February  11, 1819,  in  Philadelphia. 
On  the  3rd  of  the  next  month,  he  arrived  at  his  home,  near  Worth- 
ington. 

In  the  fall  of  1821,  he  went  to  Cincinnati  to  take  charge  of  the 
college  in  that  city. 

On  the  26th  of  February,  1828,  the  bishop's  religious  temper 
found  this  expression  in  a  letter  to  his  wife : 

"  '  The  solemnities  of  the  ordination  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Johns  to  priest's 
orders  were  performed,  I  hope,  duly — certainly  very  sincerely  and 
hunibl}' — by  one  whom  you  sincerely  love,  and  whom,  it  is  hoped, 
God  pities  through  Jesus  Christ.  I  wish  Aunt  Cranch  could  have 
been  there,  but  it  rained  too  hard. 

"  '  The  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Eev.  Mr.  Hawle}',  and  prayers 
were  read  b}*  the  Eev.  Mr.  E.  Allen.  The  sermon  was  on  episcopacy, 
on  the  subject  of  the  three  orders  in  the  ministry,  and  was  more 
high-church  than  I  had  thought  would  have  come  from  Mr.  H.  It 
was  full  up  to  the  highest  pretensions  on  that  subject  usually  enter- 
tained.    President  Adams  was  present. 

"  'After  church,  I  went  and  dined  with  Judge  B.,  who  is  now  in 
the  enjoyment  of  a  good,  fat  living  of  §1000  per  year,  as  clerk  in  the 
Navy  Department.  Mrs.  B.  looks  younger  than  ever.  Poor  Junius, 
her  son.  died  about  a  year  ago:  the  Eomanists  got  hold  of  him.  and, 
after  molding  him  in  their  machinery,  have  given  him  a  good  place 
in  purgatory.'  m 

The  last  sentence  is  not  creditable.  I  never  was  a  Romanist, 
and  I  know,  now,  that  I  was  not  a  Roman  Catholic  when  I  thought 
I  was ;  but  I  find  such  language  far  from  creditable  to  our  hero's 
uncle.  Bishop  Chase  was  rather  bigoted,  but,  after  all,  he  was  a 
noble  character.  Here  is  an  extract  which  appears  to  me  a  truer 
indication  of  his  faith  in  God: 

'•  Man's  life  is  man's  trial,  and  the  evil  is  as  essential  as  the  good. 
The  days  of  his  life,  whether  few  or  many,  are  directed  by  a  wise 
Providence,  so  that  all  things  may,  by  his  grace,  work  together  for 
the  benefit  of  his  soul."2 


1  Reminiscences,  vol.  2,  pages  592-3.  2  Reminiscences,  vol.  2,  page  586. 


80  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AN'D  PUBLIC    SERVICES 

We  shall  discover  that  like  faith  in  Providence  marked  the 
whole  life  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase.  "We  shall  see  it  in  his  answer 
to  Day  birthday  letter.1  We  shall  see  it  in  many  other  letters,  in 
his  diaries,  and  in  other  emanations  from  his  pen.  He  was  a 
worthy  nephew  of  a  worthy  uncle — nay,  of  worthy  uncles,  as  he 
was  the  worthy  son  of  worthy  parents. 

Our  good  bishop  rather  loved  the  English  aristocracy.  "Writing 
at  "Worthington,  February  9,  1828,  he  said  to  Mrs.  Chase  : 

"My  Dear  Wife:  —  I  dined  yesterday  at  the  table  of  President 
Adams.  I  was  permitted  to  sit  alongside  of  the  queen,  and 
had  much  conversation  with  her.  She  has  been  much  in  Europe, 
and  speaks  very  justly  of  the  English  nobility.  She  observed 
that  their  character  was  much  misunderstood  in  this  country,  and 
that  some  of  her  most-esteemed  friends  were  to  be  found  among 
them."  2 

Yet  this  man  wras  not  ashamed  to  face  his  honorable  poverty. 
In  a  letter  written  at  Washington,  February  6,  1828,  he  said  to 
his  wife  : 

;-  Tell  m}~  son,  Dudley,  that  his  uncle  loves  him,  and  commands 
him  to  be  a  good  and  industrious  boy.  Indeed,  dear  wife,  don't  fail 
to  impress  constantly  on  the  minds  of  our  children  the  truth  of  our 
poverty,  and  that  they  have  nothing  to  look  for,  and  none  to  look 
to,  when  we  die.  but  God  and  their  own  endeavors  for  a  subsistence. 
Do  read  this  letter  to  Dudley,  and  talk  seriously  with  him."3 

The  next  paragraph  of  the  same  letter  is  equally  significant.  It 
is  as  follows : 

'•If  Mr.  .  on    account    of  his   depressed    circumstances,  be 

obliged  to  put  his  boys,  as  he  says  he  must,  to  a  trade,  what  shall 
our  poor  children  do?  Tell  Dudley  and  Henry  they  must  strive 
and  learn,  and  store  their  heads  with  knowledge,  as  a  source  of  a  fu- 
ture means  of  subsistence,  or  they  will  be  vagabonds." 

February  15th,  of  the  same  year,  the  writer  of  that  letter  says  : 
"  The  committee  on  lands,  to  whom   my   petition  was  referred, 


1  Post. 

2  Vol.  2,  page  589. 

3  Reminiscences,  page  588. 


OF   SALMON'    POBTLAND   CHASE.  81 

continues  to  speak  favorably.     The   Milnor   professorship  is  filled; 
though  we  ami  our  children  are  beggars,  it  must  go." 

There  was  line  stuff  in  the  writer  of  that  letter,  was  there  not? 
On  the  ISth  Jay  of  February,  1828,  the  Bishop  wrote: 

uThe  family  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  J.  treated  me  with  great  kindness, 
and  in  the  course  of  the  evening  a  respectable  member  of  his  congre- 
gation called  and  took  me  to  visit  the  widow  of  the  late  Dr.  Wilmer, 
left  with  a  large  family  of  nine  children,  six  of  his  by  a  former  wife, 
and  three  of  her  own.  1  could  cot  hut  regard  her  with  great  interest. 
Is  not  this,  thought  I.  a  representation  of  my  dear  wife's  condition, 
should  Grod  take  me  from  this  world?  No,  for  .Mrs.  Wilmer  is  com- 
paratively  rich  in  worldly  substance,  while  you  and  your  little  ones 
will  have  few.  or  no  possessions  at  my  death.  This  reflection  would 
distract  me,  if  I  did  not  know  that  God  is  your  portion.  This 
soothes  many  an  aching,  distressful  moment:  'Jehovah  Jireh,'  lGod 
in'//  provide.'  "  ' 

••  Worthington.  the  place  of  our  present  residence,"  writes  Mrs. 
Mary  Chase  to  Mrs.  Mary  Tudor,  in  1817.  "  is  pleasantly  situated  on 
the  left  hank's  of  the  Whetstone,  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Scioto 
River,  and  about  nine  miles  from  Columbus,  the  present  seat  of 
government.  It  is  but  thirteen  years  the  coming  Christmas  since 
the  first  family  moved  into  the  place,  then  an  entire  wilderness.  The 
inhabitants,  or  -settlers'  as  they  are  called  here,  are  most  of  them 
from  New  England,  and  of  a  sober,  industrious  disposition.  There 
are  also  erected  a  large  brick  academy  and  a  number  of  handsome 
brick  dwelling-houses,  together  with  a  manufacturing  establishment, 
and  the  coming  summer  they  contemplate  building  a  church  and  a 
cotton  establishment.  Mr.  Chase  is  appointed  the  principal  of  the 
academy,  an  office  at  present  merely  nominal,  as  the  foundation  of 
its  future  fame  and  usefulness  is  yet  to  be  laid." 

The  same  letter  says  : 

"Mr.  Chase  has  purchased  a  small  farm  about  three-fourths  of  a 
mile  from  this  village,  on  which  he  is  now  building  a  house,  intended 
hereafter  for  a  farm  house,  but  which  must  shelter  his  family  the 
coming  winter  from  the  winds  and  storms.  This,  together  with  the 
care  of  five  parishes  and  occasional  parochial  duty  during  the  week, 
SO  completely  tilis  up  his  time,  that  his  face  is  seldom  seen  at  home 
except  at  the  table.  But  his  health  is  good,  and  I  trust  he  may  be 
doing  some  good  to  the  church  of  the  ever  blessed  Redeemer." 

"Worthington,  in  outer  and  in  inner  things,  is  doubly  interesting 
to  this  narrative.  As  the  place  of  Bishop  Chase's  residence,  for 
some  time,  and  as  a  place  whose  aspects  and  uses   must   have   much 


1  Reminiscences,  p.  591. 


82  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE   AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

affected  the  development  of  our  hero's  most  characteristic  modes  of 
thought  and  feeling,  it  deserves  to  be  more  than  glanced  at.  Hav- 
ing frequently  visited  the  place  and  its  vicinity  while  I  resided  at 
Columbus,  I  might  sketch  it  tolerably  well  from  memory.  But  a 
sufficient  indication  of  its  type  may  be  found  in  that  which  I  am 
about  to  add  to  the  description  given  in  those  words  of  Mrs.  Chase. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND    CHASE.  83 


A 


CHAPTER   VI. 

AT    WORTHINGTON    WITH    BISHOP   CHASE,    AND    THENCE    TO 
CINCINNATI. 

TROWBRIDGE  letter  yields  this  paragraph  : 


"So  went  the  days  in  school.  Out  of  school  I  did  chores;  took 
grain  to  the  mill  and  brought  back  meal  or  flour;  milked  the  cows  ; 
drove  them  to  and  from  pasture ;  took  wool  to  the  carding  factory 
over  on  the  Scioto,  an  important  journey  to  me;  built  fires  and 
brought  in  wood  in  the  winter  time;  helped  gather  sugar  water  and 
make  sugar  when  winter  first  turned  to  spring;  helped  plant  and 
sow  in  the  later  spring.  In  most  of  whatever  a  boy  could  do  on  a 
farm  I  did  a  little." 

Such  a  discipline  may  seem  severe.  But  it  was  evidently  useful. 
It  did  not  prejudicially  acquaint  our  hero  with  the  "rough  vulgari- 
ties" ascribed  by  Pryor  to  the  antecedents  of  the  "  Little  Giant." 

Here  is  an  important  paragraph  of  the  same  document: 

"Temperance  societies  had  not  yet  been  established,  and  all  farm- 
ers gave  their  laborers  whisky,  especially  in  the  harvest  season,  and 
even  the  boys  took  a  little.  There  was  a  distillery  down  the  road, 
and  it  was  my  occasional  business  to  fetch  whisk}'  from  it.  and  take 
it  to  the  field  for  the  men.  Of  course  I  tasted  it,  but  never  contracted 
any  love  for  it." 

Had  he  contracted  any  love  for  whisky,  what  a  drunkard  Salmon 
Portland  Chase  would  have  been  !  He  never  would  have  been  Chief 
Justice.  He  would  not  have  been  in  Lincoln's  cabinet.  He  would 
have  filled  a  drunkard's  grave  before  the  time  when  he  first  held  a 
public  office.  He  would  have  been  energetic,  thorough,  and  devoted 
in  attention  to  the  bottle,  and  the  bottle  would  have  got  the  best  of 
him  before  he  reached  the  age  of  thirty  years. 

Here  is  another  statement  yielded  by  the  same  interesting  piece 
of  writing : 

"  Sometimes  I  was  sent  to  Columbus,  nine  miles  south,  on  horse- 
7 


84  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

back,  to  make  small  purchases.  I  remember  yet  the  firm  of  Good- 
ale  &  Buttles — which  the  boys  travestied  as  good  ale  in  bottles — 
where,  one  morning,  I  bought  some  sickles  or  scythes  and  other 
matters,  having  risen  long  before  day,  mounted  old  sorrel,  and  rid- 
den to  Columbus,  determined  to  be  back  before  breakfast,  which  I 
accomplished." 

Energy  like  that,  had  it  been  less  of  the  spasmodic  order,  would 
have  worked  one  can  not  fancy  what  a  world  of  wonders  for  the  boy 
in  whom  it  showed  itself.  But  Chase's  euergy  was  always  rather  un- 
steady. 

"One  ludicrous  incident,"  writes  he  to  Mr.  Trowbridge,  "of 
the  chore  kind  impressed  itself  strongly  on  my  memory.  The 
bishop  and  most  of  the  older  members  of  the  family  went  away 
one  morning — he  having  ordered  me  to  kill  and  dress  a  pig  while 
they  were  gone,  to  serve  for  dinner  that  day  or  next.  I  had  no 
great  trouble  in  catching  and  slaughtering  a  fat  young  porker. 
And  I  had  the  tub  of  hot  water  all  ready  for  plunging  him  in, 
preparatory  to  taking  off  his  bristles.  Unfortunately,  however, 
the  water  was  too  hot,  or,  otherwise,  in  wrong  condition ;  or,  perhaps, 
when  I  soused  the  pig  into  it,  I  kept  him  in  too  long.  At  any  rate, 
when  I  undertook  to  take  off  the  bristles,  expecting  they  would 
almost  come  off  of  themselves,  to  my  dismay,  I  could  not  start  one  of 
them.  The  bristles  were  set,  in  pig-killing  phrase.  I  picked  and 
pulled  in  vain.  What  should  I  do?  The  pig  must  he  dressed.  In 
that  there  must  be  no  failure.  I  bethought  me  of  my  cousin's  raz- 
ors, a  nice  new  pair,  just  suited  to  a  spruce  young  clergyman  as  he 
was.  No  sooner  imagined  than  done.  I  got  the  razors  and  shaved 
the  pig  from  toe  to  snout." 

This  anecdote  reminds  me,  somehow,  of  its  hero  and  narrator's 
action  in  a  part  of  his  financial  ministry.  The  financial  pig  had  to 
be  dressed.  In  that  there  must  be  no  failure,  even  if  the  sharp  ex- 
periment of  the  legal-tender  legislation  should  be  necessary  to  secure 
success. 

But,  I  beg  pardon.     Secretary  Chase,  in  his  next  letter,  said : 

"1  think  the  shaving  of  the  pig  was  a  success.  The  razors  were 
somewhat  damaged  in  the  operation  ;  but  they  were  carefully  wiped 
and  restored  to  their  place.  My  impression  is,  that,  on  the  whole, 
however,  the  pig  killing  was  not  satisfactory  to  my  good  uncle,  and 
that  my  good  cousin  found  his  razors  not  exactly  fit  for  use  the  next 
morning.  It  was,  on  the  whole,  a  funny  rather  than  a  useful  opera- 
tion. I  succeeded  however,  for  it  showed  that  where  there  is  a  will 
there  is  a  way,  and  that  there  are  more  ways  than  one  of  doing  a 
thina:." 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  85 

Here  seems  to  me  an  anecdote  yet  more  suggestive  : 

"I  was  not  a  contumacious  youth,  certainly,  but  I  did  sometimes 
feel  a  little  rebellious  when  I  thought  harshness  went  to  the  point  of 
oppression.  At  one  period,  for  a  while,  nothing  that  I  did  Beemed 
to  please  my  uncle.  I  tried  my  best  to  satisfy,  but  without  avail. 
At  length  I  said  to  myself,  'There  is  no  use  in  trying.  I  won  t  try. 
I'll  do  just  what  I  think  right,  and  let  him  like  or  dislike  it.'  I  wTent 
on  this  way  two  or  three  weeks,  when,  one  day,  the  bishop  sur- 
prised me  with  : 

" '  Salmon,  you  have  been  a  very  good  boy,  lately.'  " 

To  attempt  to  please  despotic  men  is  to  appear  to  them  low-hearted 
and  base-minded. 

"My  memories  of  Worthington,  on  the  whole,"  wrote  Secretary 
Chase,  "are  not  pleasant.  There  were  some  pleasant  rambles, 
some  pleasant  incidents,  some  pleasant  associates,  but  the  disagree- 
able largely  predominated.  I  used  to  count  the  days,  and  wish  I 
could  get  home,  or  go  somewhere  else  and  get  a  living  by  work.  I 
remember  reading  in  some  paper  that  carpenters  were  wanted,  and 
commanded  good  wages,  in  Pensacola,  and  I  longed  to  go  to  Pensa- 
cola, and  be  a  carpenter." 

Was  he  ambitious  to  a  fault?  If  so,  when  did  he  become  so? 
What  so  changed  him?  Nay,  he  never  was  ambitious  to  a  fault. 
Sometimes  he  was  not  half  enough  ambitious.  Certainly,  ambition 
was  not  very  great  in  him  when  he  desired  to  be  a  carpenter  at 
Pensacola. 

But  it  may  be  said  that  the  tyranny  of  Bishop  Chase  had  then 
almost  destroyed  his  spirit.  This  is  not  a  simple  eulogy  of  any  one. 
Obedience,  allow  me,  then,  to  suggest,  could  never  have  been  quite 
the  forte  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase.  And  as  he  came  to  manhood, 
he  showed  himself  a  hard  task-master.  That,  indeed,  he  never 
ceased  to  be.  But  now  let  us  attend  to  the  consideration  that  his 
life  at  Worthington,  so  far,  does  not  appear  to  have  been  marked  by 
great  ambition  of  any  kind,  whether  in  the  school  or  elsewhere. 

It  is  time  to  look  at  him  as  he  himself,  at  six-and-fifty  years  of 
age,  remembered  himself  as  a  school-boy  at  Worthington.  He  wrote 
to  Mr.  Trowbridge : 

"I  can  not  recall  the  order  of  events  at  Worthington.  T  was  there 
a  little  more  than  two  years — from  June,  1820  to  November,  or,  pos- 
sibly, December,  1822.  My  impression  is,  that  I  began  going  to 
school  soon  after  I  arrived,  and  continued  pretty  regularly  about  a 
year — working  at  chores,  etc.,  out  of  school  hours  and  in  vacation, 
and  doing  pretty  much  every  thing  which  a  bo}T  of  my  age  can  do. 


86  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  school  was  broken  up  during  most,  if  not 
the  whole,  of  the  second  year." 

The  next  foregoing  letter  of  the  series,  to  which  we  are  at  present 
so  much  indebted,  said  : 

"Another  time,  my  cousin  Philander,  who  had  been  at  sea  on  the 
'  Gruerriere  '  with  Commodore  McDonough,  in  the  capacity  of  teacher 
or  chaplain,  and  had  returned  recently,  came  to  Ohio,  and,  under 
the  bishop  as  president,  took  charge  of  the  school  he  had  established 
at  Worthington.  I  was  a  scholar  in  this  school.  Some  of  the  boys 
were  from  the  town  and  county  around  it,  but  many  from  distant 
places  and  from  other  States.  Charles  D.  Drake,  from  Cincinnati,  son 
of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Drake,  and  now  a  distinguished  citizen  of  St. 
Louis;1  Allan  McArthur,  from  Chillicothe,  son  of  Gen.  McArthur  of 
the  war  of  1812;  Tom  and  Nat  James,  also  of  Chillicothe,  sons  of  a 
prominent  citizen  of  that  place  ;  Alexander  and  Beza  Wells,  sons 
of  a  wealthy  manufacturer  in  Steubenville ;  Mortimer  Talbot,  son  of 
Isham  Talbot,  of  Kentucky,  were  among  these  last.  I  was  the  only 
boy  from  New  England,  and  the  other  boys,  whose  ideas  of  a 
Yankee,  derived  from  their  parents  and  their  friends,  were,  I  fear, 
not  altogether  just,2  were  much  inclined,  for  a  time,  to  twit  me  on 
being  one.  Every  now  and  then  they  called  me  Yankee,  in  tones 
not  altogether  respectful. 

"  At  length,  I  could  n't  bear  it  any  longer,  and  said  to  Tom  James, 
when,  one  day,  he  called  me  a  Yankee  : 

"  '  Tom,  if  you  call  me  a  Yankee  again  I'll  kick  you.' 

"  '  Well,'  said  he,  'you're  a  Yankee.' 

"As  good  as  my  word,  I  kicked  him,3  and  made  the  kick  just  as 
severe  and  just  as  disagreeable  as  I  could.  He  was  older  than  I, 
and  I  expected  a  fight.  But,  instead  of  attacking,  he  went  after  the 
bishop,  and  complained.     I  was  at  once  summoned  into  his  presence. 

"'Salmon,'  said  the  bishop,  very  gravely  and  severely,  'Tom 
James  says  you  have  been  kicking  him.     Is  it  true?' 

"  '  Yes,  sir.' 

"  'What  did  you  kick  him  for?' 

"  '  Because  he  called  me  a  Yankee.' 

"'Well,'  said  the  bishop,  'are  you  not  a  Yankee?  Your  father 
was,  and  I  am,  and  we  were  never  ashamed  of  the  name.' 

"  'Yes,  sir,'  said  I,  'I  do  n't  just  mind  being  called  a  Yankee,  but 
I  won't  be  called  a  Yankee  so,'  with  a  pretty  decided  emphasis  on 
the  last  word. 

"  The  bishop  could  not  help  smiling,  and  dismissed  (me)  with  a 
reprimand,  which  I  did  not  mind  much.  I  was  not  called  a  Yankee, 
so,  after  that — and  had  no  occasion  to  kick  Tom  James  again. 


1  Now  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Claims  at  Washington. 
-  Ante. 

3  Was   not  this  a  "personal  fight?"     Or  was  it  purely  patrial  and  patriotic? 
Ante. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE  <S7 

"It  was  a  boy's  quarrel.     Tom  James  grew  up  to  incipient  man 
hood,  and  then  went  to  the  undiscovered  country.     Peace  and  love 
to  his  memory."' 

Amen  !  but  let  us  dwell  a  little  on  the  anecdote.  Already  I  have 
called  attention  to  the  sectional  aversion  which  made  Yankees  very 
odious  to  "river  men/'  especially  in  Cincinnati,  for  a  long  time.1 
But  though  I  heard  Storer,  Walker,  "Billy"  Greene,  and  other  New 
English-Cincinnatians  called  Yankees,  never  did  I  hear  that  name 
applied  to  Chase  or  to  rare  Ben  Fessenden — two  men  remarkably 
unlike  each  other.  Never  did  Chase  seem  to  me  a  Yankee.  He  ap- 
peared to  me  more  like  a  haughty  and  yet  gentle  Englishman,  with 
the  "  modern  improvements." 

Here  is  more  about  school-fellows  : 

"Among  the  boys,  I  best  remember  Charles  Drake,  Allan  MeAr- 
thur,  and  "William  Walker.  Charles  Drake  was  an  intractable, 
insurrecting  little  fellow,  smart  and  resolute,  who  more  than  once 
ran  away,  and  more  than  once  was  brought  back  and  punished 
severely.  The  little  stoic,  to  escape  flaggellation,  would  rub  his 
eyes,  and  pretend  to  cry,  but  never  shed  a  tear.  The  boys  said  he 
could  n't.  He  is  just  as  resolute  and  determined  now  as  he  was  then,  and 
commands,  by  his  integrity,  the  confidence,  and,  by  his  abilities,  the  respect, 
of  his  fellow -citizens"'1 

I  could  repeat  an  anecdote,  related  to  me  by  Mr.  Rairden,  of 
Cincinnati,  which  would  show  the  independent  pluckiness  of  Judge 
Drake  quite  strikingly.2 

Chase  says  that  Allan  McArthur  "  was  a  manly,  generous  boy, 
but  not  always  in  favor.  He  was  once  sentenced  to  Coventry,  and 
I  violated  the  order  of  silence  by  speaking  to  him.  I  counted  him 
my  friend,  and  thought  the  order  unjust." 

Here  is  another  extract  from  a  Trowbridge  letter: 

"  I  went  to  school,  as  I  have  said.  The  school  house  was  a  square, 
brick  building  of  two  stories,  on  the  west  side  of  the  town  square. 
I  remember  little  of  what  happened  there.  I  must  have  been  re- 
quired to  compose;  for  I  remember,  on  one  occasion,  that  my  cousin 
commended  a  composition  in  terms  which  I  thought  quite  unmerited, 
and  which  took  me  entirely  by  surprise,  but  which,  after  all,  made 
me  feel  quite  proud. 

"I  must  have  been  taught  some  Greek,  also;  for  my  exercise  in 


1  Ante,  Chapter  III. 

2  His  Introduction  to  his  father's  autobiography  is  finely  written. 


88  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

an  exhibition  occasion — probably  at  the  convention  of  1821 — was  an 
original  Greek  oration.  How  1  puzzled  over  it;  what  trouble  I  had 
to  turn  my  English  thought  into  Greek  forms  !  The  grammar  and 
the  lexicon  and  the  Greek  Testament  were  in  great  requisition.  The 
subject  was  Paul  and  John  compared — at  any  rate,  Paul  was  a  prin- 
cipal figure,  though  my  memory  may  be  at  fault  as  to  John.  The 
subject  helped,  for  it  allowed  me  to  take  sentences  from  the  Testa- 
ment, and  so  abridge  my  labor.  At  length  the  piece  was  finished — 
the  platform  in  the  north  end  of  the  school-room  erected — the  boys 
summoned,  one  by  one,  from  a  little  room  on  the  east  side  of  it,  which 
served  the  purpose  of  vestry-room,  when,  on  Sundays,  the  school- 
room was  used  for  the  church  services.  My  turn  came  to  front  the 
terrors  of  an  audience.  1  walked  out  on  the  stage  ;  my  knees  shook  ; 
my  e}*es  were  dim  ;  but  memory  served  me  faithfully,  and  I  went 
through.  The  bishop  was  proud  of  his  Greek  orator,  and,  I  dare 
say,  though  I  have  small  remembrance  of  my  own  feelings,  I  thought 
myself  quite  a  lion." 

Our  hero  adds,  confirming,  unintentionally,  what  I  have  elsewhere 
ventured  to  say  about  him  as  a  worker:1 

"  I  was  not  always  industrious.  I  liked  to  read  stories,  and  would 
sometimes  have  some  interesting  book  of  narrative,  real  or  fictitious, 
before  me  when  I  should  have  had  my  lesson-book.  And  once  I 
remember  being  mean  enough  to  hide  my  story-book  and  substitute 
my  lesson-book,  as  my  cousin-preceptor  came  by  and  looked  inquis- 
itively into  my  desk.  Whether  he  detected  me  or  not,  I  can  not  tell. 
He  made  no  remark." 

He  is  a  statement  as  to  matters  of  religion  : 

"  My  uncle  was  a  thoroughly  practical  and,  at  the  same  time,  a 
thoroughly  religious  man.  He  desired  that  I  should  be  a  clergyman 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  so  took  some  pains  to  make 
me  read  books  which  would  convince  me  that  this  was  the  only  true 
church,  reformed  from  Eomanism,  but  preserving  the  order  of  suc- 
cession  in  the  government.  I  read  some  such  books,  and  was  con- 
vinced,  aud  became  quite  a  zealous  champion  of  the  Episcopacy. 
There  was  a  boy  in  the  neighborhood,  whose  name  I  have  forgotten, 
whose  parents  were  Methodists,  ami  I  was  very  solicitous  to  turn 
this  boy  from  the  error  of  his  ways,  and  bring  him  into  the  true 
church.  Our  debates  were  frequent  and,  on  my  part  at  least,  earnest  ; 
but  my  success  by  no  means  corresponded  with  my  zeal. 

"Under  the  directions  and  instructions  of  the  bishop,  I  was  con- 
firmed while  at  Worthington.  It  seemed  to  me,  and  was,  an  awful 
and  affecting  ceremony,  or,  rather,  act.  The  youth  takes  upon  him- 
self the  promises  made  for  him  in  baptism.  Whatever  the  validity 
of  promises  made  in  behalf  of  an  unconscious  babe,  whether  or  not 
such  promises  add  any  thing  to  the  force  of  moral  obligation  which 

1  Ante,  page  84. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  89 

rests  upon  every  human  soul  from  the  first  dawn  of  consciousness, 
there  can  be  do  doubt  as  to  [the]  import  of  the  pledgee  which  the 
youth  makes  when  receiving  confirmation.  I  felt  these  deeply,  and 
earnest  were  my  resolutions  t<>  keep  them.  Aiter-experience  satisfied  me 
how  impossible  it  is  for  the  man  to  he  what  the  youth  promises; 
how  impossible  for  man  is  anything  beyond  sincere  aim  and  con- 
stant endeavor,  true  sorrow  for  sin,  and  true  faith  in  Christ  as  the 
only  Savior,  and  so,  with  the  help  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  progress." 

There,  I  think,  is  a  true  picture  of  the  spiritual  man  that  was, 
if  I  may  so  express  my  thought,  the  other  and  the  better  self  of 
Salmon  Portland  Chase,  from  early  manhood  to  his  last  of  life  at 
five-and-sixty  years  of  age.  That  such  a  man  may  be  a  sinner,  and 
a  very  heavy  sinner,  is  too  well  attested  by  the  current  of  biography 
and  history  alike  ;  but  such  a  man  is  apt  to  sorrow  and  atone  for  all 
the  sins  of  which  his  conscience  gives  him  notice. 

I  quote  again  from  a  Trowbridge  letter: 

"My  cousin,  Philander,  being  ordained  deacon,  took  charge  of  the 
church  at  Steobenville,  or  Jonesville,  perhaps  both  ;  and  no  successor 
took  his  place  as  preceptor.  I  am  sure  that  my  scholarship,  such  as 
it  was.  grew  rusty.  The  bishop  made  me  read  some  Latin,  and  I. 
of  1113'  own  accord,  read  some  history.  My  Latin  book  was  Grolius 
de  Veritate  Religionis  Christinae,  the  title  as  near  as  I  recollect  it. 
My  principal  English  book,  a  history  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico,  by 
one  of  the  companions  of  Cortez  ;  I  do  not  remember  the  name.  Ex- 
cept this  reading,  and  that  of  some  books  on  church  government,  I 
was  simply  a  farmer's  boy,  doing  all  kinds  of  farmer's  boy's  work. 

"  Should  I  omit  to  tell  you  that  the  bishop  was  not  so  absolutely 
resolved  on  making  me  a  minister  as  never  to  refer  to  the  possibility 
of  my  being  something  else?  One  instance  of  this  made  quite  an 
impression  on  me.  I  wanted  to  go  to  the  Olentangy  for  a  swim. 
The  bishop,  when  I  asked  permission,  refused  it,  saying.  ■  NVbj',  the 
country  might  lose  its  future  president,  if  3*011  should  he  drowned.' 
Since  then  1113*  name  has  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  this 
high  office  and  is  now.  I  do  not  flatter  m3*self  that  I  shall  ever  fill 
it,  and  I  think  I  can  honestly  Bay  that  I  do  not  permit  the  desire  of 
it  to  trouble  me  or  distract  the  even  course  of  1113*  conduct.  Per- 
haps this  was  in  1822,  for  I  was  then  fourteen,  and  a  stout  well- 
grown,  active,  awkward  bo3'." 

That  the  bishop  was  a  true  Chase  in  the  instinct  rather  than  dis- 
position to  dominate  all  that  does  not  bear  itself  a  little  proudly, 
seems  to  be  quite  certain.  Secretary  Chase  related  also  this  anec- 
dote: 

"At  another  time,  byT  way  of  punishment  for  something,  the  bishop 
ordered  me  to  bring  into  the  house,  the  next  morning,  before  clay,  a 


90  THE   PEIVATE    LIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

great  pile  of  wood.  I  went  to  work,  and  accomplished  the  task, 
with  a  heart  full  of  rebellion  against  what  I  thought  unjust  tyranny. 
There  was  a  hoy  in  the  house  named  Eleazar  Hubble — if  I  remem- 
ber rightly.  He  was — well,  if  I  put  my  impression  of  him  in  one 
word,  I  should  say  he  was  a  sneak.  To  this  boy,  smarting  under  the 
real  or  fancied  wrong,  I  said  of  my  uncle : 

"  'He  's  a  darned  old  tyrant.' 

"And  he  went  and  told  the  bishop  what  I  had  said.  I  was  in  no 
humor  to  deny  or  to  retract,  and  so  I  was  put  in  Coventry — that  is 
to  say,  the  boys  and  everybody  else  were  forbidden  to  speak  to  me, 
and  I  was  forbidden  to  speak  to  anybody.  If  I  had  [been]  ordered 
wrong,  I  knew  that  I  had  also  done  wrong ;  but  several  days  went 
by  before  I  could  confess  it.  At  last,  with  rather  a  bad  purpose,  I 
fear,  I  did,  and  the  sentence  was  revoked.  Even  now  I  almost  wish 
I  had  not." 

I  have  already  related  that,  on  the  7th  of  December,  1872,  Chief 
Justice  Chase  accused  himself  of  having  lied,  in  asking  pardon  of 
the  bishop.  How  he  happened  not,  of  course,  quite  gravely,  to  ac- 
cuse himself  in  that  fashion,  is  related  in  another  place.1 

In  the  Trowbridge  letter,  dated  January  29,  1864,  appears  this 
paragraph  : 

"This  brings  to  a  close  my  reminiscences  of  "Worth ington.  I 
might  add  something  about  our  neighbors,  blacksmith  Glass,  at  the 
end  of  .the  lane  from  our  house  to  the  road  ;  Widow  Topping  and 
her  daughters,  close  by  ;  Dr.  "Wetmore,  the  family  physician — though 
for  us  boys  the  prescription  was  usually  a  draught  of  boneset;  Mr. 
Maynard,  a  free  thinking  farmer,  who  lived  half  way  to  town  ;  but 
enough  of  all  this." 

AVe  must  now  prepare  to  go  to  Cincinnati  with  our  hero.  A 
most  interesting  progress,  we  shall  see. 

"The  Episcopal  revenue,"  wrote  Mr.  Chase,  "was  scanty.  The 
church  in  Ohio  was  weak.  Most  of  its  members  were  farmers.  Of 
those  who  wei*e  not,  few  had  considerable  incomes.  Prices  of  all 
provisions  were  low.  Corn  ten  cents  or  even  six  cents  a  bushel,  the 
purchaser  gathering  it  himself  in  the  field.  Twenty-five  cents  a 
bushel  for  wheat,  good  and  in  good  order.  Plenty  of  pork  from  pigs 
which  were  ear-marked  and  left  to  find  pretty  much  all  their  own 
food.  No  good  roads;  no  accessible  markets;  no  revenue,  and  poor 
chance,  therefore,  for  salaries.  I  have  heard  my  uncle  say  that  his 
whole  money  income,   as  bishop,  did  not  pay  his  postage  bills.     At 

that  time  it  took  a  bushel  of  wheat  to  pay  for  a  letter  from  over 

miles  distance.  The  school  must  have  proved  a  failure,  I  think,  for, 
as  I  have  said,  I  do  not  remember  it  the  second  year. 

1  Post. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  91 

"Under  these  circumstances,  in  1822,  he  was  offered  the  presidency 
of  Cincinnati  College,  and  accepted  it.  He  delivered  the  Baccalaur- 
eate there  at  the  commencement  in  that  year,  and,  in  November,  I 
think,  removed  to  Cincinnati  with  his  family. 

"At  the  time  of  removal  he  had  just  recovered  from  a  dangerous 
sickness — bilious  fever — and  was  not  entirely  well.  The  roads,  never 
good,  had  now  become  very  bad.  Jt  was  a  pleasant  morning  when 
we  set  out  in  the  old  coach,  with  two  stout  horses — one,  if  I  remem- 
ber rightly,  old  sorrel — and  six  precious  souls  within  ;  the  bishop 
and  his  wife;  one  or  two  little  ones;  Mrs.  Eussel  and  her  daughter, 
and  myself.  1  have  a  dim  impression  that  a  young  student  named 
Sparrow — afterward  distinguished  in  the  church  as  Dr.  Sparrow — 
was  of  the  number.  But  1  am  doubtful  of  this.  It  was  a  pleasant 
ride  to  Columbus,  where  we  stopped  a  while  and  received  the  hos- 
pitality of  some  friends  at  dinner.  In  the  afternoon  we  set  out.  ex- 
pecting to  pass  the  night  at  a  log  tavern  some  ten  miles  distant. 
We  reached  the  tavern  just  at  dark.  A  party  of  drovers  filled  its 
scanty  room  ;  and  we  could  [not]  obtain  if  we  desired  admission. 
'  There  is  a  house  two  or  three  miles  farther  on,'  a  man  said.  'You 
can  get  in  there,  I  reckon.'  There  was  no  choice,  and  we  went  on. 
It  Avas  very  dark,  and  the  mud  was  deep,  and  the  road  almost  im- 
passable. In  the  course  of  an  hour,  the  carriage  was  brought  to  a 
sudden  halt  by  a  stump  too  high  for  the  wheels  to  go  over,  between 
the  forewheels.  Here  was  a  catastrophe.  Fortunately,  we  had  an 
ax,  and  soon  had  cut  levers  from  the  saplings  in  the  woods,  and  with 
their  help  lifted  first  one  axle  and  then  the  other  over  the  stump. 
It  was  necessary  to  be  more  cautious,  so  I  was  sent  forward  with  a 
light  to  pick  the  wa}T,  while  the  carriage  followed  slowly.  It  seemed 
as  if  we  should  never  get  through  those  three  miles.  Once  the  idea 
of  passing  the  night  on  the  road  was  proposed;  but  Ave  trudged  on. 
At  last,  after  three  hours'  trial,  the  bark  of  a  dog  announced  the 
neighborhood  of  a  human  habitation,  and,  soon  after,  the  glimmer 
of  a  light  flickered  through  the  trees.  We  reached  the  cabin,  and 
asked  shelter,  and  were  received. 

"It  Avas  a  rude  log  hut.  inhabited  by  a  man  and  his  wife  and  three 
or  four  children.  The  long  beard  and  salloAv  face  of  the  man  shoAved 
that  he  had  been  very  sick  with  fever  and  ague,  and  was  sloAvly  re- 
covering. The  woman  Avas  rough  and  imperious — evidently  the. 
mistress.  There  were  but  two  beds  in  the  room,  but  there  was  a  shed 
on  the  outside,  built  up  against  the  house-Avail,  of  logs.  One  of  the 
beds  was  surrendered  to  my  uncle  and  aunt,  the  children  were 
packed  off  into  the  shed.  The  woman  and  her  husband  had  the  other 
bed,  the  l-est  of  us  camped  on  the  floor.  In  the  night,  my  uncle  be- 
came A'ery  ill,  and  Ave  Avere  all  greatly  alarmed  lest  he  might  relapse 
and  be  very  sick  again.  To  have  been  sick  there,  in  such  a  place- 
so  far  from  medical  help — was  a  distressing  thought." 

That  last  suggestion  may  be  doubtful.  At  the  best  the  help  of 
the  physician  is  of  doubtful  efficacy  in  most  cases,  and  such  "  doctors" 
as  were  then  in  Franklin  County,  or  in  any  other  county  of  Ohio,  or 
in  any  other  portion  of  the  country,  Avere  devoutly  not  to  be  desired, 


92  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

in  most  cases.  This,  we  shall  discover,  is  a  theme  of  deep  import- 
ance to  this  work;  but  I  must  not  attempt,  at  present,  to  show  how 
our  narrative  so  much  concerns  us  with  physicians  and  their  art  and 
science. 

To  resume;     Our  hero's  narrative  goes  on  as  follows: 

"  There  was  no  more  sleep  for  us  that  night.  I  went  out  into  tho 
woods,  which  came  close  to  the  house  on  one  side,  and  brought  in 
fuel ;  and  we  kept  good  fires.  My  aunt  was  an  excellent  and  most 
affectionate  nurse." 

An  excellent  and  most  affectionate  nurse  can,  not  seldom,  work 
wonders,  mocking  all  the  science  and  the  skill  of  the  physician. 

"  The  morning  dawned,"  continued  Secretary  Chase,  addressing 
Mr.  Trowbridge  ;  "  uncle  was  well  enough  to  proceed  ;  the  horses  and 
we  were  on  our  way  again,  through  the  'Darby  Barrens,'  as  they 
were  called — a  breadth  of  land  west  of  the  Scioto,  covered  with 
grass,  with  a  spare  growth  of  stunted  trees  scattered  through  it — 
across  the  Little  Miami  and  through  to  Cincinnati." 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  93 


CHAPTER   VII. 


AT  CINCINNATI  FOR  THE  FIRST  TIME. 


"    4    T  last,"  continued  Chase,  "I'm  in  Cincinnati.     The  first  house 

l\  I  entered  was  that  of  Ethan  Stone,  a  gentleman  who  had  been 
-»-•-*-  very  prosperous,  and  accumulated  a  large  property,  but  was  now 
sharing  the  general  embarrassment  which  attended  the  winding  up  of 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States  in  Cincinnati.  There  had  been  a  contest 
between  the  Bank  and  the  State  in  regard  to  the  tax  law,  finally 
decided  against  the  State.  The  affairs  of  the  branch  had  not  been 
prosperous.  Both  causes  induced  the  Board  at  Philadelphia  to  wind 
up  its  affairs.  The  debtors  were  called  on  for  payment,  and  it  was 
impossible  to  pay.  Mr.  Stone  was  one  of  them,  and  was  obliged  to 
surrender  nearly  all  his  property  for  a  release  of  the  claims  against 
him.  But  he  was  still  living  in  his  handsome  mansion,  with  tall 
wooden  pillars,  forming1  its  portico,  and  exciting  the  wonder  of  a 
boy  who  had  never  seen  any  thing  of  that  magnificence. 

"The  bishop  remained  a  short  time  under  this  hospitable  roof, 
and  then  took  a  house  on  the  north-west  corner  of  Fifth  Street  and 
Lodge  alley — a  small  house  with  only  six  or  seven  rooms,  includ- 
ing attics — a  little  yard  in  the  rear,  at  the  end  of  which  was  a  cow- 
shed. 

'T  entered  college  as  a  freshman,  but  soon  conceived  the  idea,  that, 
by  extra  study.  I  could  be  advanced  to  the  next  higher  class,  and, 
having  obtained  the  consent  of  Mr.  Sparrow,  then  in  college  as 
Junior  or  Senior,  to  hear  my  lessons,  began  to  read  up  with  that 
view.  It  was  not  very  difficult  to  accomplish  the  object;  for  the  re- 
quirements of  scholarship  was  by  no  means  exacting.  In  a  short 
time.  I  offered  myself  to  be  examined  for  advanced  standing,  and 
was  advanced  to  be  sophomore. 

'•It  was  not  a  study-loving  set  of  boys  who  resorted  to  the  Cincin- 
nati College  at  that  time.  Among  the  number,  I  best  remember 
Henry  Wilson,  son  of  Dr.  Wilson,  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church;  John  Scott  Harrison  and  Benjamin  Harrison,  sons  of  Gen. 
W.  H.  Harrison  ;  Ben.  and  Ned.(?)  Noble,  sons  of  Gov.  Noble,  of 
Indiana;  Louis  Noble,  a  very  promising  youth  of  Cincinnati ;  Alfred 
Eeedrr  and  John  Bice,  also  of  Cincinnati  ;  and  Charles  Sillman,  son  of 
Dr.  Sillman,  of  the  same  place.  Of  them  [alii,  I  think  I  admired 
Louis  Noble  most,  and  most  esteemed  Scott  Harrison.  The  only 
young  man  from  the  South,  I  remember,  was  Louis  Lamy.  of  whom 
I  remember  nothing  else.     And  I  must  not  forget  Stephen  Johnson, 


1  Sic. 


94  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

son  of  Col.  John  Johnson,  of  Piqua,  who  subsequently  went  to  the 
Navy. 

"  We  made  very  little  progress,  worth  calling  such,  in  our  studies. 
Our  tutor,  Mr.  Lewis  Howells,  was.  not  very  exacting;  and  the  only 
other  professor  I  remember,  Dr.  Slack,  who  filled  the  chair  of 
chemistry,  and  I  know  not  what  other  chairs,  was  still  less  inclined 
to  severity." 

On  copying  these  words, 

"  the  old  time  comes  o'er  me," 

when  I  used  to  see  the  doctor  almost  daily,  and  to  hear  often  anec- 
dotes of  pranks  played  upon  him  by  "  the  college  boys,"  of  whom 
some  were  afterward  my  intimate  acquaintances.  My  Alma  Mater, 
was  indeed,  the  "Athenaeum,"  now  succeeded  by  St.  Xavier  ;  but  the 
Cincinnati  College  almost  seemed  to  me  another  Alma  Mater. 
Chase  continues : 

"We  began  Homer,  in  the  sophomore  year,  and  were  two  weeks 
getting  through  the  Prolegomena  of  the  first  book.  If  we  ever  read 
any  of  the  book  itself,  I  have  forgotten  it. 

"  To  make  amends  for  defects  of  study  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
mischief  and  fun.  One  morning,  as  Dr.  Slack  came  into  the  chapel 
for  morning  prayers,  he  found  himself  anticipated  in  the  pulpit  by 
a  stuffed  owl,  with  a  pair  of  spectacles  like  his  own,  ingeniously 
fastened  in  front  of  its  glazed  eyes.  The  doctor,  not  in  the  least 
disconcerted,  removed  the  creature,  and  proceeded  with  the  service, 
to  the  discomfiture  of  the  boys,  who  expected  an  explosion. 1 

"At  another  time,  a  cow  was  brought  up  into  the  second  story, 
and  entered,  and  graduated."  2 

"I,"  continues  Mr.  Chase,  "had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  these 
sports.     I  had  the  chores  to  do  at  home,  and  when  I  had  time,  I 


1  There  is  a  reference  to  this,  in  verse,  as  follows : 

"My  mind  runs  back 
To  Doctor  Slack, 

Who  was  too  slack,  i'  faith; 
Yet  was  it  foul 
To  make  an  owl 

Do  service  as  his  wraith." 

2  This  incident,  also,  has  been  sung.     The  verse  alluding  to  it  has  this  tenor  : 

"  While  toys  are  toys, 
Boys  will  be  boys  ; 

A.<  then  it  was  'tis  now; 
But  it  was  not 
A  civil  thought, 

To  graduate  a  cow." 
Yet  many  a  calf  is  graduated,  even  at  the  European  universities. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  95 

gave  it  to  reading- — either  under  the  bishop's  direction  or  at  1113-  own 
will.  I  milked  the  cows,  along  where  is  now  Fifth  Street,  to  a  field 
bordering  on  the  stream  which  enters  the  Ohio  between  the  city  and 
the  hills  which  form  the  western  border  of  its  valley,  and  is  named 
Milk-reek,  or  more  classically,  Mah-ke-te-wah." * 

Would  that  he  had  studied  less  and  had  more  fun!  His  life 
might  have  been  happier.  He  would  have  attended  better  to  the 
duty  of  self-popularization.  He  would  have  been  fitter  to  be  Presi- 
dent, and  President  he  would,  perhaps,  have  been,  had  he  attended 
better  to  the  duty  just,  not  for  the  first  time,  acknowledged  in  these 
pages. 

"  One  day,"  proceeds  our  hero,  "  Henry  Wilson,  who  was  reckoned 
the  most  sanguinary  and  dangerous  young  fellow  of  our  number — he 
was  noted  for  his  fighting  qualities — said  something — I  don't  remem- 
ber what,  but  which  I  thought  untrue.  I  said,  'That's  not  true.' 
He  turned  ou  me  and  demanded,  'Do  you  say  that  I  lie?'  I  saw 
that  I  was  in  a  predicament.  I  must  either  retract  and  violate  my 
conscience,  or  stand  to  what  I  had  said,  and  take  the  risk  of  the  fight. 
I  did  nut  hesitate,  but  replied.  'You  know  that  it  is  untrue.' 
Fortunately  for  me,  he  cooled  down,  and  let  the  matter  end  there." 

Here  was  more  than  moral  courage.  Here  was  that  high  action 
of  the  heart — that  robur  et  erectio  cordis — in  which  mind  and  body 
both,  discerning  and  intelligently  fearing,  in  a  certain  sense,  a  men- 
aced evil,  prefer  resistance,  at  all  hazards,  to  submission  or  to 
acquiescence. 

"  On  another  occasion,"  we  are  told,  "  a  frolicsome  and  mischievous 
boy  of  our  sophomore  class,  just  before  the  tutor  came  in,  set  fire  to 
one  of  the  desks.  I  tried  to  prevent  it,  but  he  was  too  strong  for  me. 
It  was  burning  when  the  tutor  entered.  He  put  out  the  fire  at  once, 
and  directed  us  to  take  our  seats.  Aline  was  at  the  upper  end  of  the 
laee      He  began  with  the  one  at  the  bottom. 

"  '  Sophomore ,  did  you  set  fire  to  the  desk  ?  ' 

"  '  No,  sir  !  ' 

" '  Do  you  know  who  did  ?  ' 

"  'Xo,  sir.' 

"  He  reached  the  culprit. 

"  '  Did  you  set  fire  to  the  desk  ?  ' 


1  What  Cincinnatian  does  not  remember  the  parody  : 

"On  muddy  Millcreek's  marshy  marge, 
A  tender  tadpole  dwelt," 
Or  -words  to  that  effect?     The  poem  parodied,  was  called,  I  think,  the  Spoiled  Fawn 
the  parody  the  Spotted  Frog. 


96  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

"Nothing  abashed,  he  answered, 

"  'No.  sir.' 

"  '  Do  you  know  who  did? ' 

'"No,  sir.' 

"I  saw  I  had  to  pass  the  ordeal,  and  determined  to  tell  the  truth,  but 
not  to  inform  on  my  classmate,  which  I  thought  about  as  mean  as 
telling  a  lie  was  wrong." 

A  new  ex pede  Herculem  !     The  narrative  goes  on  as  follows: 

"  So,  at  last  he  came  to  me  : 

"  '  Sophomore  Chase,  did  you  set  fire  to  the  desk? ' 

"  '  No,  sir.' 

"  '  Do  you  know  who  did  ?  ' 

'"Yes,  sir.' 

"  'Who  was  it?' 

"  '  I  shall  not  tell,  sir.' 

"He  said  no  more.  The  case  went  to  the  Faculty,  and,  I  heard, 
was  the  subject  of  some  discipline;  but  it  was  not  thought  worth 
while  to  prosecute  the  inquiry." 

The  narrative  now  turns  to  other  topics.     It  proceeds  as  follows  : 

■  The  only  reading  which  was  out  of  the  ordinary  course,  which  I 
remember,  was  an  old  Latin  quarto,  bound  in  parchment,  which  the 
bishop  set  me  to  translating.  It  was  one  of  the  theological  works 
of  — I  forget  which.      I  translated  from  forty  to  fifty   pages, 

perhaps. 

"  The  bishop  kept  me  under  severe  restraint.  I  was  never  allowed 
to  go  out  without  permission.  So  far  did  he  carry  this  that  he  pun- 
ished me  severely  for  having  gone  to  the  house  of  the  Rector  of  the 
Parish,  one  evening,  without  having  asked  his  consent. 

"Cincinnati  was  then  a  comparatively  small  town.  From  Fifth 
Street- north,  there  were  few  buildings.  The  Court-house  had  been 
removed  from  its  original  location  in  the  square  on  which  the  college 
stood  to  the  centre  of  a  lot  of  ground  on  Main  Street — the  same  lot 
on  which  the  existing  Court-house  stands.  Mr.  Este.  a  prominent 
lawyer,  had  built  a  residence  not  far  from  the  Court-house.  1 
remember  no  other  building  of  consequence  north  of  Fifth  Street. 
A  trade  had  sprung  up  on  the  river:  but  there  was  little,  compara- 
tively, in  the  interior.  The  river  was  a  wonder  to  me;  especially 
when  swollen  by  the  spring  flood  ;  and  a  still  greater  wonder  were 
the  steamboats — inconsiderable  crafts,  doubtless,  but  to  me  monsters. 

The  name  of  only  one  remains  in  my  memory,  the .     I  know  it 

came  from  New  Orleans,  and  that  seemed  to  me  so  far  off;  and  the 
mysterious  foreign  name  impressed  me  strangely." 

Notably  important  seems  to  me  the  relation  of  the  Cincinnati  ter- 
races and  the  adjacent  slopes,  with  the  waters  and  the  skies  belong- 
ing to  their  landscapes,  to  the  sum  of  influences  which,  at  this  time, 
must  have  affected  the  development  of  taste   and   tendency  in   the 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  97 

mind  whose  history  \vc  arc  tracing.  Therefore,  is  that  I  am  about 
to  offer  extracts  from  some  of  Chase's  early  writings,  as  containing 
interesting  contributions  to  the  physical  topography  and  the  politi- 
cal and  social  topography,  if  I  may  say  so,  of  the  Cincinnati  valley 
with  its  beautifully  molded  heights. 

One  of  the  ablest,  most  characteristic,  and  interesting  of  the  writ- 
ings in  which  Salmon  Portland  Chase's  pen  reveals  its  love  of 
country  and  performs  important  public  service,  is  the  historical 
sketch  of  Ohio,  prefixed  to  Mr.  Chase's  edition  of  the  Statutes  of 
that  State.  The  work  to  which  it  is  preliminary  is  itself  enough  to 
prove  the  depth  and  strength  of  public  spirit  in  its  author.  But  the 
sketch  has  hardly  yet  received  due  credit.  It  is  very  finely  written; 
and  some  passages  of  it  are  positively  beautiful. 

The  extract  offered  here  affords  a  topographic  and  historic  con- 
tribution.    It  is  in  these  terms: 

"In  October,  1788,  John  Cleves  Symmes,  in  behalf  of  himself  and 
his  associates,  contracted  with  Congress  for  the  purchase  of  a  million 
of  acres,  adjoining  the  Ohio,  and  between  the  Great  and  Little  Miami ; 
but  in  consequence  of  his  failure  to  make  due  payments,  the  greater 
part  of  this  contract  afterward  reverted  to  Congress.  The  patent, 
which  finally  issued  to  him  and  his  associates,  included 311,682  acres; 
of  which,  onl}-  248.540  acres  became  the  property  of  the  grantees; 
the  residue,  consisted  of  grants  and  reservations,  for  various  purposes.1 
One  township  was  granted  for  an  academy  ;  and  two  sections  in  each 
township  were  reserved;  section  sixteen,  for  the  use  of  schools, 
agreeably  to  the  ordinance  of  1785;  section  twenty-nine  for  religious 
uses:  and  sections  eight,  eleven,  and  twenty-six,  for  future  disposi- 
tion by  Congress.  Not  long  after  the  completion  of  this  contract, 
Symmes  sold  the  site  of  Cincinnati  to  Matthias  Denman,  of  ISTew 
Jersey,  who  entered  into  a  contract  with  Colonel  Patterson  and  Mr. 
Filson.'  of  Kentucky,  for  laying  out  a  town.  Filson,  however,  was 
killed  by  the  Indians  before  be  entitled  himself  to  any  proprietary 
right  under  the  agreement,  and  his  interest  in  the  contract  was 
transferred  to  Israel  Ludlow.2  On  the  twenty-sixth  of  December, 
Patterson  and  Ludlow,  with  a  small  party,  arrived  at  the  site  of  the 
projected  settlement.  In  the  course  of  the  winter  a  town  was  sur- 
veyed and  laid  out,  by  Colonel  Ludlow;  and  the  courses  of  the 
streets  of  the  future  city,  were  marked  on  the  trees  of  the  primeval 
forest.  The  name  first  given  to  the  place  was  Losantiville,  a  bar- 
barous compound,  intended  to  signify  la  toicn  opposite  the  mouth  of  the 
Licking;1  but  this  name  was,  not  long  aftei*,  changed  for  Cincinnati. 
The  site  selected  was  extremely  beautiful.  Seen  in  the  summer,  it 
presented  a  vast  amphitheatre,  inclosed  on  all  sides  by  hills,  wooded 


1  The  punctuation  is  that  of  the  original  paper. 

2  Drake  s  Cincinnati,  p.  V29. 


98  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

to  their  summits.  The  Ohio — La  Belle  Riviere  of  the  French — came 
into  the  valley  from  the  north-east;  and,  sweeping  gracefully  around 
near  its  southern  border,  departed  to  the  south-west.  From  the 
south,  the  Licking  brought  its  moderate  tribute,  just  opposite  to  the 
selected  site  ;  and  a  little  to  the  west,  Millcreek  flowed  silently,  from 
the  inland  country,  to  its  confluence  with  the  Ohio.  The  unaccus- 
tomed luxuriance  of  the  vegetation,  and  the  majestic  size  of  the 
forest  trees,  covered  with  thickest  foliage,  with  which  the  wild 
grapevines  were  frequently  intermingled,  astonished  and  delighted 
the  eye  of  the  eastern  emigrant.  Even  in  winter,  when  the  settle- 
ment was  made,  the  scene,  though  divested  of  its  summer  glories, 
was  far  from  being  unattractive  or  uninteresting.  The  climate,  it  is 
true,  was  inclement;  but  that  very  inclemency  was  a  protection 
against  savage  incursions,  (lame,  of  every  description,  abounded  in 
the  woods,  and  the  waters  teemed  with  fish.  The  emigrants,  there- 
fore, had  light  experience  of  the  hardships  usually  encountered  in 
the  first  settlement  of  a  wilderness."1 

Says  Dr.  Drake: 

"By  the  ordinance  of  Congress,  passed  July  13,  1787,  providing 
for  the  government  and  defining  the  principles  on  which  the  people 
of  the  North-western  Territory,  when  divided  into  States,  should 
form  their  constitutions,  it  is  expressly  declared  that  there  shall  be 
neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  for  the  punish- 
ment of  crimes,  unless  with  the  consent  of  both  the  general  govern- 
ment and  the  people  of  the  territory.  When  the  Constitution  of 
Ohio  was  formed,  the  prohibtory  language  of  the  ordinance  was 
adopted,  and  slavery  is  forever  excluded  from  this  State.  That  the 
other  Territories,  North-west  of  the  Ohio,  will  pursue  the  same 
course,  there  can  be  no  doubt;  and  hence  this  fine  river  will  acquire 
additional  distinction  in  future,  from  being  made  the  northern  bar- 
rier to  this  execrable  practice."2 

Chase  was  the  most  distinguished  glorifier  of  that  ordinance ;  but 
he  was  by  no  means  the  first.     Nor  was  Daniel  Drake  the  first. 

How  did  the  presence  of  the  blacks  in  the  Cincinnati  valley  in- 
fluence the  mind  of  Chase  in  boyhood?  We  have  seen  already3 
how  early,  as  a  lecturer  and  as  a  writer  for  the  public  press,  he 
agitated  against  slavery.  We  shall  farther  see  how,  at  three-and- 
twenty  years  of  age,  he  could  publicly  speak  and  write  against  the 
ownership  of  human  beings.  How  was  it  with  him  during  his 
first  sojourn  at  Cincinnati,  when  he  had  but  about  a  dozen  years 
of  age  ? 

The  splendid  piece  of  architecture  that  now  spans  the  river,  con- 


11  Chase  Statutes,  20,  21. 

2  Picture  of  Cincinnati,  p.  172. 

3  Introduction. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  99 

necting  Covington  with  Cincinnati,  and  the  railway  bridge  that  now 
reaches  from  Newport  to  Cincinnati,  with  the  Licking  bridge,  were 
then  but  possibilities.  The  ferry-boat  alone  enabled  him  to  cross 
the  river,  if  he  did  not  take  a  skiff.  Did  he  visit  Covington  and 
Newport  ?  He  has  not  recorded.  But,  without  passing  the  river, 
he  could  see  the  painful,  baleful  marks  of  slavery  in  Covington 
and  Newport.  In  the  Cincinnati  market  he  could  buy  provisions 
of  human  things,  not  legally  considered  persons,  owned  across  the 
river.  Slavery  invaded  Cincinnati  freely,  if  that  expression  may  be 
used;  and  some  Cincinnatians  openly  regretted  that  they,  too,  could 
not  have  negro  bondsmen.  How  was  he  affected  by  the  presence 
of  these  colored  men  and  women  ? 

Speculation,  all.     He  has  not  told  us,  and  we  can  not  say. 

They  had  society  at  Cincinnati.  Society,  I  mean,  par  excellence, 
the  thing  that  calls  itself  "the  best  society,"  the  bon  ton.  How  far 
did  slavery,  and  sympathy  with  slavery,  affect  society  in  the  city 
which  was  to  become  our  hero's  place  of  residence?  Dr.  Drake 
may  guide  us  toward  the  right  answer.  He  said,  in  the  already 
cited  work : 

"  In  no  town  of  the  State  is  there  so  great  a  proportion  of  black 
population  as  in  Cincinnati,  where  in  1810  it  amounted  only  to  sev- 
enty-nine, making  about  one-thirtieth  of  the  whole.  At  present  the 
number  of  blacks  and  mulattoes  does  not  exceed  200,  counting  all 
shades  and  a<?es."  l 


'Page  172.  The  same  work  says:  "Both  the  ordinance  of  Congress  and  the  Con- 
stitution of  Ohio,  guarantee  the  recovery  of  fugitive  slaves ;  hut  by  the  decision  of 
our  courts,  those  brought  hither  are  free  from  the  moment  of  their  arrival.  By  our 
constitution,  while  male  inhabitants  only,  enjoy  the  right  of  political  suffrage; 
negroes  are  of  course  excluded  from  that  privilege.  By  a  statute  enacted  in  1804, 
and  amended  in  1807,  free  negroes  are  prohibited  from  selling  in  this  State  without 
giving  bond  and  security  that  neither  they  nor  their  children  shall  become  public 
charges;  but  as  this  provision  is  considered  unconstitutional,  it  has,  1  believe,  in 
no  instance,  been  enforced,  and  we  have  all  the  black  population  which  an  unop- 
posed immigration  could  give.  By  the  same  laws,  negroes  and  mulattoes  are  pro- 
hibited from  giving  testimony  against  white  persons.  Whether  this  be  not  uncon- 
stitutional as  well  as  the  other,  may  be  doubted;  but  it  is  generally  carried  into 
effect  throughout  the  State. 

"  At  the  time  of  adopting  our  State  constitution,  it  was  predicted  that  we  should 
be  degraded  by  the  free  negroes  of  other  States,  and  infested  with  their  runaway 
slaves — neither  of  which  has  yet  been  realized." 

The  same  writer  says  of  the  free  blacks  at  Cincinnati  in  1815:  "They  are  a 
thoughtless  and  good-humored  community,  garrulous  and  profligate;  generally  dis- 
inclined to  laborious  occupations,  and  prone  to  the  performance  of  light  and  menial 


100  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

We  ought  not  to  forget  that  this  was  written  in  1815,  about 
five  years  before  our  hero  went  to  live  at  Cincinnati.  What  the 
colored  population  showed  itself  to  him  we  have  no  means  of 
making  certain.  Let  us  rest  on  inference.  I  am  able  to  say  that, 
from  1832  down  to  the  present  day,  the  colored  element  of  the  Cin- 
cinnati population,  badly  treated  as  it  has  been  by  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  the  whites,  has  been  steadily  improving.  As  a  judge  at  one 
time,  and  as  a  lawyer  prosecuting  or  defending  at  another  time,  I 
had  occasion  to  observe  how  the  representative  colored  Cincinnatian 
compared  with  other  types,  and  how  he  bore  himself  toward  his 
fellow-citizens.  I  do  not  say  he  showed  himself  an  angel,  but  I  do 
say  that,  considering  how  he  was  dealt  with,  he  dealt  well  with 
others. 

The  society  of  Cincinnati,  therefore,  and  the  bon  ton  of  other  por- 
tions of  the  Cincinnati  valley,  at  the  time  of  our  hero's  first  sojourn 
in  that  valley,  may  be  well  supposed  to  have  been  more  than  tinged 
with  pro-slavery  feeling. 

The  free  negroes  of  that  place  had  a  hard  lot  when  I  first  paid 
particular  attention  to  their  state  and  prospects.  That  was  when  I 
began  to  talk  with  old  "Aunt  Rachel,"  who  inhabited  a  cabin  on 
Broadway  Street,  the  west  side,  between  New  and  Seventh.  She 
was  a  great  actress,  though  she  never  trod  the  stage.  Mrs.  Wilkin- 
son, in  Ambla  Bodish,  was  not  more  effective  than  Aunt  Rachel 
sometimes  showed  herself  in  denouncing,  about  equally,  the  abolition- 
ists and  their  opponents. 

Yet,  to  speak  more  accurately,  there  was  more  of  nature's  elo- 
quence than  that  of   conscious  acting   in  those  utterances  of  Aunt 


drudgery.  A  few  exercise  the  humbler  trades,  and  some  appear  to  have  formed  a 
correct  conception  of  the  objects  and  value  of  property,  and  are  both  industrious 
and  economical.  A  large  proportion  are  reputed,  and  perhaps  correctly,  to  practice 
petty  thefts ;  but  no  more  than  one  individual  has  been  published  corporally, 
by  the  courts  of  justice,  since  the  settlement  of  the  town."  Picture  of  Cincinnati, 
p.  172. 

Dr.  Drake,  however,  did  not  fairly  represent  the  general  sentiment  of  Cincinnati 
as  to  slavery  in  1815,  or  for  a  long  time  afterward.  And  it  must  be  carefully  con- 
sidered that  the  agitation  of  the  abolitionists  was  for  a  time  so  marked  by  reckless- 
ness, or  half-maniacal  excitement,  that  the  advocates  of  slavery  were  enabled  to 
persuade  some  anti-slavery  men  that  opposition  to  slavery  was  necessarily  attended 
with  injustice  to,  or  toward,  the  white  population  of  the  South;  in  short,  that  the 
agitation  of  the  abolitionists  against  slavery  apparently  occasioned  a  reaction  in 
the  interest  of  that  fell  institution. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  101 

Rachel,  who,  though  far  from  white,  could  never  have  pronounced 
with  strict  regard  to  truth, 

"I  am  black,  but  I  am  beautiful." 

The  Picture  of  Cincinnati  thus  notices  the  "  state  of  society  "  in 
1815: 

"This  can  not,  of  course,  be  portrayed  with  the  same  facility  and 
exactness  as  in  older  communities.  The  people  of  t  lie  Miami  country 
may,  in  part,  be  characterized  as  industrious,  frugal,  temperate, 
patriotic,  and  religious,  with  as  much  intelligence,  and  more  enter- 
prise, than  the  families  from  which  they  were  detached. 

"In  Cincinnati,  the  population  is  more  compounded,  and  the  con- 
stant addition  of  emigrants  from  numerous  countries,  in  varying 
populations,  must  for  many  years  render  nugatory  all  attempts  at  a 
faithful  portraiture.  There  is  no  State  in  the  Union  which  has  not 
enriched  our  town  with  some  of  its  more  enterprising  or  restless 
citizens  ;  nor  a  kingdom  of  the  west  of  Europe  whose  adventurers 
or  desperate  exiles  are  not  commingled  with  us.  To  Kentucky,  and 
the  States  north  of  Virginia — to  England,  Ireland,  Germany,  Scot- 
land, France,  and  Holland,  we  are  most  indebted. 

"Among  such  a  varietj^,  hut  few  points  of  coincidence  are  to  be 
expected.  Those  which  at  present  can  be  perceived  are  industry, 
temperance,  and  love  of  gain."  ' 

Three  pretty  good  distinctions  of  the  growing  citilet.  Our  author 
also  says : 

"With  a  population  governed  by  such  habits  and  principles,  the 
town  must  necessarily  advance  in  improvements  at  a  rapid  rate. 
This,  in  turn,  excites  emulation  and  precludes  the  idleness  which 
generates  prodigality  and  vice.  Wealth  is.  moreover,  pretty  equally 
distributed,  and  the  prohibition  of  slavery  diffuses  labor — while  the 
disproportionate  immigration  of  young  men,  with  the  facility  of 
obtaining  sustenance,  leads  to  frequent  and  hasty  marriages,  and 
places  many  females  in  the  situation  of  matrons  who  would  of  neces- 
sity be  servants  in  older  countries.  The  rich  being  thus  compelled 
to  labor,  tind  but  little  time  for  indulgence  in  luxury  and  extrava- 
gance; their  ostentation  is  restricted,  and  industry  is  made  to 
become  a  characteristic  virtue. 

"  It  need  scarcely  be  added,  that  we  have  as  yet  no  epidemic 
amusements  among  us."  2 

Yet  our  author  had  to  own  that  dancing,  which  would  seem  to  be 
a  pleasure  of  the  epidemic  order,  was  "not  infrequent  among  the 


!Pp.  166,  167. 
2  P.  167. 


102  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

wealthier  classes."     True,  he  felt  that  he  could  safely  add  :  "  But  it 
is  never  carried  to  excess." 

The  same  judicial  witness  also  says  : 

"  Theatrical  exhibitions,  both  by  amateurs  and  itinerants,  have  oc- 
curred at  intervals  for  a  dozen  years;  and  a  society  of  young  towns- 
men have  lately  erected  a  temporary  wooden  pla}~-house,  in  which 
they  have  themselves  performed.  But  as  the  tendency  of  their  in- 
stitution to  encourage  strollers  and  engross  time  has  been  deprecated 
by  the  more  religious  portion  of  our  citizens  ;  and  as  the  members 
have  failed  to  realize  their  anticipations,  with  regard  to  the  accumu- 
lation of  a  fund  for  the  relief  of  indigence,  they  will  be  likely  soon 
to  relinquish  the  pursuit,  and  leave  their  stage  and  its  trappings  to 
some  future  votaries  of  Thespis."1 

Chase  was  never  much  addicted  to  the  theatre,  he  told  me.  Not 
long  before  his  death,  he  went  to  "assist"  at  the  Meg  Merrtties  of 
Charlotte  Cushman,  here  in  Washington  ;  but  at  Cincinnati,  where 
I  often  met  some  of  his  legal  brethren  in  the  theatre,  I  never  saw 
him  there  at  all.2 

Dr.  Drake  has  put  on  record  the  following  statement: 

'•  During  the  winter,  select  parties  are  frequently  assembled,  at 
which  the  current  amusements  are  social  converse,  singing  and  re- 
citation, the  latter  of  which  has  been  lately  predominant."  3 

Here  is  another  interesting  statement  of  our  author : 

"  Cards  were  fashionable  in  town  for  several  years  after  the  Indian 
war  that  succeeded  the  settlement ;  but  it  seems  they  have  been 
banished  from  the  genteeler  circles,  and  are  harbored  only  in  the 
vulgar  grog-shop  or  the  nocturnal  gaming  room.,'i 

Rather  too  severe  on  the  "  keards,"  dear  doctor !  Not  in  grog- 
shops or  in  gaming  rooms  alone  were  cards  a  favorite  pastime  at 


*Pp.  167-8. 

-  Cincinnati  was  called  by  Ned  Marshall,  about  1849,  a  very  "chunky"  place. 
Perhaps  it  never  was  the  gayest  or  the  brightest  city  in  America;  but  it  was  never 
quite  so  chunky,  I  conceive,  as  it  appeared  to  Marshall. 

3  P.  1G8.  Recitation  long  continued  to  be  a  favorite  amusement  in  some  of  the 
pioneer  homes  of  Cincinnati.  How  many  youthful  Cincinnatians  have  aspired  to 
domestic  glory  while  reciting 

"  My  name  is  Norval,  on  the  Grampian  hills," 
or, 

"  On  Linden  when  the  sun  was  low," 
would  need  some  pages  to  set  forth. 

*  P.  167. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  103 

Cincinnati.  Some  of  the  most  saintly  women  that  have  ever  lived 
at  that  place,  taught  their  own  children  to  play  seven  up,  and  whist, 
and  euchre. 

Now  I  call  attention  to  a  statement  of  some  interest  to  climatol- 
ogy.    Dr.  Drake  said,  in  1815: 

"  Sleigh-riding  and  skating  are  rai*ely  enjoj^ed,  on  account  of  the 
lightness  and  instability  of  the  snow  and  ice."1 

And  here  is  a  statement,  looking,  somewhat,  in  the  same  direction  : 

"Sailing  for  pleasure  on  the  Ohio  is  but  seldom  practiced;  and 
riding  out  of  town  for  recreation,  on  horseback  or  in  carriages,  is 
rather  uncommon,  for  want  of  better  roads.  Evening  walks  arc 
more  habitual,  in  which  the  river  bank  and  adjacent  hills — the  Co- 
lumbian Garden,  and  the  Mound,  at  the  west  end,  are  the  principal 
resorts."  2 

There  came  a  time  when  trips  to  Louisville  and  back  by  steamer 
were  quite  fashionable  ;  and  never  did  a  fashionable  pleasure  show 
itself  more  rational.  The  City  at  the  Falls  may  never  rival  Cin- 
cinnati, but  the  former  was  a  gayer  city  than  the  latter ;  and  the 
situation  of  the  former,  with  the  characteristics  of  the  charming 
scenery  between  Louisville  and  Cincinnati,  made  the  trips  referred 
to  truly  full  of  pleasantness. 

Chase  was  destined  to  be  a  devoted  Cincinnatian ;  but  very  soon 
the  country,  North  and  South  and  East  and  West,  was  to  know  and 
claim  him  for  her  own — to  influence  his  life,  and  to  be  influenced, 
in  turn,  by  him.  It  may  seem,  therefore,  that  too  much  attention  is 
dovoted  to  his  life  at  Cincinnati. 

As  already  intimated,  I  refer  to  history  for  much  of  his  career  in 
public.  Here  the  reader  is  at  least  invited  to  make  thorough  study 
of  the  various  preparations  of  his  private  and  his  only  slightly  pub- 
lic life  for  the  course  in  which  the  eyes  of  the  whole  country  fol- 
lowed his  direction  and  his  tendency. 

Ohio  was  the  scene  of  his  first  public  triumphs.  I  am  not  a 
native  of  Ohio,  and  I  do  not  fondly  glorify  her  land,  her  people,  or 
her  laws  and  manners.  As  for  Cincinnati,  Harriet  Martineau  and 
others  found  it  all  that  it  appeared  to  me. 

And  how  about  that  portion  of  the  Cincinnati  valley  which  be- 

1  P.  168.  2  P#  168. 


104  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

longs  to  my  beloved  native  State,  the  State  which  even  an  English 
abolitionist  could  call  "glorious  Kentucky  ''?*  Have  I  not  a  word 
to  say  in  praise  of  that  portion  of  a  valley  which,  on  the  Ohio  side, 
appears  to  me  so  interesting? 

It  is  far  from  easy  to  do  perfect  justice  to  the  difficulties  of  that 
section  of  the  Cincinnati  valley  as  a  place  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
Kentucky,  now,  and  once  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia.  Nat- 
urally, Covington  and  Newport,  and  the  other  Cincinnati  suburbs, 
lying  in  Kentucky,  are  most  happily  conditioned.  But  they  were 
of  that  which  I  have  elsewhere  called  the  South  denned  by  Art,  the 
South  denned  by  Nature  being  circumscribed,  in  part,  by  the  wavy 
line,  forming  the  northern  boundary  of  successful  cotton  culture, 
while  the  South  denned  by  Art  had  the  northern  boundary  of  the  late 
"  peculiar  institution/'  known  as  slavery. 


1 "  On  passing  Cattletsburg,  we  bade  adieu  to  gloi'ious  Kentucky.      Harriet  Mar- 
tineau,  Society  in  America,  I,  178. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  105 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

RETURN  TO  NEW  ENGLAND — AT  DARTMOUTH  COLLEGE. 

rMHE  narrative  afforded  by  the  Trowbridge  letters  thus  proceeds: 

"  The  sojourn  at  Cincinnati  was  not  long — not  quite  a  year. 

"The  bishop  grieved  over  the  destitution  of  the  Diocese.  He 
wanted,  above  all  things,  a  Theological  Seminary  for  the  education 
of  the  ministry.  He  wanted,  too,  a  college,  if  he  could  establish  one. 
He  determined  to  go  to  England  and  ask  for  aid.  lie  resigned  the 
presidency  of  the  college.  The  family  was  broker,  up.  I  accom- 
panied the  bishop  and  his  wife,  and  their  little  children,  on  the 
journey  eastward. 

"We  left  Cincinnati,  I  think,  in  the  same  old  coach  which  had 
brought  the  family  into  it.  I  remember  little  of  the  journey.  We 
stopped  at  Chillicothe,  where,  at  the  house  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kellogg, 
I  began  my  acquaintance  with  Cooper's  novels  by  reading  the  Pio- 
neers— greatly  fascinated.  Journeying  eastward,  we  reached  Steu- 
benville,  and  stopped  at  the  hospitable  mansion  of  Mr.  "Wells,  the 
father-in  daw  of  my  cousin.  Philander,  whose  wife  I  now  first  met. 

"Mr.  Wells  was  a  manufacturer,  but  had  lost  bj*  it.  He  still  re- 
tained, however,  his  beautiful  place  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  and 
there,  with  his  sons,  my  schoolmates,  and  in  his  pleasant  family,  1 
passed  some  very  agreeable  days.  The  Ohio  being  wad  able,  I  crossed 
it  in  that  way.  in  order  to  be  able  to  say  that  i  had  been  in  Vir- 
ginia.1 'i'he  bishop  held  a  service  one  day  at  Cross  Creek,  a  church 
well  attended,  but  without  a  house  in  Bight  of  it. 

•■  Prom  Steubenville  we  went  northward  to  Warren,  already  a 
very  pretty  town.  There  we  stopped  at  the  bouse  of  a  gentleman, 
whose  mother  lived  near  him  in  a  small  house  with  but  one  room,  or, 
at  most.  two.  The.  old  lady  preferred  this  way  of  life  to  being  a 
member  of  her  son's  family,  where,  possibly,  something  might  occur 
to  mar  the  affection  between  them.  1  visited  her.  Every  thing  wa- 
in perfect  order,  ami  very  pleasantly  arranged.  Content,  cheerful 
piety,  and  good  taste,  gave  beauty  to  every  thing. 

•■  Prom  Warren  our  way  lay  northward  to  Ashtabula,  over  the 
only  turnpike  road  then  existing  in  Ohio.     It  was  a  dirt  turnpike, 


1  There  used  to  be  a  sign  at  Little  Rock  : 

•■  A.  M.  Scott,  Attorney  at  Law, 

The  man  that  waded  the  Ark  an  saw." 


106  THE  PKIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

but  the  weather  was  good  and  the  road,  therefore,  excellent.  From 
some  place  on  this  road.  I  was  allowed  to  go  to  Harpersfield,  a  town 
not  far  from  it,  to  visit  my  brother,  who  had  returned  from  Gen. 
Cass's  Expedition,  and  was  reading,  or  had  read,  law  there,  with  Mr. 
Harper.  I  think  I  failed  to  find  him,  but  saw  Mr.  Harper,  who  gave 
me  a  good  account  of  his  prospects. 

••  Rejoining  the  bishop,  we  continued  our  journey  from  Ashtabula 
cast  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Erie.  How  beautiful  were  the  shining 
waters  by  day,  and  with  what  awe  and  delight  I  listened  to  their 
roar  as  the  wind  rose  and  the  waves  rolled  and  broke  upon  the  shore 
at  night.  At  one  place,  at  night.  I  went  out  by  myself,  and  heark- 
ened to  the  grand  music,  till  I  could  remain  no  longer. 

••  Much  of  the  way  was  on  the  beach  where  the  waters  would  roll 
up  under  the  carriage  and  bathe  the  horses'  feet. 

••  We  were  three  or  four  days  in  coining  to  Buffalo,  of  which  I  re- 
member nothing,  except  going  to  church,  and  then  Cherry  Valley, 
of  which  I  remember  just  as  much,  with  the  variation  that  the  church 
was  in  a  court  room,  and  I  went  to  sleep." 

Did  Justice,  then,  dull  Piety? 

••  At  last,"  continues  Secretary  Chase,  "we  came  to  Kingston,  on 
the  Hudson,  the  home  of  my  aunt  before  marriage.  It  was  a  pleas- 
ant place,  that  home.  My  aunt's  relatives  were,  or  had  been,  con- 
nected with  the  East  India  Trade,  and  in  the  house  were  various 
shells,  brought  from  over  the  sea,  which  were  very  wonderful  to  me. 
I  had  never  seen  the  Ocean,  but  these  shells  seemed  to  tell  me  some 
thing  about  its  vastness  and  beauty.  There  was  a  boy  in  the  house, 
too — a  lad — who  had  lived  in  the  East  Indies.  We  consulted  together 
a  good  deal  during  my  brief  stay  at  Kingston,  and  he  told  me  stories 
of  that  far-off  land.  One  impressed  me  with  a  strange  sense  of  the 
ridiculous,  the  foolish,  and  the  criminal. 

-  He  described  a  little  boy's  going  out  as  he  had  seen  them  on  the 
banks  of  the  Granges,  and  making  mud  images,  and  then  saying 
prayers  to  them.  With  the  pity  I  felt  for  these  little  worshipers, 
there  mingled,  I  fear,  some  contempt.  But  why?  Do  we  not  see  peo- 
ple every  day  making  themselves  mud  gods  ?  What  are  half  the  objects 
of  public  veneration  but  mud  gods,  which  they  themselves  have  made? 
How  often  do  the  people  invest  some  man  with  attributes  wholly  im- 
aginary, and  then  almost  deity  him?1  What  is  history,  for  the  most 
part,  but  a  record  of  mud  gods  and  their  worship? 

"I  did  not  stay  long  at  Kingston.  My  uncle  gave  me  three  or 
four  dollars  and  his  benediction,  and  I  was  taken  clown  to  the  river 
and  put  on  board  the  boat  for  Albany.  Nothing  of  much  interest 
occurred  on  the  boat  that  I  remember,  nor  any  thing  at  Albany. 
From  Albany  I  went  to  Troy,  and  there  inquired  the  road  to  Ben- 
nington and  Brattleboro,  and  started  off  to  make  across  the  moun- 
tains home.     My  scanty  purse  did  not  contain  enough  to  pay  stage 


1 1  fear  that  Chase  will  appear  to  have  been  thinking  of  Lincoln-worship  when 
he  wrote  these  words.  Yet  we  shall  see  that  he  generally  did  justice  to  the  real 
worth  of  the  man  he  once  called  the  noblest  of  our  martyrs. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  107 

fare.     I  thought  little  of  that,  however.     I  started  off  with  a  brave 
heart. 

•  I  walked,  [with]  occasionally  a  ride  from  some  farmer  going  the 
same  way.  and  finally  hiring  a  man  to  take  me  in  his  wagon  for  the 
last  fifteen  or  twenty  miles,  the  whole  distance  in  three  days.  One 
night  I  passed  at  a  house  on  the  road-side,  where  I  waB  greatly 
shocked  by  the  coarseness  of  the  language  and  manners  of  the  people 
who  lived  in  it.  It  was  a  delight  when  I  came  within  view  of 
Monadnock,  some  thirty  or  forty  miles  off,  to  see-  the  grand  old 
mountain  lifting  his  peaceful  head  toward  heaven,  and  seeming  to 
look  toward  me  with  a  sort  of  welcome.  It  was  a  foretaste  of 
home.  It  was  dark  before  1  entered  the  village.  The  man  drove 
the  wagon  to  the  door  of  the  old  yellow  house.  I  jumped  out.  and, 
giving  him  my  last  dollar,  ran  in,  where  mother  and  sisters,  sur- 
prised and  glad,  gave  me  a  most  affectionate  welcome.  How  long  the 
three  years  of  absence  seemed  !     I  hardly  expected  to  be  recognized." 

To  add  a  word  to  Chase's  own  account  of  that  welcome  home 
would  be  impossible.  The  holy  joy  of  such  reunions  is  beyond  all 
intimation  through  the  agency  of  words. 

But  that  New  England  household,  touched  as  it  was  with  the 
ideal,  breathed,  for  the  most  part,  the  true  spirit  of  the  real  and 
the  practical. 

"What  should  I  do  now?"  continues  the  delightful  narrative  of 
Secretary  Chase,  addressed  to  Mr.  Trowbridge.  "  It  was  soon  set- 
tled that  I  should  go  on  with  1113^  studies,  and  do  what  I  could  to 
support  myself.  My  precious  mother,  out  of  her  scanty  means, 
thought  she  eould  spare  enough  to  pay  what  I  could  not  earn,  and 
so  let  me  go  through  college.  How  little  I  appreciated,  then,  the 
sacrifice  she  was  making!  How  much  she  was  to  stint  herself — 
almost  to  suffering — that  her  boy  might  have  a  good  education.  It 
is  sad  to  think — tears  fill  my  eyes  as  I  think — how  late  true  appre- 
ciation of  such  sacrifices  comes.  Alas  !  how  often,  as  in  mj-  ease, 
not  adequately — if  ever  adequately — until  the  beloved  mother,  who 
made  them,  has  gone  bej-ond  the  reach  of  their  manifestation. 

"Not  many  months  after  my  return  a  committee  came  into  town 
to  engage  a  master  for  a  school  in  a  district  of  the  adjoining  town, 
east  of  Keene.  How  application  came  to  be  made  to  me.  1  don' t 
know  ;  but  I  presume  the  minister,  Mr.  Barstow,  was  consulted,  and 
he  probably  recommended  me. 

"I  had,  I  think,  commenced  my  recitations  to  him.  and  he  knew 
the  straightened  circumstances  of  our  family. 

••At  any  rate,  I  was  engaged,  at  the  munificent  salary  of  eight 
dollars — it  may  be,  six  or  seven — a  month,  and  board.  In  a  few 
days  1  was  conveyed  to  my  district,  and  established  as  boarder  in  the 
house  of  a  worthy  farmer.  I  was  very  kindly  treated  by  him  and 
his  family.  They  gave  me  a  comfortable  room,  and  plenty  of  apples, 
nuts,  and  cider.  I  took  charge  of  the  school  with  some  apprehension, 
but  without  much  self-distrust.     There  was  the  usual  number  of  boys 


108  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

and  girls,  and  they  were  of  the  usual  ages.  They  were  disposed  to 
fun  more  than  to  study,  and,  I  am  afraid,  did  not  stand  in  sufficient 
awe  of  their  boy-master.  I  assumed  dignity,  and  tried  to  enforce 
order  and  attention  to  studies.  Occasionally,  I  punished  some  infrac- 
tion of  rules  with  the  instrument  all  New  England  schoolmasters 
use — the  ferule.  There  was  one  boy  older  than  myself,  and  stouter, 
who  took  more  liberties  than  the  rest.  I  admonished  and  reproved 
him  without  much  effect,  and,  I  fear,  in  no  very  suitable  way.  At 
last  he  did  something  which  provoked  me  greatly,  and  I  gave  him 
a  pretty  severe  blow  with  the  ferule  on  his  head.  He  subsided,  for 
the  time,  into  dogged  submission  ;  but,  doubtless,  complained  of  me 
to  his  parents.  The  next  da}',  or  very  soon  after,  I  received  a  note 
from  the  selectmen,  or  the  school  committee,  expressing  their  con- 
viction that  the  school  was  not  likely  to  be  useful  under  my  govern- 
ment, and  informing  me  that  my  services  would  not  be  required 
thereafter.     So  ended  my  first  attempt  at  school-keeping. 

"I  went  home  a  little  crest-fallen,  and  resumed  my  recitations  to 
Mr.  Barstow." 

Certainly,  even  had  our  hero  been  of  sweeter,  smoother  disposi- 
tion, he  was  quite  too  young  to  teach,  when  to  teach  and  to  flog 
appeared  inseparable.  But,  we  shall  see,  notwithstanding  the 
religiousness  and  careful  conscientiousness  of  Chase,  he  never  could 
command  so  happily  as  might  have  been  desired.  His  temper 
always  was  a  somewhat  moody  one,  and  he  was  always  prone  to 
Govern  with  a  big  G,  as  intimated  in  a  former  chapter.1 

"  Among  my  shadowy  reminiscences  of  the  winter,"  continues  our 
hero,  "are  Quentin  Durioard— which  interested  me  immensely- — a 
visit  to  m}^  sisters  from  my  Cornish  schoolmates,  Gratia  and  Betsey 
Marble,  now  grown  to  be  beautiful  girls  and  fine  singers,  who  de- 
lighted me  with  the  '  Star  of  Bethlehem,'  and  various  sono-.s,  erave 
or  funny;  Milton,  j^arts  of  which  I  memorized,  and  recited  to  my 
sister,  Abigial,  the  memory  of  some  of  the  lines,  especially  of  the 

description  of ,   faithful  among  the  faithless,  remained   with 

me  ever  after. 

"  Toward  spring  it  was  determined  that  I  should  go  to  Royalton, 
in  Vermont,  where  my  former  instructor,  Mr.  Sprague,  was  preceptor 
of  the  academy. 

"It  must  have  been  early  in  1824,  perhaps  in  February  or  March, 
that  I  went  to  Royalton,  and  was  received  in  the  family  of  Dr.  Den- 
ison,  whose  wife  was  the  bishop's  sister  and  our  favorite  aunt.  The 
doctor  occupied  a  very  respectable  and  comfortable  mansion  in  the 
north-eastern  part  of  the  village,  with  a  garden  on  the  northern  side, 
just  beyond  which  stood  the  Congregational  Church.  In  front  of 
the  house  Avas  the  road — the  main  village  street — across  which, 
situate    in    an    open    space    in    a   sort  of   public  square,  stood   the 

1  Chapter  II. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  109 

Academy.  Behind  the  Academy,  and  skirting  the  village,  from  north 
to  south,  or  north-west  to  south-east,  ran  the  little,  clear,  sparkling 
stream,  called  Whitewater  River.  Behind  the  house  rose  the  hills, 
among  which  a  peak,  called  the  pinnacle,  was  very  conspicuous,  and 
a  favorite  resort  of  the  boys  and  girls  who  attended  the  Academy. 
Among  the  girls  there  Mas  one — born  somewhere  South — gentle, 
pretty,  and  intelligent,  who  quite  won  my  heart.  Walks  with  her, 
sometimes  to  the  top  of  the  pinnacle,  whence  1  guarded  her  descent 
with  solicitous  care;  visits  to  the  house  of  some  neighboring  friend, 
varied  by  a  row  in  a  skirt'  in  the  Whitewater,  were  my  chief  out-door 
pleasure.  In-doors,  I  learned  to  play  chess  with  my  cousin,  Jo 
Denison.  who,  lor  awhile,  was  at  home  from  college — the  University 
of  Vermont — for  vacation.  It  has  since  been  in  my  power  to  make 
one  of  his  sons  Collector  of  New  Orleans.  Of  chess  I  was  very  fond, 
and  it  came  near  disturbing  m}T  progress  in  study.  But.  alter  all, 
study  was  my  chief  occupation.  I  wished  to  enter  the  junior  class 
at  Dartmouth  at  the  approaching  commencement,  and  was  obliged 
to  read  a  great  deal  to  make  up  the  diiference  between  the  scanty 
proficiency  at  Cincinnati  as  sophomore,  and  the  catalogue  require- 
ments for  a  junior  at  Dartmouth.  But  I  did  read  a  great  ileal  ; 
reciting  to  Mr.  Sprague,  and  reading,  for  the  most  part,  during  read- 
ing and  study  hours,  at  my  desk  in  the  common  study  and  recitation 
room.  I  did  not  read  thoroughly — nor  was  my  preceptor  very  well 
qualified  to  criticize  my  recitations.  He  generally  took  what  I  gave 
him  as  1  gave  it,  and  let  it  pass.  How  much  I  have  since  regretted 
the  extremely  loose  way  in  which  all  my  education  went  on  !  There 
was  no  discipline,  and,  in  the  end,  of  course,  little  thoroughness  and 
little  accuracy." 

Here,  I  think,  self-accusation  is  a  little  too  severe.  While  I  have 
nothing  to  retract  of  what  has  been  said  in  other  chapters,  as  to 
Chase's  never  having  been  distinguished  by  profundity,  it  seems  to 
me  the  language  just  quoted  needs  restraint.  To  say  that  Salmon 
Portland  Chase  had  little  thoroughness  and  little  accuracy  as  a 
student,  is,  I  think,  to  say  too  much,  even  in  self-censure. 

I  suppose  it  was  at  Royal  ton  that  Chase  received  this  precious 
letter  from  his  eminently  worthy  mother: 

"  Keene,  August,  14,  1824. 
"Dear  Salmon:  I  i*eccived  your  kind  letter  in  due  season.  At 
that  time  your  aunt  Dunbar  was  very  sick  ;  we  were  doubtful  of  her 
recovery.  So  I  was  nurse  and  house-keeper,  and  1  have  hardly  been 
out  doors  since,  till  yesterday,  when  I  called  on  Mr.  Parker  and 
made  known  your  request.  1  did  not  show  him  your  letter,  but  told 
him  your  intention  of  spending  another  year  in  studying  before  you  en- 
tered college,  which  I  should  be  glad  to  oblige  you  in  if  he  thought 
consistent  with  your  property  and  what  I  could  do  for  you  in 
clothes  etc.  He  said  he  would  leave  it  to  Mr.  Sprague,  where  I  sup- 
pose you  will  be  willing  to  have  it  end,  and  I  acquiesce.  I  sent  the 
book  by  Miss  Blake  that  you  sent  for,  which  you  have  received  be- 


110  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

fore  now,  I  expect.  Salmon.  I  wish  you  to  be  more  particular  when 
you  write  to  me  to  let  me  know  when  (?)  and  how  your  dear  sisters 
do  and  all  our  relations  are  in  Vermont.  I  often  think  of  them,  and 
wish  I  could  add  one  to  the  number  in  their  family  circles  and  in 
their  beautiful  church;  that  I  think  of  with  regret  that  I  am  placed 
so  far  from  the  comforts  I  should  enjoy  in  that  house.  Edward  has 
just  returned  from  Plainfield.  He  left  there  last  night,  after  five 
o'clock,  and  arrived  here  before  seven.  He  is  anxious  to  continue 
his  studies  there,  and  I  have  got  leave  for  him  one  quarter  more; 
and  if  he  continues  to  make  as  good  a  scholar  as  Mr.  Newell  thought 
him  to  be  when  I  was  there,  I  shall  try  hard  to  have  him  educated, 
that  being  alt  that  your  dear  father  ever  expressed  a  desire  for  his  children. 
Mr.  Newell  told  me  that  he  was  what  they  called  a  driver,  as  good 
a  scholar  as  there  was  in  school;  he  said,  was  he  his  own  son.  he 
would  not  miss  having  him  educated  for  nothing,  and  I  would  be  will- 
ing to  wash  or  scour  to  get  him  through.  I  feel  a  great  desire  to  have  you 
all  honor  the  name  of  your  ever-lamented  and  deceased  father.  I  wish 
you  to  send  down  to  Edward  all  the  Latin  books  that  you  do  n't  need. 
He  wants  his  Latin  grammar.  He  might  have  done  with  it  by  this 
time,  if  you  had  been  willing  to  do  by  others  as  you  would  be  done 
by.  Do  n't  think  because  a  book  is  mislaid,  you  can't  take  the  trou- 
ble to  look  for  it.  Eemember  that  it  cost  money,  and  that  I  am  short 
of;  and  if  I  were  not,  I  should  wish  to  be  careful  of  my  books. 
Dear  Salmon,  I  had  like  to  forgot  to  tell  you  that  Mr.  Parker  thought 
you  had  better  engage  a  school  next  winter  in  season.  Tit  at  would  help 
you  some.  Give  my  best  love  to  aunt  and  uncle  Denison,  and  to  sister 
Smith  and  family,  and  to  Alice,  and  to  all  near  and  dear  relations 
too  numerous  to  mention.  I  saw  a  gentleman  right  from  Ohio  ;  a 
Mr.  Davis,  who  is  in  Mr.  Jones'  store,  in   Salem.     He  told   me  that 

H was  well,  and  married  to  J.  King,  a  fine  young  lady  as  could 

be  produced  in  New  Hampshire — so  you  see  a  short  time  has  made 
me  mother  of  a  fine  daughter.  I  told  Mr.  Davis  that  I  had  heard  so 
before,  but  did  not  believe  it,  because  he  had  not  written  to  me  to  let 
me  know  it  himself;  but  he  assured  me  it  was  true,  for  he  attended 

the  wedding   himself.     He   informs   me  that  A is   doing   well. 

He  has  bought  hint  a  farm,  and  works  on  it  like  a  hero.  He  is  justice 
of  peace  and  has  a  good  share  of  business  in  his  office  as  a  lawyer; 
he  speaks  very  highly  of  him.  May  God  grant  that  he  may  be  a  good 
man,  and  that  trill  be  great  to  me. 

"Salmon,  I  wish  you  to  write  to  me  good  long  letters  and  tell  me 
all  about  the  family,  for  every  branch  of  it  is  interesting  to  me. 
Send  your  Irttcrs  by  private  conveyance  to  save  postage.  My  bill  is 
nearly  ten  dollars,  and  that  would  help  pay  for  schooling.  Do  n't 
think  your  mother  is  growing  stingy  in  her  old  age.  Send  the 
books  to  uncle  Chase,  he  will  be  there  next  week. 
'■Your  affectionate  mother. 

"JANNETTE  CHASE." 

Surely,  surely,  if  the  so  often  quoted  and  so  seldom  deeply  studied 
words,  ex  pede  Herculem,  really  suggests  a  truth  that  has  wide  con- 
nection with  coguate  truth,  the  writer  of  that  letter  was  a  woman 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  Ill 

of  good  family,  in  the  best  sense  of  that  expression.  I  would  say, 
that,  probably  the  Ralston  pedigree,  whereof,  alas!  we  know  too  lit- 
tle, was  essentially  as  noble  as  the  pedigree  of  Ithamar,  the  husband 
of  the  woman  who  composed  the  just-quoted  letter. 

Salmon  Portland  Chase  was  careful  to  preserve  memorials  of  that 
devoted  mother,  that  devoted  wife.  He  saw  no  "rough  vulgarities" 
in  her  experiences,  in  her  observations,  in  her  modes  of  life.  He 
loved  and  prized  his  mother  while  she  lived  ;  lie  loved  and  prized 
her  memory  when  she  was  dead.  He  was  a  man  of  the  true  stamp, 
a  gentleman  by  birth  and  education  ;  such  a  man  as  always  loves 
his  mother,  and  acknowledges,  with  a  proud  gratitude,  his  obliga- 
tions to  the  woman  whose  relation  to  his  life  began  before  his  birth 
was  consummate. 

"The  great  event  of  my  stay  at  Eoyalton,"  wrote  Mr.  Chase  to 
Mr.  Trowbridge,  "was  the  mai*riage  of  my  sister  Jane  to  Dr.  Skin- 
ner. At  the  same  time.  Gratia  Parkhurst,  one  of  her  friends,  was 
married  to  Dr.  Bloss.  Two  fine  girls  they  were,  and  their  lovers 
were  promising  young  men,  just  commencing  the  practice  of  their 
profession.  The  double  wedding  took  place  in  the  little  Episcopal 
church  at  Bethel,  whither  we  went  in  such  vehicles  as  the  country 
afforded:  and  then  there  was  the  wedding  party  at  aunt  Denison's, 
and  the  fun  and  the  jollit}-,  and  the  rich  happiness  that  usually  at- 
tend such  occasions.  My  cousin  Jo  and  I  officiated  as  waiters;  for 
servants  were  unknown,  and  help  was  scarce." 

Is  it  important  to  this  narrative  that  servants  were  unknown  and 
"help"  was  scarce  where  our  hero  took  his  earliest  impressions  and 
received  so  much  of  his  methodic  education? 

That  this  volume  is  no  silly  eulogy  has  been  quite  clearly  shown. 
There  is  no  impropriety  in  saying  that  the  reader  must  prepare  to 
find  our  hero's  head  a  little  turned  with  wealth  and  fashion — in  a 
word,  with  that  which  calls  itself  society  ;  and  it  is  well  to  keep  in 
mind  that  where  he  passed  the  greater  portion  of  his  life,  down  to 
the  years  of  manhood,  help  was  scarce  and  servants  were  unknown. 

'T  is  true,  it  were  but  wild  and  almost  savage  to  propose  that  there 
should  be  no  servants  where 

"  wealth  accumulates  and  men  decay." 

The  state  of  culture  and  the  state  of  ignorance,  the  state  of  the 
poor  and  the  state  of  the  rich,  defy  all  study  of  the  economic 
sciences  and  arts  to  find  a  remedy,  complete  in  all  its  parts. 
Aesthetic  culture  can  not  be  invoked  to  close  the  drawing-rooms 


112  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

in  which  so  many  articles  of  virtu  typify  the  educated  love  of  the 
fine  arts ;  nor  can  the  love  of  dress,  the  passion  for  the  rules  and 
the  observances  of  etiquette,  and  like  distinctions  of  that  which 
calls  itself  society,  be  expected  to  give  up,  at  present,  or  perhaps  at 
any  day,  however  distant,  the  dear  objects  of  their  adoration. 

While  we  have  those  objects  to  be  worshiped,  there  must  be  a 
servant  class,  a  master  class.  How  far  this  is  of  interest  to  the  elec- 
tive franchise — how  it  is  of  interest  to  other  matters  of  distinctively 
political  concern — I  do  not  here  attempt  to  indicate. 

We  must  now  prepare  to  go  with  Chase  to  Dartmouth  College. 

Secretary  Chase  wrote  thus  to  Mr.  Trowbridge : 

"  Then  came  the  day  I  was  to  go  to  Hanover  to  present  mj-self  for 
examination  for  admission  as  Junior.  I  went  and  found  the  profes- 
sors much  engaged.  I  was  sent  from  one  to  another,  questioned  a 
little — luckily  for  me  with  no  great  severity — and  was  admitted. 
One  of  the  questions  by  the  learned  professor  of  mathematics  amused 
me.  He  undertook  to  fathom  my  geographical  attainments,  and 
asked:  '  Where  do  the  Hottentots  live?'  I  was  tempted  to  answer, 
'In  Hanover,'  but  prudence  restrained  me. 

•After  the  commencement  I  went,  writh  my  cousin  Jo,  to  Burling- 
ton, Vermont,  unci  made  a  short  visit  to  my  aunt  Durbin.  I  was 
greatly  delighted  by  the  place  and  its  beautiful  situation  on  the  shores 
of  Lake  Champlain. 

"Four  weeks  passed  in  rambles  and  visits,  and  I  returned  to  Han- 
over, and  became  junior  in  fact.  I  took  a  room  in  the  college  build- 
ing— having  for  my  chum,  my  classmate  Jeremiah  Eussell,  afterward 
a  respectable  lawyer  in  Massachusetts.  While  rooming  in  the  col- 
lege I  boarded,  for  the  greater  part  of  the  time,  in  club — that  is  to 
say,  a  number  of  the  students  organized  themselves  into  an  associa- 
tion ;  rented  a  room;  provided  food  and  attendance  through  a  com- 
mittee, and  assessed  the  expense  on  the  association.  If  any  one  de- 
sired board  without  being  a  member  of  the  association,  he  could 
have  it  on  paying  an  established  weekly  rate  ;  and  there  were  a  num- 
ber who  did  so.     I  was  one. 

"During  the  winter  which  followed  my  first  term  I  again  attempted 
to  teach  a  New  England  District  School,  this  time  at  Reading,  where 
my  brother-in-law,  Dr.  Skinner,  was  established  in  practice  as  a 
physician.  The  district  in  which  I  was  to  teach  was  a  mile  or  more 
from  the  village,  and  I  boarded  round  among  the  families.  The 
board,  I  believe,  was  not  set  up  to  the  lowest  bidder,  as  was,  and 
perhaps  is.  sometimes  done  in  New  England,  but  assigned  at  a  fixed 
pate  to  two  <>r  three  families  who  were  willing  to  take  the  'master.' 
My  first  home  was  with  a  farmer  named  Townsend,  who  had  some 
very  smart  children  who  attended  the  school.  There  was  no  direct 
road  to  the  sehool-house  from  his  place,  and  we  usually  took  a  path 
across  lots  and  across  a  deep  ravine.  Sometimes,  in  a  snow  storm  or 
after  one,  the  traveling  was  not  agreeable.  I  was  very  kindly 
treated. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  113 

"My  chief  literary  resource  was  the  Mysteries,  and  which  fairly 
madr  my  hair  stand  on  end.1 

••  From  this  house  1  went  to  Deacon  Somebody's,  where  I  had  all 
the  comforts  they  could  give  inc.  and  the  Bociety  of  two  very  nice  old 
maidens,  daughters  of  the  deacon,  who,  with  his  wife,  was  well 
stricken  in  years.  I  was  too  j'oung  to  appreciate  the  character  of 
those  with  whom  I  was  thus  brought  in  contact  ;  but  I  am  sure 
they  were  honest,  good  people.  My  success  as  a  teacher  was  not 
marked;  but  there  was  no  serious  complaint  ;  and  when  1  closed  my 
term.  and.  with  the  earnings  of  the  seven  or  eighl  weeks'  teaching, 
went  back  to  college,  1  felt  that  1  had  really  accomplished  something 
for  myself. 

"The  next  summer  an  event  occurred  which  turned  out  to  have 
more  connection  with  my  affairs  than  J  had  any  idea  of.  The  treas- 
urer of  the  college  was  a  reserved,  honest  man.  who  had,  somehow, 
incurred  the  general  dislike  of  the  students.  So.  on  the  evening  of 
the  4th  of  July,  they  gave  him  a  serenade  with  all  sorts  of  unmusical 
instruments,  when  he  rushed  down  among  them  in  his  night  dress, 
with  a  gun.  or  some  other  weapon,  in  his  hand;  hut  the  boys  stood 
their  ground,  and  he  was  obliged  to  retreat.  The  affair  made  a  good 
deal  of  noise,  and  was  discussed  at  the  faculty  meetings,  hut  nothing 
serious  came  of  it.  A  few  days  afterward  I  got  up  some  doggerel  on 
the  event,  which  I  undertook  to  read  as  a  class  composition.  I  be- 
gan thus  : 

"  Dreadful  perils  do  environ 

The  man  that  meddles  with  cold  iron; 

Thus  saith  old  Butler,  and  saith  well. 

So,  if  you  11  list,  a  tale  I  '11  tell 

How  this  old  saw  was  verified, 

And  how  poor  Tom  was  terrified. 

'  Twos  on  the  day  . 

"'Stop.  Junior  Chase!'  said  the  professor  of  rhetoric.  'Sit  down,  sir.' 
"I  sat  down,  and  the  next  was  called  for  composition.  While  the 
other  students  were  reading,  my  piece  was  circulating  round  the 
class  and  gave  great  satisfaction.  "When  the  compositions  were  col- 
lected. I  did  not  hand  mine  to  the  collector,  but  the  professor  de- 
manded and  received  it.  1  expected  serious  consequences;  but  the 
faculty,  before  whom  the  piece  was  produced,  doubtless  regarded  it 
as  a  good  joke,  or,  at  most,  a  very  venial  offense.  I  heard  no  more 
of  it.'" 

At  this  point,  it  seems  well  to  introduce  another  most  character- 
istic and,  accordingly,  most  precious  letter,  to  our  hero  from  his 
mother.     Here  is  a  transcript  of  that  invaluable  piece  of  indication  : 

"Keene,  July  10,  1825. 
"Dear  Salmon:    1  received  your  letters  indue  season,  but   have 
not  been  able  to  raise  the  money  you  sent  for  yet.     I   have  received 


1 1  have  not  been  able  to  make  out  this  passage. 


114  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

forty-five  dollars,  which  I  shall  send  by  Mr.  Stone.  I  have  paid 
none;  pay  him  yourself,  and  be  careful  to  take  receipts  for  any  money 
you  pay,  and  for  what.  Keep  a  memorandum  of  all  your  expenses. 
Mr.  Parker  thinks  yotfr  bill  high  for  this  year,  and  so  do  I  ;  but  1 
expect  you  will  explain  it  when  we  meet  again,  if  it  should  please 
G-od  that  we  should.  I  hear  you  have  left  your  boarding  place, 
which  you  did  not  inform  me  of  in  your  letter.  Mr.  S.  told  me  it 
cost  seven  shillings  for  board  and  washing,  last  quarter.  When  1 
last  saw  you,  I  understood  you  boarded  as  well  as  you  wished.  1 
am  sorry  you  did  not  give  me  information  of  your  change.  Salmon, 
if  there  is  any  odds  in  the  expenses,  even  sixpence  in  a  week  will 
make  twenty-six  shillings  in  a  year.  Salmon,  I  hear  you  say  what  a 
close  calculator  mother  has  become;  but  it  is  my  dear  children  that 
makes  me  parsimonious,  if  I  am  so.  I  hope  never  to  be  reckoned 
among  the  stingy.  I  have  sent  fifty  dollars  to  Dr.  Skinner  to  pay 
Edward's  bill  there.  I  send  twenty  to  him  to-day  to  pay  for  his  last 
quarter.  I  sent  to  Mr.  Parker  to  borrow  the  other  twenty  for  you, 
and  shan't  seal  this  till  I  know  if  I  get  it.  I  have  seen  none  of  Mrs. 
H's.  family  since  I  received  your  last  letter.  Lauretta  called  on  me 
after  1  arrived  in  Keene,  and  gave  her  mother's  love  to  me,  and  to 
urge  me  to  spend  several  days  with  them.  She  appeared  happy  and 
cheerful  as  usual.  I  have  not  forgotten  your  shirts.  I  hope,  if  my 
eyes  should  gain  as  they  now  do,  I  shall  be  able  to  sew  a  little  in 
three  or  four  weeks.     I  send  you  sixty  dollars. 

"Your  affectionate  mother, 

"JANNETTE   CHASE." 

Another  letter  of  this  series  is  not  dated ;  but  I  found  it  backed, 
"  My  Mother,  August,  1825."     It  reads  as  follows  : 

"My  Dear  Salmon:  I  received  your  kind  letter,  expressing  }Tour 
disappointment  at  not  receiving  your  money  at  commencement, 
which  I  am  very  sorry  for.  I  made  particular  inquiry  if  there  was 
any  one  going  from  Keene,  and  could  find  none  till  I  heard  Mr. 
Parker  had  gone,  and  then  it  was  too  late.  But  you  must  learn  to 
put  up  with  such  little  disappointments,  as  at  that  time  I  should 
have  sent  but  forty,  that  being  the  sum  you  wished  when  here.  I 
shall  send  you  sixty  dollars  by  Mr.  Stone,  as  you  wish  me  to.  Dear 
Salmon,  you  must  cut  off  some  of  the  ten  thousand  things  and  bring 
them  down  to  hundreds.  I  know  you  make  a  good  use  of  what  I 
send  you  ;  that  is,  I  have  full  confidence  in  you  ;  but  I  know  the  feel- 
ings of  my  dear  children  and  wish  not  to  cramp  them  ;  but  the  way 
to  be  generous,  is  to  be  prudent,  so  as  to  put  it  in  our  power  to  help  our 
fellow-creatures.  You  will  say,  mother  gives  me  line  upon  line,  pre- 
cept upon  precept;  she  will  learn  me  economy  if  she  can.  1  felt 
some  disappointed  not  to  see  you  in  Keene,  and  not  to  know  where 
you  spent  your  vacation,  nor  to  know  what  your  standing  in  college 
is.  You  should  be  more  particular ;  such  things  are  pleasing  to  a  mother. 
You  refer  me  to  Mr.  Stone  ;  but  it  is  you  I  shall  look  to  for  that  in- 
formation, unless  1  get  it  accidentally.  The  bed  that  you  have  sent 
for  I  have  not  sent,  as  I  think  it  would  be  cheaper  to  hire  one  than 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  115 

to  send  it  for  the  time  you  would  need  it;  but  if  you  can't  hire 
one,  you  must  agree  with  the  stageman  to  fetch  it  for  some  certain 
price  from  here  there,  for  I  have  no  one  to  do  it  ;  and  they  lake  the 
advantage  if  there  is  no  agreement.  Mr.  Stone  told  me  be  hired  his, 
so  if  you  should  send,  I  wish  you  to  send  an  open  Line  by  the  stage- 
man  to  hand  me,  so  that  I  may  send  it  this  week.  I  expect  to  leave 
Keene  next  week.  Mr.  Stone  had  engaged  a  school  in  Westmore- 
land for  four  months,  at  fifteen  dollars  per  month.  He  has  disen- 
gaged [sic]  to  take  this  at  sixteen  dollars  on  condition  he  procures 
another  to  take  that  I  mentioned  you.  He  said  you  might  take  it. 
You  had  better  speak  to  him  about  it.  It  is  the  best  school  in  West- 
moreland. I  should  like  to  have  jtou  take  this  school ;  and  it  would 
be  more  convenient  for  me  to  see  to  your  clothes;  and  you  could 
study  there  as  well  as  at  Hanover  ;  and  sixty  dollars  would  do  a  good 
deal  toward  clothing.  Perhaps  you  have  engaged  one ;  if  so,  I  am 
glad.  I  have  not  got  your  shirts  made  yet,  but  hope  to  have  them 
by  the  time.  I  hope  to  put  my  trust  in  God,  for  he  has  taken  care 
of  us  yet;  and  what  shall  we  render  to  that  good  God  for  all  the 
blessings  that  he  has  been  pleased  to  bestow  upon  us.  We  ought  to 
go  to  our  knees  to  l'ender  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  that  good 
being  for  his  goodness  to  me  and  my  dear  children.  Dear  Salmon, 
let  not  your  studies,  friends,  and  acquaintances  keep  you  from  the 
love  of  God.  Remember  that  every  good  and  perfect  gift  comes 
from  God,  our  only  Savior  and  Redeemer.  Salmon,  go  to  him,  and 
praise  his  name  for  his  goodness  to  you  and  mine.  I  have  a  great 
many  things  to  say,  but  I  have  not  time  now. 

"From  your  affectionate  mother, 

"JANNETTE   CHASE." 

At  every  advance,  one  falls  more  and  more  in  love  with  the  an- 
tecedents of  our  hero's  public  life.     Says  Trench  : 

'•We  have  learned  lately  to  speak  of  men's  antecedents;  the 
phrase  is  newly  come  up ;  and  it  is  common  to  say,  '  If  we  would 
know  what  a  man  really  now  is,  we  must  know  his  antecedents,' 
that  is,  what  he  has  been  in  times  past." 

In  a  certain  sense,  indeed,  we  may  find  the  antecedents  of  a  man 
in  his  domestic  antecessors,  or  in  other  words,  his  ancestors.  In  a 
certain  sense,  the  antecedents  of  our  hero  partly  lived  and  breathed 
in  the  devoted  woman,  from  whose  pure  womb  he  issued,  and  from 
whose  dear  breasts  he  drew  the  precious  aliment  of  youngest  infancy. 
The  more  I  learn  of  Jannette  Chase,  our  hero's  mother,  all  the 
more  do  I  feel  certain  that  the  life  we  study  was,  indeed,  in  spite 
of  its  defects  and  imperfections,  that  of  a  true  worthy. 

Chase  continues  to  narrate  as  follows  : 

"  The  summer  of  1825  was  marked  for  me  by  another  incident, 
not  unimportant  in  a  boy's  life.     Some  difficulty  occurred  in  which 
9 


1 16  THE    PRIVATE  EIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

a  friend  of  mine,  G-eorge  Punchard,  a  warm-hearted,  generous  fellow 
— the  best  speaker,  though  by  no  means  the  best  scholar  in  our  class 
— became  involved.  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  affair,  and  so  do 
not,  now,  even  remember  what  it  was.  But  I  took  Punchard's  part, 
warmly;  both  because  he  was  my  friend,  and  because  I  thought  him 
unjustly  censured.  The  faculty  took  the  matter  up,  and  soon  we 
heard  that  Punchard  was  suspended.  I  at  once  waited  on  the  presi- 
dent to  remonstrate.  He  received  me  kindly.  I  told  him  how  firmly 
I  was  convinced  that  Punchard  was  innocent  of  the  charge  against 
him.  He  intimated  that  the  faculty  was  the  proper  judges  of  that 
question,  and  had  decided  it.    I  said: 

"  '  Then  I  desire  to  leave  the  college  ;  for  I  do  n't  wish  to  remain 
where  a  student  is  liable  to  such  injustice.' 

"'Had  I  consulted  my  mother?' 

"'No;  but  I  wanted  leave  of  absence  that  I  might  do  so.' 

"  'You  can't  have  it,'  said  the  president. 

"'Then,  sir,'  said  I,  very  respectfully,  'I  must  go  without  it.' 

"He  saw  my  determination,  and,  I  think,  really  respected  the 
motives  which  prompted  it.  At  any  rate,  he  consented  to  the  leave, 
at  last.  And  Punchard  and  I  left  the  Plain,  as  the  site  of  the  insti- 
tution was  called,  together.  It  was  with  great  satisfaction  and  a 
sort  of  self-approval,  that  I  took  my  seat  beside  him,  in  the  one- 
horse  chaise,  and  bid  good-bye  to  those  of  our  classmates  who  wit- 
nessed our  departure. 

"  We  went  to  Keene,  where  Punchard  left  me,  and  went  on  to 
Salem,  where  his  parents  resided.  My  mother  welcomed  me.  She 
did  not  approve  but  did  not  censure  harshly.  I  could  not  help  feel- 
ing that  I  had  done  right  in  standing  by  my  friend  :  but  I  was  sorry 
that  I  had  been  obliged  to  leave  college.  Fortunately,  Punchard's 
suspension  was  soon  ended — perhaps  shortened  b}~  the  faculty — and 
we  both  returned,  considering  ourselves  as  a  sort  of  small  heroes. 

"  Nothing  else  of  much  interest  occurred.  Commencement  came, 
and  five  Juniors  became  Seniors.  These  were  considered  as  invi- 
table  to  parties  and  competent  to  visit.  I  formed  some  agreeable 
acquaintances  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  Capt.  Partridge's  military 
school  was  then  established  in  Norwich,  and  I  occasionally  went  over 
to  see  cadets  of  my  acquaintance — holding  in  highest  esteem,  among 
them,  Valentine  B.  Horton,  who  now  enjoys  merited  honor  as  one 
of  the  foremost  citizens  of  Ohio." 

The  course  of  study  at  Dartmouth,  down  to  1823,  is  shown  in 
Farmer  &  Moore's  Historical  Collections.1  I  suppose  it  was  the  same 
during  the  time  of  Chase.  Did  enlightened  views  of  method  shape 
that  course  of  study?  In  a  certain  sense,  one  might  almost  say 
that  vicious  method  has  more  virtue  than  a  total  want  of  method. 
Self-taught  men  waste  years  and  years  in  finding  out  the  method 
best  adapted  to  their  own  peculiar  needs  and  tastes. 

lVol.I,  33. 


OF  SALMON'  PORTLAND  CHASE.  117 

That  Bishop  Chase  was  a  good  teacher,  I  can  not  believe.  No 
man  of  his  imperious  temper  ever  went  to  the  depths  of  any  sub- 
ject, ever  had  the  patience  necessary  to  conduct  the  studies  of  the 
young.  Unconsciously  and,  in  some  measure,  unintentionally, 
Bishop  Chase,  in  taking  Salmon  West  with  him,  and  iu  so  soon 
giving  him  back  to  the  peculiar  physical  conditions  and  the  man- 
ners of  Xew  England,  finely  prepared  his  nephew  for  collegiate  life. 
But  I  have  found  no  traces  of  great  indebtedness  on  the  part  of 
Salmon  Portland  Chase  to  his  tyrannical  though  pious  uncle,  as  to 
the  direction  in  which  any  but  religious  preparation  for  the  great 
battle  of  relations  in  society  should  advance.  Indeed,  the  type  of 
piety  itself  in  Bishop  Chase  was  far  from  amiable.  Possibly,  the 
observation  of  it,  the  example  of  it,  did  more  real  harm  than  benefit 
to  his  oppressed,  at  one  time  almost  broken-spirited,  young  nephew. 

But  that  sojourn  in  Ohio,  and  that  going  back  to  Xew  Hamp- 
shire, I  conceive,  were  full  of  benefit  to  Chase's  future.  But  for 
that  return,  our  hero,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  would  not  have 
been  at  Dartmouth  as  a  student.  But  for  that,  there  is  reason  to 
believe,  his  life  at  Washington,  as  teacher  and  as  student,  would  not 
have  constituted  part  of  his  fine  prepartion  for  a  permanent  abode 
in  and  near  the  Cincinnati  valley. 

Was  our  hero  a  good  student  while  at  Dartmouth  ?  I  have  in- 
timated my  opinion  that  he  never  was  a  student  of  the  most  devoted, 
steady,  and  methodic  order.  Here  is  Professor  Cleveland's  valuable 
testimony  : 

"  I  became  acquainted  with  Mr.  Chase  soon  after  he  entered  col- 
lege; and  though  he  was  one  year  in  advance  of  me.  I  soon  formed 
an  intimacy  with  him,  closer,  probably,  than  any  other,  not  except- 
ing even  the  members  of  his  class." 

Is  it  not  strange  that  in  writing  to  Mr.  Trowbridge,  even  so  hur- 
riedly, Mr.  Cleveland  should  have  been  forgotten  ?  I  am  able  to 
state  that  Chief  Justice  Chase  had  a  very  high  regard  for  that  dis- 
tinguished, able  gentleman. 

The  professor  thus  proceeds  in  his  account  of  Chase  at  Dartmouth 
College : 

"His  independence,  his  manly  bearing,  and  his  high  moral  prin- 
ciples no  one  could  help  admiring;  and  though  he  was  not  ambitious 
of  college  rank,  and  did  not  study  to  attain  it.  yet  his  early  admission  into 
the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  and  the  distinguished  part  he  took  in  the 
commencement  exercises,  gave  ample  evidence  of  his  high  scholastic  at- 
tainments." 


118  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 


CHAPTER    IX. 

CHASE     AT     WASHINGTON — THE     WIRT     FAMILY — EXCURSIONS — MAKING 

VERSES. 

"    A    FTER  commencement,"  continued  Secretary  Chase,  "  I  visited 

l\  my  sister,  Mrs.  Colby,  at  Hopkinton,  where  I  united  with  the 
-*--*-  Episcopal  Church,  under  the  charge  of  the  Rev.  M.  B.  Chase. 
It  was  my  purpose  to  go  South  and  teach,  for  a  time,  and  then  pur- 
sue whatever  profession  might  appear  to  me  best.  I  had  not  relin- 
quished the  idea  of  being  a  minister;  but  greatly  doubted  whether 
I  had  any  right  to  assume  the  duties  of  so  sacred  an  office. 

"  Mr.  Chase  gave  me  a  number  of  letters  to  gentlemen  in  Mary- 
land and  Virginia,  with  one  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wilmer,  of  Swedesboro, 
New  Jersey,  and  one  to  a  clergyman  of  Philadelphia,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Allen,  I  think. 

"  My  visit  to  Hopkinton  over,  I  went  to  Reading,  where  my 
mother  was  staying  with  my  sister,  Mrs.  Skinner.  They  both  wel- 
comed me,  and  the  little  time  I  remained  in  New  England  was 
passed  with  them. 

"  At  last  the  time  for  departure  came.  My  dear  mother  gave  me 
the  little  money  she  could  provide  rather  than  spare.  It  was  yet 
dark  when  I  rose  and  took  the  early  breakfast  provided  for  me,  and 
with  a  mother's  blessing,  and  a  sad  yet  hopeful  heart,  left  home  for 
the  world." 

That  sad  yet  hopeful  heart  was  justly  hopeful,  naturally  sad. 
That  mother's  blessing  was  bestowed  upon  a  worthy  son.  But  life, 
we  cau  not  too  often  remind  ourselves,  is  but  a  battle.  Whether  it 
shall  ever  be  less  warlike  it  is  not  desirable  to  ask  ourselves  at 
present. 

Of  the  tenets  the  religious  faith  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase  pre- 
ferred, in  becoming  a  member  of  the  Church  of  England  in  Amer- 
ica, this  volume  does  not  undertake  to  say  a  word.  In  another 
place,  some  sentences  are  given1  to  the  object  of  enabling  readers  to 
discern  the  type  of  our  hero's  faith,  especially  with  reference  to  the 
life  beyond  the  grave.     But  I  do  not  obtrude  my  own  religious 


1  Post,  Conclusion. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  119 

views.  The  question  is  not  what  the  author  of  this  volume  is,  hut 
what  its  hero  was. 

At  present,  it  seems  quite  sufficient  to  declare,  that  my  own 
judgment  of  the  life  we  study  is  that,  up  to  this  time,  it  deserves 
to  be  credited  with  principles  of  true  religion  in  a  sense  of  deep  de- 
votion to  the  Godward. 

Deep  devotion  to  the  Godward  comprehends,  at  least  in  an  en- 
lightened Christian  spirit,  deep  devotion  to  the  Manward,  pure  and 
ardent  love  of  country,  and,  indeed,  the  best  relationship  to  all  good 
interests. 

Our  hero's  narrative  goes  on  as  follows: 

"A  short  ride  of  ten  or  twelve  miles  brought  me  to  Windsor,  still 
before  day;  then  the  stage  came  along,  and  one  young  passenger  got 
in,  and  on  went  the  horses  again.  Again  I  was  climbing  the  Green 
Mountains;  again  passed  through  Albany,  turning  now,  howevrr. 
my  face  southward  instead  of  westward.  Down  the  Hudson  in  a 
steamer  to  New  York,  and  then  by  stage  and  steamer  to  Phila- 
delphia. I  wish  I  could  recall  the  incidents  on  the  journey,  but  they 
are  faded  from  memory.  Perhaps,  the  lines  will  reappear  as  here- 
after I  look  back,  more  and  more,  as  is  the  wont  of  those  growing 
old,  through  the  misty  past  upon  events  long  gone  lry. 

•At  Philadelphia,  and  at  the  house  of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Allen,  I  found 
my  uncle,  the  bishop,  who  had  returned  from  a  successful  visit  to 
New1  England,  and  was  now  busily  engaged  in  building  up  Kenyon 
College.2  I  was  advised  to  go  to  Swedesboro  and  see  Mr.  Wilmer; 
ami  to  Swedesboro  I  went.  Mr.  Wilmer  was  very  kind,  and  would 
have  been  very  glad  to  have  sueh  a  sehool  as  I  contemplated  opened 
in  his  parish,  and  made  some  inquhy  to  ascertain  if  scholars  could  be 
had.  The  result  was  unfavorable  and  I  returned  to  Philadelphia  and 
almost  immediately  set  off  for  Baltimore.  I  had  no  letters  to  Balti- 
more, but  bad  one  to  Dr.  Tyler, 3     at  Frederick  City 

"1  found  Dr.  Tyler  very  kind  and  very  willing  to  promote  my 
wishes,  but.  alas!  there  was  found  no  opening  for  my  school  in 
Frederick.     So  I  went  on  to  Washington  by  the  direct  stage  road. 

"How  well  I  remember  the  earnest  prayer  which  wenl  up  from 
mj-  heart  that  God  would  give  me  work  to  do  and  success  in 
doing  it." 

If  the  answer  to  that  prayer  did  not  at  once  reveal  itself,  assur- 
edly the  glory  that  the  life  which  breathed  that  prayer  was  to  win 
and  wear  at  Washington  was  very  great. 

The  narrative  of  Chase  goes  on  as  follows: 

"  There  was  my  best  hope,  and  there  I  had  letters  to  the  Rev.  Dr. 


1  So  in  the  original.  2  In  Ohio  at  Gamhier. 

3 1  can  not  "make  out"  the  writing  at  this  point. 


120  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

Hawley  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Allen.  Both  were  interested  in  me,  but 
neither  could  help  me  much.  I  resolved,  however,  to  open  a  select 
school  for  boys,  and  so,  one  morning  in  January,  1827,  a  new  ad- 
vertisement appeared  in  the  National  Intelligencer,  announcing  that  a 

Select  Classical  School  would  be  opened  in  the  city,  on  the day 

of ,  by  Salmon   P.  Chase.     At  this  time,  I  boarded  with   Mrs. 

Markland  on  the  Avenue,  whose  husband,  I  think,  was  a  clerk  under 
the  government.  M}T  room-mate  was  a  young  doctor — if  I  remember 
right,  a  Dane.  It  troubled  me  to  determine  whether  I  should  con- 
tinue n\y  'private  prayer'  openly  or  in  secret.  Duty  seemed  to 
require  the  open  manifestation  of  my  religious  faith,  and,  after  some 
hesitation,  I  kneeled  by  a  chair,  the  first  night  we  passed  together, 
and  offered  my  private  worship  to  our  Father  who  art  in  Heaven. 
My  room-mate  did  not  exactly  sympathize  with  my  sentiments;  but 
I  think  he  respected  me  the  more  for  making  them  thus  quietly  but 
decidedly  known." 

No  doubt  of  that.  No  man  that  saw  such  a  man  as  Chase  in 
prayer  could  fail  to  respect  the  worshiper,  whatever  he  might  feel 
toward  the  worship. 

"At  this  time,"  continues  Mr.  Chase,  "Mr.  Adams'  administration 
had  just  entered  on  its  second  year;  and  my  uncle  Dudley  was  Sena- 
tor from  Vermont,  and  a  supporter  of  Mr.  Adams.  He  had  been  an 
ardent  democrat  in  the  days  of  Madison,  and  liked  Mr.  Adams  better 
than  many  of  the  federalists  did.  These  last  never  quite  forgave  his 
support  of  some  prominent  measures  of  Jefferson." 

Many  pages  in  which  I  tried  to  show  the  true  relation  of  the 
Adamses,  respectively,  to  Hamilton,  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  Jeffer- 
son, on  the  other,  I  have  felt  obliged  to  cancel,  in  order  to  make 
room  for  other  matter.  In  another  place,  however,1  I  have  tried  to 
show  how  Salmon  Portland  Chase  himself  must  have  regarded 
Hamilton,  and  Jefferson,  and  the  two  Adamses.  Such  a  showing 
seems  a  proper  part  of  the  endeavor  of  this  book  to  bring  out  all  the 
most  important  sentiments  and  views  of  its  hero. 

"I  was  not,"  continues  Chase,  "of  a  very  inquisitive  disposition, 
and,  though  glad  to  know  and  to  be  noticed  by  distinguished  men, 
never  went  out  of  my  way  to  know  or  to  be  known.  Would  it 
have  been  better  had  I  been  of  a  more  inquisitive,  more  pushing 
temperament?  Certainly,  I  should  have  more  to  tell;  but  should  I, 
myself,  have  done  more  work?  I  am  not  sure.  Certainly,  now, 
looking  back  to  those  days  ;  seeing  what  opportunities  I  had  to  know 
so  much  of  the  foremost  men  of  the  land,  and  what  little  use  I  made 
of  them,  I  experience  a  very  lively  regret.  But  I  am  before  my 
story. 

1  For  want  of  space  omitted. 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  121 

"I  remained  at  Mrs.  Markland's,  hoping  for  the  advent  of  pupils 
for  the  Select  Classical  School ;  but,  for  many  days,  none  came.  My 
slender  means  were  well-nigh  exhausted;  and  1  began  to  be  very 
much,  concerned  about  myprospects.     At  length,  a  Frenchman,  Mr. 

Sauveur  F.  Bounds — I  think,  his  middle  initial  was  F — called  on  me. 
and  made  inquiries  in  reference  to  placing  his  young  son.  Columbus 
Bounds,  under  my  charge.  He  was  so  far  satisfied  that  he  engaged 
to  send  him  to  me.  Here  was  one  pupil — a  gleam  of  hope.  How 
gratified  1  was  !  Xow.  other  pupils  would  pour  in  !  My  school  would 
be  full,  and —  ;  but,  alas!  day  after  day  went  by,  and  Columbus  lion- 
tils  remained  the  only  name  on  my  list.  This  would  never  do.  1 
heard  of  clerkships,  and  thought  how  nice  it  would  be  to  have  one. 
and,  while  performing  its  duties,  to  pursue  the  study  of  a  profession. 
And  why  should  I  not  have  one?  My  uncle  was  a  Senator,  and  a 
supporter  of  the  administration.  Could  he  not  obtain  one  for  me? 
Certainly  he  could.  I  resolved  to  seek  him.  I  went  to  his  lodgings, 
told  him  my  story  ;  how  desperate  the  expectation  of  scholars  seemed  ; 
my  project  of  a  clerkship,  and — would  he  help  me?  His  reply  is  not 
likely  to  be  forgotten. 

••Salmon,'  said  he,  '1  once  obtained  an  office  for  a  nephew  of 
mine,  and  he  was  ruined  b}T  it.  I  then  determined  never  to  ask  one 
for  another.  I  will  give  you  fifty  cents  to  buy  a  spade  with,  but  I 
will  not  help  to  get  you  a  clerkship.' 

"Such  was  the  substance,  if  not  the  language,  of  his  reply.  I  left 
him,  greatly  dissatisfied.  Did  it  follow  because  an  office  did  no  good 
to  my  cousin,  I  could  derive  no  good  from  one?  But  now  I  am  sat- 
isfied with  his  answer.  Had  I  become  a  clerk,  it  is  almost  certain  I 
would  have  remained  a  clerk,  or  should  have  been,  at  least,  discpuali- 
fied  by  clerk  habits  for  the  work  I  have  actually  done." 

Is  that  a  just  self-judgment?  I  think  not.  There  be  men  who, 
being  clerks,  must  never  hope  to  be  more  than  clerical.  Of  some 
men,  one  may  say  once  a  clerk  always  a  clerk.  But  not  of  such  a 
man  as  he  for  whom  the  Honorable  Dudley  Chase  was  unwilling  to 
ask  a  clerkship. 

On  the  whole,  it  seems  to  me  our  hero  was  not  very  rich  in 
uncles,  or  perhaps  I  ought  to  say,  in  uncleing.  In  other  words,  the 
article  of  uncle  distributed  to  him  by  Providence  does  not  appear  to 
me  to  have  been  very  precious,  if  we  go  beyond  the  fact  that  all 
his  uncles  gave  him,  at  least  in  some  respects,  the  benefit  of  good 
example  and  the  reflected  lustre  of  conspicuousness. 

The  Honorable  Dudley  Chase  appears  to  have  been  a  rather  mod- 
est man — a  real  worthy.  The  Vermont  Reports  do  not,  however, 
indicate,  that  he  cared  much  for  legal  science,  or  for  the  state  and 
prospects  of  the  law,  where  he  so  long  resided,  and  where  he  resided 
down  to  his  death-day.  Those  reports  do  not  enable  us  to  judge 
the  Honorable  Dudley  Chase's  judgments  on   the   bench.     Had   he 


122  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

cared  sufficiently  for  jurisprudence  and  for  the  improvement  of  the 
legal  system  in  Vermont,  would  he  not  have  made  reports  himself 
of  the  decisions  made  by  him  and  his  associates?  Perhaps  to  answer 
yes,  would  be  to  judge  but  rashly.  I  repeat,  this  uncle  of  our  hero 
seems  to  have  been  a  real  worthy,  modest,  and  retiring.  Many 
years  before  his  death  he  passed  in  complete  retirement  at  Randolph, 
giving  most  of  his  attention  to  his  trees,  and  fruits,  and  flowers. 

After  all,  he  only  meant,  perhaps,  to  make  full  trial  of  his  nephews' 
mettle  and  endurance. 

Thus  the  nephew  goes  on  with  his  narrative  to  Mr.  Trowbridge, 
introducing  a  quite  interesting  character  with  whom  I  wish  to  make 
the  reader  well  acquainted. 

"Not  long  after  this,  I  received  a  call  from  a  stranger,  who  an- 
nounced himself  as  Mr.  Plumley.  He  told  me  that  he  had  a  boys' 
school  and  also  a  girls'  school,  which  he  had  established  later,  and 
which  demanded  most  of  his  time.  He  could  not  give  the  attention 
to  the  boys  they  required,  and  consequently  the  attendance  was 
falling  off.  He  had  heard  of  me,  and  thought  I  could  take  the 
scholars  he  had  left  and  make  a  good  school ;  and  if  I  desired  to  do 
so  I  could.  I  accepted  his  proposition  with  delighted  gratitude, 
and,  a  few  days  after,  entered  on  my  duties  as  teacher." 

I  have  had  much  talk  with  Mr.  Plumley.  He  is  now  in  Wash- 
ington, a  friendly,  chatty,  good  old  gentleman.  His  memory  is  just 
in  the  condition  to  be  serviceable  as  to  the  time  referred  to  in  the 
narrative  just  quoted.  He  does  not  remember  the  occurrence  related 
as  we  have  just  seen  as  it  was  remembered  by  Secretary  Chase,  while 
writing  to  Mr.  Trowbidge. 

Mr.  Plumley,  on  the  second  of  May,  1873,  took  me  to  the  very 
spot  where,  according  to  his  recollection  (which  I  have  no  doubt,  is 
accurate),  he  first  met  Salmon  Portland  Chase.  At  that  spot,  where 
Mr.  Plumley  was  at  work  "  gravelling/'  Mr.  Chase,  it  seems, 
approached  him,  and  gave  Mr.  Plumley  a  letter  of  introduction  from 
Rev.  Mr.  Hawley,  acquainting  Mr.  Plumley  with  his  wish,  or  rather 
purpose,  as  it  proved,  to  get  up  a  school.  He  was  received  with 
kindness;  but,  in  the  course  of  the  brief  conversation  that  ensued, 
was  told  in  a  friendly  manner,  that,  in  Mr.  Plumley's  opinion,  it 
would  be  impossible  to  get  up  a  school  such  as  he  contemplated. 

"Sir,''  said  our  hero,  courteously,  yet  almost  curtly,  "I  thank  you 
for  your  interest  in  in}-  welfare,  but  I  am  determined  to  have  a 
school.     G-ood  mornina: !" 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  123 

With  these  words,  young  Chase  began  to  move  off;  but  Mr, 
Plumley  called  him  back,  and  introduced  him  to  Mrs.  Plumley. 

"She,"  said  Mr.  Plumley  (who  is  very  faithful,  indeed,  to  her 
memory),  "she,  sir,  discerned  the  man  at  once." 

And  the  talk  that  followed  led  to  the  arrangement  already  shown. 

I  told  the  Chief  Justice  how  the  anecdote  was  related  by  Mr. 
Plumley  (who  was  then  79  years  of  age).  The  Chief  Justice  still 
did  not  remember  the  facts  as  Mr.  Plumley  remembered  them  ;  but 
he  agreed  with  me,  that  the  recollection  of  the  older  gentleman  was 
pro!:?Mv  correct. 

In  the  last-quoted  letter  Secretary  Chase  said  to  Mr.  Trowbridge : 

"  It  was  a  great  pleasure  to  me  when,  thirty-four  years  afterward, 
I  had  become  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  it  was  in  my  power  to  offer, 
unsolicited,  to  this  worthy  man,  who.  with  his  excellent  wife,  was 
then  living  in  New  York,  in  straightened  circumstances,  a  respect- 
able position,  in  that  cit}-,  which  he  now  fills  creditably." 

In  the  same  interesting  document,  we  have  the  statement : 

"There  were  ten  or  twelve  boys  left  in  Mr.  Plumley's  school,  who, 
with  my  one  engaged  pupil,  Columbus  Bonfils,  formed  my  first- 
charge. 

"I  continued  in  charge  of  this  school  nearly  three  years,  com- 
mencing in  February,  1827,  and  closing  in  the  fall  or  winter  of  1829. 
Among  my  boys  were  a  number  of  the  sons  of  leading  men — of  Mr. 
Cla}*,  Mr.  Wirt,  Mr.  Southard,  Gen.  Bernard.  There  was  one  lad 
whom  I  regarded  as  the  most  promising  of  the  school,  but.  unfor- 
tunately, he  became,  after  he  left  school,  a  clerk,  and  I  found  him  a 
clerk,  in  the  Treasury  Department,  when  I  took  charge  of  it."1 

Chase  goes  forward  in  this  fashion  : 

"I  became  slightly  acquainted  with  quite  a  number  of  prominent 
characters.  Too  diffident  to  push  myself  into  notice — possibly, 
perhaps,  too  proud  to  ask  for  recognition,  and  preferring  to  wait  for 
it — too    indifferent    also — a  more  serious  fault — to  what  transpired 


1  There  it  is  again!     Not  just 

"Still  harping  on  ray  daughter," 
but  still  harping  on  that  notion  about  clerkships.     One  can  almost  fancy  that  old 
clerk  making  a  slight  change  in  the  sad-fated  Barnwell's  warning,  so  that  it  shall 
have  the  tenor : 

Be  warned,  ye  youths!  who  see  my  sad  despair; 
Avoid  all  clerkships,  false  as  tbey  are  fair ! 
And,  after  all,  the  harping  and  the  warning  may  not  be  far  "out  of  it." 


124  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

around  me  to  take  much  pains  to  acquaint  myself  with  the  histories 
and  men  of  the  hour — too  much  inclined  to  spend  what  little  time  I 
could  command  in  the  society  of  one  or  another  small  circle  of  young 
lady  friends — I  made  much  too  little  of  the  advantages  which  a  resi- 
dence in  Washington  at  that  period  afforded.  I  was  poor  but  sensi- 
tive—a young  teacher,  needing  to  be  taught  and  guided  myself." 

And  was  he  not  very  soon  to  be  well  taught,  to  be  well  guided? 
Was  he  not  to  have  William  Wirt  for  his  preceptor  in  the  law,  and 
for  his  elder  friend  in  every  respect,  his  model  in  all  grand  and  beau- 
tiful particulars? 

The  life  of  Wirt  by  Kennedy  is  quite  unworthy,  equally  of  hero 
and  of  author.  How  it  may  have  happened  to  be  so,  I  have  hinted 
in  other  connections.1  But  the  fact  that  is  entirely  certain  is,  that 
though,  like  all  the  works  of  Mr.  Kennedy,  that  writer's  life  of  Wirt 
is  admirable  as  to  style  and  diction,  it  almost  fails  to  tell  the  interest- 
ing story  and  portray  the  yet  more  interesting  character  of  Wirt  as 
might  have  been  expected. 

William  Wirt  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  men  that  ever 
lived.  His  real  story  was  romantic,  full  of  incident,  rich  in  the 
choicest  matter  of  biography. 

I  talked  the  other  evening  with  Mrs.  Admiral  Goldsborough,  the 
sole  surviving  daughter  of  that  genial,  tasteful  family.  She  had 
been,  to  the  last,  one  of  the  dearest  friends  of  him  whose  life  is  here 
related.  She  will  pardon  me  for  telling  my  dear  reader  (in  the 
strictest  confidence  of  course,)  that  she  thus  accounted  for  the  com- 
parative infrequency  of  her  meetings  with  the  Chief  Justice: 

"We  women,  you  know,"  explained  the  genial  old  lady,  "can  not 
seek  you  men,  no  matter  how  much  we  may  wish  to  see  you.  The 
Chief  Justice  was,  indeed,  the  best  friend  I  ever  had,  in  the  strict 
sense  of  that  term,  in  which  we  distinguish  a  friend  from  a  relative  ; 
but  he  was  busy,  and  when  not  busy,  occupied  with  visits;  I  could 
not  seek  him.  and  he  could  seldom  visit  me ;  and  so  we  met  less  often 
than  would  have  been  pleasant  to  us  both.  But  we  never  met  with- 
out renewing  the  old  friendship,  which  sprang  up  between  us  when 
he  taught  my  brothei*s  in  school,  and  was  taught  by  my  dear  father 
out  of  school." 

This  is,  I  am  quite  sure,  though  not  the  very  language  used  by 
Mrs.  Goldsborough,  language  very  like  that  used  by  her,  on  the 
occasion  just  referred  to. 

Chase  relates  as  follows  : 


1  Post. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE. 


125 


"I  became  a  member  of  St.  John's  Church  under  the  care  of 
Dr.  Hawley,  and  for  a  long  while  was  ;i  teacher  in  the  Sunday 
School.  The  superintendency  was  offered  me,  but  1  shrank  from 
accepting  it.  Another  church  was  formed  under  the  care  of  the  Rev. 
H.  V.  D.  Johns,  with  whom  I  formed  an  acquaintance  that  became 
a  friendship  ending  only  with  his  death. 

;i  To  this  church  I  frequently  went  with  the  daughters  of  Mr. 
Wirt,  of  whom  two,  Elizabeth  and  Catherine,  were  then  just  coming 
into  womanhood,  rich  in  the  accomplishments  of  thorough  educa- 
tion, completed  b}'  the  influence  and  example  of  an  admirable  father 
and  admirable  mother.  I  wish  that  my  memory  was  perfect  enough 
to  enable  me  to  describe  this  most  delightful  family;  but  were  I 
to  attempt  it  I  should  fail.  Mr.  Wirt  was  one  of  the  handsomest 
men  and  one  of  the  completest  gentlemen  of  his  time  ;  and 
among  women  Mrs.  Wirt  had  few  equals.  How  gracefully  and  with 
what  sweet  manners  she  presided  in  that  happy  household  I  can 
never  forget.  I  recall  her  presence  now,  but  how  indistinctly,  as 
she  stood  with  me  one  evening  under  the  clusters  of  the  multifl'ora 
which  clambered  all  over  the  garden  portico  of  the  house,  and 
pointed  out  to  me  the  stars.  There  is  a  faint  memory  of  a  sweet 
voice,  a  sweet  but  noble  countenance,  a  little  pale;  dark  hair;  clear, 
gentle,  thoughtful,  earnest  eyes,  not  without  some  sparkle  of  play- 
fulness.    That  is  all. 

"  How  many  happy  hours  have  I  spent  in  that  house.  It  is  now 
devoted  to  some  of  the  uses  of  this  war,  and  the  family  is  all  scat- 
tered. Two  of  the  three  boys  are  yet  living— the  other  dead — and 
all  the  girls  except  one  noble  and  patriotic  woman,  gone  with  their 
father  and  mother  to  make,  I  hope,  a  family  in  Heaven." 

Let  me  supplement  this  letter  with  one  written  to  me  by  Mrs. 
Admiral  Goldsborough,  in  1873,  in  aid  of  a  piece  entitled,  "  Agnes 
Wirt ;  a  Story,"  which,  issuing  out  of  preparation  for  the  present 
work,  appeared  in  the  Capital,  at  Washington,  edited  by  Donn 
Piatt. 

Mrs.  Goldsborough  had  learned  from  me  that,  when  I  began 
that  piece,  I  was  unaware  that  any  survivor  of  the  Wirt  family 
resided  here  ;  but  that  I  had  learned  from  my  friend,  Mrs.  Thur- 
man,  that  she,  Mrs.  Goldsborough,  had  her  home  in  Washington. 
The  letter  answered  as  we  are  about  to  see,  also  contained  the 
words : 

"On  Saturday,  I  heard  that,  at  the  time  of  her  death,  Agnes  was 
engaged  to  Mr.  Chase." 

The  answer  of  Mrs.  Goldsborough  itself  indicates  sufficiently  the 
other  contents  of  my  letter.  That  answer,  which,  as  already  inti- 
mated, I  have  been  permitted  to  devote  to  the  present  service,  is  in 
these  words  : 


126  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"  Mrs.  Admiral  Goldsborough  has  received  Mr.  Warden's  note. 
She  feels  that  she  ought  to  enlighten  Mr.  Warden  with  regard  to 
the  impression  he  has  received  that  Mr.  Chase  was  ever  engaged  to 
her  sister,  Agnes  Wirt.  There  was  never  even  an  affaire  du  cceur 
between  them.  Mr.  Chase  was  a  student  of  law  with  my  father, 
William  Wirt,  and  was  highly  appreciated  by  him  and  every  mem- 
ber of  his  family.  We  all  thought  him  full  of  talent  and  destined 
to  become  a  distinguished  man.  He  was  to  us  a  family  friend,  to 
whom  we  were  all  warmly  attached — on  account  of  his  personal 
merits — and  he  reciprocated  this  friendship.  Mr.  Warden  asks  me 
to  give  him  a  description  of  my  'amiable,  admirable  mother's  per- 
son, which  is  not  described  in  Mr.  Kennedy's  book,  and  a  like 
description  of  my  sister  Agnes — with  an  indication  of  her  course  of 
school  education,  etc'  There  is  no  more  delicate  task  to  be  per- 
formed than  for  one  member  of  a  family  to  attempt  a  description 
of  the  personal  appearance  and  traits  of  character  of  any  other 
member  of  the  family  circle.  You  see  that  Mr.  Kennedy  has  not 
attempted  it — although  he  was  personally  well  acquainted  with 
them  both — and  esteemed  them  highly.  Nordid  my  father  in  his 
beautiful  memoir  of  Agnes  Wirt  enter  into  a  minute  account  of 
her  features  and  form.  She  died  at  the  early  age  of  sixteen  years 
— while  still  engaged  in  her  studies — as  a  school  girl.  Her  features 
and  form  were  symmetrical — but  the  glory  of  her  face  was  her  eyes 
— of  large  full  hazel — beaming  with  soul  and  intelligence. 

"  ' Her  look  upon  your  sight 


Broke  with  the  lambent  purity  of  planetary  light, 
And  an  intellectual  glory,  like  a  light  within  a  vase, 
Lit  every  line  with  beauty  of  her  intellectual  face.' 

"  There  was  an  effulgence — a  spiritual  loveliness — a  beaming  forth 
of  the  soul  which  was  like  a  sort  of  heavenly  radiance  shed  around 
her.  There  was  an  enthusiasm  in  her  nature  and  a  soul  full  of  love 
to  all  around  her — which  found  expression  in  the  most  caressing 
and  endearing  ways  and  manners — and  won  all  hearts.  An  almost 
supernatural  brightness,  seemed  like  a  halo  to  surround  her  and  to 
shadow  forth  the  celestial  world  to  which  she  Avas  soon  to  be  called 
and  destined  to  be  an  inhabitant.  God  seemed  to  have  set  his  seal 
upon  her  as  his  own!  She  had  great  beauty  of  countenance  and 
expression,  and  an  intellectual  play  of  features  which  was  delight- 
ful to  behold.  Some  persons  are  best  described  by  painting — 
others  by  poetry — -because  a  painting  rarely  ever  gives  the  living 
expression  of  the  countenance.  It  is  better  suited  to  the  inanimate 
but  regularly  faultless  style  of  beauty — which  makes  the  picture. 
Poetry  seizes  upon  the  expression  and  character  of  the  face  and 
form,  and  conveys  the  spirUuelle.  I  have  not  in  my  possession  any 
thing  showing  the  course  of  study  recommended  to  Inn-  by  my 
father.  I  have  some  letters  to  myself  upon  this  subject,  which, 
perhaps,  may  some  day  see  the  light — for  the  benefit  of  others — 
who  may  wish  direction  in  the  pathway  of  learning.  Of  my  mother, 
I  will  say  that  she  commanded  the  esteem,  and  admiration,  and 
loving  devotion  of  my  dear  father's  heart  all  her  life — and   was 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  127 

worthy  of  it !  She  was  a  woman  of  dignified,  elegant  manners,  and 
great  refinement;  handsome  and  very  impressivt  in  her  presence. 
As  to  her  person,  she  had  fine  dark  eves  and  regular  features,  and 
a  great  deal  of  intellectual  beauty  in  the  shape  of  her  head  and  in 
the  play  of  countenance — and  was  a  noble  looking  woman.  While 
she  graced  society  by  her  presence,  she  never  neglected  a  domestic 
duty,  or  any  other  duty.  A  sense  of  duty,  and  a  performance  of  it 
was  one  of  her  most  striking  characteristics.  My  father  had  the 
greatest  respect  for  her  judgment,  and  always  referred  to  it.  He 
trained  us  all  to  love  and  reverence  her,  and  constantly  referred  us 
to  her,  whenever  we  went  to  consult  with  or  attempt  to  sway  him 
in  any  matter.  She  was  one  of  those  blessed  women  whom  Solomon, 
in  his  Proverbs,  commends — '  The  heart  of  her  husband  doth  safely 
trust  in  her.'  " 

We  shall  see  much  more  of  the  Wirt  family.  At  present,  I  desire 
to  turn  attention  on  a  matter  of  much  interest  to  the  whole  work — a 
matter  with  which,  indeed,  as  with  all  the  Washingtonian  life  of  our 
hero,  William  Wirt  and  his  delightful  family  will  appear  to  have 
been  much  connected,  but  which,  at  first,  may  seem  to  lose  sight  of 
them,  completely. 

"During  the  first  few  months  or  weeks  of  my  school-keeping," 
wrote  Secretary  Chase  to  Mr.  Trowbridge,  "I  continued  to  board 
with  Mrs.  Markland  ;  but  soon  took  up  my  quarters  in   the  house 

of   Mrs.  '    on    Pennsylvania  Avenue,    north    side,    and   east 

of  .2     Mrs.  was  a  good,  kind,   Christian   woman — a 

dress-maker  by  trade,  and  poor  in  this  world's  goods.  I  had  a  good 
room.3  and  was  quite  comfortably  provided  for.  What  I  paid  her 
helped  her  to  provide. 

"  I  was  obliged  to  read  a  good  deal  to  keep  ahead  of  my  scholars, 
for  my  college  opportunities  had  not  been  well  improved  as  they 
should  have  been.  I  had  relied  too  much  on  my  faculty  of  easy 
acquirement,  and  had  given  far  less  time  to  study  than  was  neces- 
sary to  thoroughness.  Besides  reading  to  teach,  I  read  also  for  gen- 
eral information  and  amusement;  and  wrote  a  good  deal.  Being 
near-sighted,  I  was  obliged  to  bend  to  my  writing-paper  or  my  book. 
I  contracted,  in  this  way.  a  stooping  habit,  and,  always  slender,  grew 
quite  thin.  One  morning,  coming  down  to  breakfast,  and  standing 
by  the  fire,  I  felt  a  sudden  faintness,  and  a  sort  of  inward  break,  as 
if  something  detached  itself  from  my  side,  and  sank  down  within 
me.  For  a  moment,  I  was  quite  faint.  I  did  not  understand  the 
meaning  of  what  I  felt,  but  was  afterward  informed  b}-  a  doctor 
that  an  adhesion  had  taken  place,   and,   fortunately  for  me,  been 


1  Mrs.  Cook,  according  to  Mr.  Plumley,  who  took  me  to  the  spot  on  the  2d  of 
May,  1873. 

2 1809  H  Street,  according  to  Mr.  Plumley,  is  the  next  house  east  of  that 
referred  to. 

3  The  house  was  quite  small,  if  Mr.  Plumley  showed  me  the  true  one. 


128  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

broken.  I  only  felt  that  thenceforth  I  must  avoid  stooping,  and 
did.  I  had  my  table  and  writing-desk  arranged  so  as  to  compel  me 
to  sit  or  stand  erect.  I  continued  this  practice  many  years,  and  the 
habit  of  stooping  was  thoroughly  eradicated.  I  had  no  return  of  the 
sensations  which  alarmed  me." 

Perhaps,  it  was  in  consequence  of  this  occurrence  that  Mr.  Chase, 
in  his  days  of  finest  person,  port  and  presence,  carried  himself  with 
an  erectness,  with  a  certain  air  of  stateliness,  which,  to  some, 
seemed  pompousness  of  bearing,  if  those  terms  may  convey  the 
meaning  I  desire  to  signify. 

Mr.  Chase  continues: 

"I  remained  with  about  three  or  four  months,  perhaps, 

and  then   changed  my  lodgings  to  Mrs.  King's,  on  the  corner  of 

Street  and  -1     Her  house  still  stands   on  the  corner, 

but  it  seems  to  me  very  small  and  poor  now,  compared  with  the  im- 
pressions I  retain  of  it. 

"About  this  time,  I  became  acquainted  with  a  Russian  gentleman, 
attached  to  the  Legation,  who  was  of  a  literary  turn.  He  translated 
several  books  into  English,  and  published  them.  Among  them 
I  remember  only  the  Journey  Round  my  Room,  and  the  Leper  of 
Aost.  He  engaged  me  to  copy  his  manuscripts — I  wrote  quite  a 
legible  hand  then,2  and  to  correct  grammatical  and  idiomatic  inac- 
curacies. I  willingly  undertook  the  work,  partly  for  the  improve- 
ment I  expected  from  it  and  partly  for  the  pay.  When  I  had  writ- 
ten several  chapters,  that  neither  warranted  the  use  of  so  much  time 
as  I  devoted  to  the  work,  and  asked  larger  reward.  The  Count — he 
was  called  so,  whether  with  or  without  right  I  know  not— would 
not  give  it  and  I  quit  copying  and  correcting  for  him.  He  found  no 
one  who  suited  him,  and  came  back  to  me  and  acceded  to  my  terms, 
which,  I  am  sure,  must  have  been  very  moderate.  The  Count  wrote 
and  I  copied  and  corrected  for  him  for  a  good  while.  How  long  I 
can't  tell.  The  Count  and  the  work  appear  in  memory  and  then  dis 
appear,  but  I  can  not  fix  the  time  during  which  they  remain." 

The    author    of  a   Journey    Round   my    Room   was    Xavier    de 
Maiestre. 
Says  Chase : 

"  My  residence  at  Mrs.  King's  was,  on  the  whole,  quite  pleas- 
ant. She  was  a  thrifty,  careful,  excellent  old  lady,  and  her  daugh- 
ters, Mrs.  Lovell,  and  Misses  Jane  and  Mary  Ann   King,  were  very 

estimable  persons.     They  were  quite  unlike  however.     Mrs.  L' 

was  handsome,  bright,  joyous,  while  the  two  Misses  King  were  sedate 


1  As  Mr.  Plumley  showed  me,  on  the  north-east  corner  of  18th  and  G. 
-Quite  fair    and    legible    indeed  —  a    handsome  style  of  writing,  as  his  diaries 
manifest. 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  129 

and  reserved — almost  severe.  The  whole  family  were  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  and  attended  worship  where  Dr.  G-urley's  church 
now  stands,  at  t he  corner  of .    The  bnilding  was  very  inferior 

to  thai  which  now  occupies  its  place.  The  minister  was  Mr. 
Baker. 

"In  the  summer  I  was  the  only  boarder.  In  the  winter,  the 
rooms  on  the  second  floor — mine  was  in  the  rear — were  occupied  by 
members  of  Congress.  John  Leeks  Ken.  of  Maryland,  showed  me 
several  little  kindnesses,  chief  among  which,  in  my  esteem,  was  that 
of  franking  a  miniature  volume  of  poeTns  to  the  young  girl-friend 
who  had  been  my  schoolmate  at   Koyalton." 

Was  not  the  heart  of  Secretary  Chase  in  the  right  location  when 
he  could  indulge  in  reminiscences  of  this  description?  More  and 
more  this  man's  characteristics  grow  upon  me  as  the  composition  of 
the  narrative  progresses.  How  it  is  with  others  I,  of  course,  can 
not  know ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  every  reader  ought  to  recognize 
the  real  beauty  of  our  hero's  inner  life,  at  the  time  when  the  words 
just  quoted  left  his  pen. 

The  narratives  goes  on  as  follows : 

"As  the  winter  of  1827-8  approached,  I  was  very  desirous  that  my 
uncle,  the  Senator,  should  come  and  board  at  this  house;  but,  for 
him,  it  was  too  far  from  the  Capitol. 

"My  board — a  yearly  boarder  with  a  small  room  and  indifferent 
accommodations — was  five  dollars  a  week.  Members  of  Congress 
had  to  pay  ten. 

"My  first  few  months  of  school-keeping  gave  me  some  money; 
and  with  the  impatience  which  the  bird  feels,  I  suppose,  to  return 
to  the  nest  from  the  first  flight,  I  availed  myself  of  it  to  re-visit 
New  England  during  my  first  vacation.  Most  of  my  time  was 
spent  with  my  mother,  at  Hopkinton;  but  I  also  made  a  Hying  visit 
to  ni}r  aunt,  who,  next  to  my  dear  mother,  had  most  claim  on  my 
love,  at  Royalton.  Returning,  I  took  charge,  at  the  request  of 
Dr.  Sewall,  of  Washington,  whose  son  was  one  of  my  scholars,  of 
his  niece,  Miss  Emeline  C.  Webster,  then  a  young  lady  of  much 
beauty  and  intelligence,  and  escorted  her  to  Washington.  I  found 
her  at  Taunton,  with  her  uncle,  Judge  or  Doctor  Colby.  The  night 
I  stayed  there  was  remarkable  for  a  brilliant  meteoric  display,  which 
I  was  vexed  to  be  told  of  the  next  morning,  because  no  one  bad 
called  me  to  witness.  We  had  a  very  pleasant  party  in  carriages 
from  Taunton  to  Providence,  where  we  took  the  boat  from  New 
York. 

"A  journey  to  Washington,  then,  took  about  three  days — one  to 
Providence  and  New  York — another  to  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore, 
and  a  third  to  Washington. 

"At  Baltimore,  we  ascended  to  the  top  of  the  Washington  monu- 
ment— then  recently  erected,  and  still  not  quite  finished,  as  to  its 
surroundings — and  saw  Baltimore  below  us. 

"There  was  nothing  special  to  mark  eighteen  months  that  fol 


130  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

lowed.     I  kept  my  school,  and,  on  the  whole,  succeeded,  though  I 
was  not,  I  fear,  a  very  accurate  teacher." 

Then  follows  that  statement  about  Latin  prosody,1  followed  by 
the  statement  that  Mr.  Wirt  once  wrote  that  he  should  remove  his 
boys;  and  the  narrative  proceeds  to  relate  as  follows  : 

"  In  the  summer  of  1828,  Mr.  Wirt  and  some  of  his  daughters, 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Campbell,  now  Dr.  Campbell,  of  Albany,  made  a 
northern  excursion,  visiting,  in  the  course  of  it,  Quebec  and  Mon- 
treal. I  longed  to  accompany  them,  but  my  poverty  consented  to 
stay  behind.  I  passed  the  summer  in  Washington,  and  in  the  fall 
had  a  slight  attack  of  bilious  fever." 

Now,  let  me  invite  attention  to  the  contents  of  a  diary,  the  earli- 
est at  my  command — perhaps,  the  earliest  in  existence.  Search  at 
Edgewood — which,  when  the  hero  of  this  work  ceased  to  live,  was 
his  country  seat — failed  to  find  an  earlier  one  that  was  undoubtedly 
once  carefully  preserved.  The  day  before  he  left  Washington  for- 
ever, as  it  proved,  he  was  with  me  at  Edgewood.  He  directed  Cassy, 
his  housekeeper,  to  assign  me  there  a  lodging  room,  to  be  used  by 
me  at  will,  while  engaged  in  my  biographic  work,  and  gave  me 
command  of  the  library.  I  expected  to  be  at  Edgewood  nearly 
every  night,  during  the  summer;  and  he  thought  that  I  might  find 
other  material  there,  especially  in  a  place  he  indicated. 

How  it  has  occurred,  since  his  death,  that  I  could  not  resort  to 
Edgewood,  is  among  the  things  of  which,  in  spite  of  the  considera- 
tion that  they  might  prove  very  interesting  to  the  public,  I  prefer 
not  to  speak  at  large  in  any  chapter  of  this  work.  But  somewhat 
more  I  must  say,  on  that  painful  subject,  ere  this  volume  closes. 

April  8,  1829,  was  marked  by  the  following  account : 

"  To-day,  the  loveliest  part  of  Mr.  Wirt's  family  left  Washington 
for  Richmond.  The}*-  had  constituted  almost  the  whole  of  my  soci- 
ety, and  their  absence  was  sensibly  felt.  For  the  cheerful  and 
agreeable  evenings  I  had  been  accustomed  to  spend  in  their  society, 
I  could  hope  for  no  equivalent  substitute.  To  regularly  recurring 
delight  I  can  only  look  that  general  gloom  shall  succeed.  For  in 
solitude  who  can  be  cheerful,  and  in  society,  the  recollection  of 
past  enjoyment,  weakens  the  pleasure  of  the  present." 

The  entry  of  April  14  begins  as  follows  : 


1  Ante. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLANL    CHASE.  131 

"  The  remainder  of  Mr.  Wirt's  family  left  Washington  to-day.  I 
rode  to  the  steamboat,  and  staved  with  them  until  ten  o'clock,  when 
.1  took  a  sorrowful  leave,  and  returned  to  the  city." 

April  15  l  has  this  memorandum: 

"  Called  at  Mr.  Wirt's,  who  had  read  to  me  a  letter  from  the  young 
ladies,  in  which  I  was  pleased  to  find  that  I  was  affectionately  re- 
membered." 

Next  we  have  this  entry  : 

"  April  16.  I  found  a  melancholy  pleasure  in  reading  passages 
which  I  used  to  admire  with  my  absent  friends.  Thus  sorrow  can 
beguile  itself  by  recalling  the  image  of  the  past  to  an  association 
with  the  present." 

Surely,  here  is  a  poetic  prose,  with  the  unaffected  language  of  a 
truly  genial,  loving  disposition. 

April  20  witnessed  this  record  of  reflection  and  emotion  : 

"To-day,  a  large  quantity  of  furniture  which  Mr.  Wirt  left  be- 
hind, was  exposed  to  public  sale.  1  attended  less  to  purchase  some 
articles  that  had  belonged  to  him  than  to  pass  once  more  through 
the  house.  I  went  into  the  rooms  where  Elizabeth  had  performed 
ihe  duties  of  the  toilet — where  she  had  spent  many  a  moment  elab- 
orating her  French  puffs  while  I  was  impatiently  awaiting  her  ap- 
pearance below.  I  passed  into  Mr.  Wirt's  study,  which  had  often  wit- 
nessed his  midnight  vigil ;  where  he  had  invoked  Fame  and  she  had 
come  at  his  call;  where  he  had  disciplined  himself  for  the  strife,  and 
made  sure  the  triumph  of  the  forum.  Could  those  walls  have 
spoken,  what  an  instructive  lesson  they  might  have  told  !  I  passed 
into  the  garden,  and  stole  a  few  flowers.     This  was  the  favorite  spot 

of  Mrs.  W .     She  delighted  to  tend  the  flowers — to  watch  their 

blooming — and  guard  them  against  all  nocent  influences.  But  her 
step  was  no  more  among  them.  She  was  far  away.  ...  I  went 
home." 

When  I  read  such  indications  of  our  hero's  inner  life,  and,  if  I 
may  so  express  myself,  his  inner  character,  I  own  myself  in  danger 
of  forgetting  how  imperious  he  often  showed  himself,  how  proud,  at 
times,  even  how  vain  at  other  times.  Just  now,  he  seems  all  spirit- 
ual loveliness — a  very  sweet,  yet  very  noble  spirit,  quite  incapable  of 
domineering ;  thoroughly  in  love  with  all  the  sacred  objects  of  do- 
mestic veneration  and  affection. 

Certainly,  he  loved  the  Wirts  with  deep  affection. 


JThe  date  of  the  original,  evidently  by  mistake,  is  April  13. 

10 


132  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SEEYICES 

In  the  entry  of  April  14,  1829,  part  of  which  is  elsewhere  given, 
are  these  eminently  thoughtful  words : 

"  Mr.  Clay's  family  had  gone  before,  and  General  Porter's.  Few 
were  left  in  whom  I  felt  any  interest.  Strangers  will  succeed.  A 
new  Cabinet  will  fill,  or  rather  occupy,  the  places  of  the  old  ;  but 
the  society  which  has  exisied  here  can  not  be  renewed.  A  more 
savage  spirit  breathes  in  the  administration,  and,  as  a  natural  con- 
sequence, distrust  has  come  in  place  of  confidence,  and  reserve  in- 
stead of  frankness.  Men  do  not  now  speak  their  sentiments  freely. 
The  spirit  of  cautious  jealousy  finds  it  a  way1  into  the  family  circle, 
and  restraint  is  visible  even  in  the  intercourse  of  the  fireside.  How 
long  will  these  things  be?" 

We  here  begin  to  see  the  growing  public  spirit  of  our  hero.  We 
begin  to  see  his  bias  as  a  politician. 

What  he  once  thought  of  painting  we  may  begin  to  see  in  this 
transcript  from  his  diary,  under  date  December  4,  1829  : 

"I  went  to  Baltimore  with  Mr.  King.  I  had  expected  my  friend 
Swann  to  accompany  me  on  this  visit,  but,  on  the  evening  before  I 
started,  I  received  letter  from  him,  stating  that  inevitable  duties  de- 
tained him  in  the  country  and  would  detain  him  there  until  after 
Christmas.  In  Mr.  King,  however,  I  had  a  very  agreeable  com- 
panion. He  is  a  painter  of  great -merit.  His  representations  of  still 
life,  are  said,  by  competent  judges,  to  equal  the  productions  of  the 
European  masters.  Unfortunately,  however,  he  is  not  allowed  to 
indulge  his  own  taste,  or  to  apply  his  industry  to  that  department 
in  which  his  genius  eminently  qualifies  [him]  to  excel.  Artists 
must  live,  and  there  is  not  taste  enough  in  our  country,  or,  to  speak 
more  truly,  not  wealth  enough,  to  enable  any  one  to  be  a  munifi- 
cent patron  of  arts.  Multitudes,  however,  have  enough  to  gratify 
vanity,  and  an  artist  speedily  finds  that  upon  gratified  vanity  his 
principal  dependence  must  be  placed.  In  order  to  live,  he  must 
paint  the  living,  and,  therefore,  [it]  is  that  almost  all  our  distin- 
guished painters  have  been  portrait  painters." 

Here  is  another  suggestive  extract : 


,^.->v 


"  September  19.  Called  on  Farley  at  G.  T.  [Georgetown]  who 
showed  me  some  very  fine  engravings — among  others  one  of  Ca?sar, 
sitting  in  a  chair  of  State.  This  is  the  finest  engraving  I  have  ever 
seen.  The  attitude  is  one  of  perfect  dignity.  The  arm  is  extended 
as  in  the  act  of  command.  The  very  fingers  seem  to  indicate  au- 
thority and  to  be  worthy  of  Csesar.  The  face  is  full  of  haughty 
determination,  daring  genius,  and  lofty  ambition.  The  tout  en- 
semble is  a  worthy  representation  of  him  whose  nod  did  awe  the 
world.  I  spent  a  very  pleasant  hour  with  Mr.  Farley,  conversing 
with   him   upon  foreign   scenes  and  men.     He  had  been  in   Italy, 


1  So  in  the  original. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  133 

and  showed   me  a   representation    of  the  Forum  as  it  was  and  as 
it  is. 

"  The  orator,  in  former  times,  spoke  in  the  midst  of  the  most  glori- 
ous mementoes.  The  trophies  of  conquest  were  everywhere  around 
him.  The  temples  of  religion  were  on  the  right  hand  and  the  left. 
The  Senate  House 'was  near.  One  would  think  that  in  such  a  place, 
and  before  such  an  audience,  stones  might  be  eloquent.  The  scene 
is  much  changed  now.  The  trophies  have  mouldered  into  dust — 
temples  and  triumphal  arches  have  been  broken  down,  and  hut  a 
few  solitary  columns,  or.  here  and  there,  naked  and  dilapidated  walls 
are  alone  standing.  It  is  melancholy  to  think  of  the  change.  Still 
more  melanchol}'  to  reflect  that  the  change  which  lias  passed  over 
the  Eternal  City  may  be  but  a  prophecy  of  what  is  coming  upon  us 
when  virtue  has  decayed,  and  licentiousness  and  anarchy  have 
struck  upon  the  harp  of  time  the  discordant  prelude  to  despotism 
and  ruin." 

Nothing  can  be  clearer  than  the  aesthetic  indications  of  those  ex- 
tracts. That  the  mind  of  Chase  was  one  that  might  have  taken 
much  deeper  interest  than  it,  in  point  of  fact,  did  take  in  the  art- 
aspects  of  the  Capitol,  we  saw  in  earlier  chapters.  Here  we  see  clear 
indications  that  in  1829,  our  hero  had,  in  fact,  attended  with  marked 
interest  to  the  possible  effect  of  a  true  adorning  of  the  city  laid  out 
under  the  supervision  of  our  first  Chief  Magistrate.1 

Chase  could  hardly  have  been  indifferent  to  the  architecture  of 
the  Capitol  as  it  then  was,  or  to  its  sculpture.  He  could  hardly 
have  been  insensible  that  it  is  worthy  of  a  great  people  to  have 


1 1  have  the  edition  for  1842  of  the  little  book,  entitled  Morrisons  Stranger's 
Guide  to  the  City  of  Washington.     Here  is  an  extract: 

"It  would  not  do  to  omit,  in  a  work  of  this  kind,  the  very  elegant  Exhibition 
Rooms  of  Mr.  Charles  King,  artist.  These  rooms,  comprised  within  a  very  tasteful 
building,  are  situated  on  Twelfth  Street.  Mr.  King  has  shown  great  taste  in  the  con- 
struction of  his  Exhibition  House,  and  in  the  manner  with  which  he  has  decorated 
his  grounds. 

"  His  galleries  are  filled  with  many  fine  pictures  by  himself,  and  deserve  the  re- 
peated visits  of  strangers. 

"  On  F  Street,  near  to  Mr.  King's,  is  Chapman's  Studio.  This  distinguished 
artist  has  no  public  exhibition  room,  but  the  walls  of  his  Studio  are  ornamented 
by  some  noble  pictures,  copied  by  him  while  in  Europe  from  some  of  the  old 
painters.  His  easel,  generally,  is  rich  in  smaller  gems,  the  fruits  of  his  finely  cul- 
tivated taste  and  exquisite  handling. 

"Thomas  Doughty,  the  landscape  painter,  has  a  Studio,  and  resides  also  in 
Washington.  This  distinguished  painter,  like  Chapman,  has  no  room  of  public  and 
paying  exhibition,  but  a  series  of  great  and  poetical  landscapes  is  passing  under 
his  brush.  During  the  winter  season  numbers  of  artists,  both  European  and  na- 
tive, flock  to  Washington,  and,  generally,  through  the  politeness  of  heads  of  com- 


134  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

some  reflection  of  its  taste  in  architecture,  in  sculpture,  and  in 
painting,  perceptible  at  the  seat  of  government.  But  did  he  find 
the  public  buildings  obeying  the  laws  of  expression  indicated,  if 
you  please,  by  Ruskin  in  his  Stones  of  Venice?  Did  he  find  the 
statues  chiseled  by  the  hands  of  masters?  Did  he  deem  the  paint- 
ings fit  for  their  positions  in  our  public  structures? 

Even  if  he  did  not,  I  am  sure  that  he  was  not  a  carping  critic. 
He  was  never  such  a  critic  as  to  any  thing,  I  think.  We  talked 
about  that,  more  than  once.  We  may  well  suppose  that,  to  him, 
the  suggestions  of  the  works  of  art  he  viewed  at  Washington  were, 
on  the  whole,  agreeable  and  elevating. 

Is  the  nation  right  in  so  enriching  and  embellishing  the  Capital  ? 
According  to  Montesquieu,  it  was  in  the  public  structures  of  the  ancient 
Capital  of  the  Romans — a  city  badly  built  at  first,  without  order  and 


mittees,  obtain  a  committee  room  in  the  Capitol  for  the  prosecution  of  their  studies 
or  professions. 

"  There  are  several  other  artists  of  Washington,  portrait  and  landscape  painters, 
whose  names  as  yet  are  unknown  to  fame." 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  1842.  We  can  infer  from  the  statement  some- 
what as  to  the  state  of  things  in  the  years  1827,  1828,  1829,  and  1830. 

How  was  it  in  those  years  as  to  sculpture?  Greenough's  group  was  not  as  yet 
even  designed.  His  Washington  was  yet  farther  off — perhaps  not  quite  far  enough 
off,  but  quite  far  in  the  future.  Powers'  Franklin — a  great  work — a  work  that  may 
be  studied  in  all  moods — a  real  master-piece — was  not  so  much  as  thought  of.  But 
why  extend  the  list  ?  The  Washington  of  those  years  was  by  no  means  the  AVash- 
ington  of  this  day. 

The  work  just  cited  has  the  following  description: 

"  The  Capitol  of  the  United  States  is  situated  on  an  area  of  twenty-two  and  half 
acres— is  on  an  eminence,  whence  the  eye  runs  along  the  distant  shores  of  the 
Potomac,  the  green-clad  hills  of  Georgetown  heights,  and  the  umbrageous  shores  of 
the  Eastern  Branch.  Looking  from  its  terrace,  the  vision  is  refreshed  with  beautj', 
and  the  whole  view,  North,  South,  East,  and  West,  combines  a  panorama  of  grandeur, 
unsurpassed  by  any  location  in  the  country.  From  the  grounds  can  be  seen  the 
cities  of  Alexandria  and  Georgetown,  the  former  lying  some  six  or  seven  miles 
down  the  river,  and  the  latter  three  miles  distant  to  the  west. 

"The  exterior  of  this  edifice  presents  a  rusticated  basement  of  the  height  of  the 
first  story ;  the  two  other  stories  are  comprised  in  a  Corinthian  elevation  of  pilas- 
ters and  columns.  The  columns  are  thirty  feet  in  height,  and  compose  a  portico  on 
the  eastern  front  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  in  extent,  the  center  of  which  is 
crowned  by  a  tympanum,  embellished  with  a  group  of  statuary,  the  composition  of 
the  venerable  J.  Q.  Adams,  and  the  execution  of  Persico  the  Italian. 

"  The  building  is  surrounded  by  a  balustrade  of  stone,  and  covered  with  a  lofty 
dome  in  the  center,  and  a  flat  dome  on  each  wing." 

No  doubt,  the  frequent  seeing  of  this  basilica-like  building  had  a  favorable  rela- 
tion to  the  forming  character  of  our  hero. 


OF   SALMON  TORTLAXD  CHASE. 


135 


without  symmetry,  having,  properly  speaking,  not  even  streets l  — 
that  the  greatness  of  the  Roman  people  early  made  itself  apparent  - 
Washington,  however,  sometimes  seems  to  me  a  new  Pantheon,  wor- 
shipping, as  demigods,  distinguished  men  ;  not  always  even  heroes. 
Do  we  show  our  greatness  in  this  hero-worship  ?  Do  we  show  our 
greatness  in  our  public  buildings  ? 

Architecture,  sculpture,  painting  are  a  trio — may  not  one  say 
trinity  ? — of  most  valuable  teachers.  They  repeat  for  us  the  mystery 
of  trinity  in  unity  and  unity  in  trinity  at  Washington.  But  is  the 
school  in  which  they  are  instructors  worthy  of  its  objects? 

Under  date  January  30,  1829,  he  wrote  : 

"  Jan.  30,  [1829].  This  evening,  I  went  again  with  the  same  ladies 3 
to  see  the  Papyrotomia,  a  gallery  of  cuttings  from  paper. '  The 
young  proprietor,  a  youth  of  sixteen  years,  received  us,  and  exhib- 
ited the  results  of  his  ingenuity.  There  were  scenes  of  mountain 
and  glen  and  secluded  lake  so  ingeniously  executed  as  to  have  the 
effect  of  the  finest  engraving.  There  were  proud  temples  and 
palaces,  and  scenes  of  the  domestic  fireside.  There  was  a  fair  form, 
bending  gracefully  to  the  harp,  and  an  admiring  circle  gathered 
round.     The  scissors  of  the  boy  had  done  the  whole. 

"  He  asked  if  he  should  take  our  profiles.      Miss  C assented, 

and  it  was  done  with  surprising  rapidity.  He  took  mine,  also, 
barely  glancing  at  my  face,  and,  presto  !  the  work  was  done.  Of 
course,  in  his  haste,  he  was  not  always  accurate,  but  his  speed  was 
applauded,  and  he  was  satisfied." 

Xext  we  have : 

"  Jan.  31.  This  day,  I  rode  to  the  Papyrotomia  with  the  younger 
girls,  and  returned  rich  in  half  a  dozen  black  profiles." 

How  was  it  with  him  as  to  studies  of  nature?  Did  he  thoroughly 
appreciate  his  opportunities  in  that  behalf?  The  District  of  Colum- 
bia and  its  environs  were  full  of  beauty  ;  did  he  act  as  though  he 
felt  the  local  wealth  of  grounds,  and   streams,  and  skies?     Did  lie 


1  "  La  ville  n'avait  pas  meme  de  rues,  si  Ton  n'appelle  tie  ce  nom  la  continuation 
des  chemins  qui  y  aboutissaient.  Les  maisons  etaient  placees  sans  oi'dre  et  ti'gs- 
petites  ;  car  les  homines,  toujours  au  travail  ou  dans  la  place  publique,  ne  se  tenaient 
que  dans  les  maisons."  Considerations  sur  les  causes  de  la  Grandeur  des  Romaint  >'t  de 
leur  Decadence,  chapitre  premier.  <:  Mais  la  grandeur  de  Rome  parut  bientfit  dans  ces 
edifices  publics.  Les  ouvrages  qui  ont  donne",  et  qui  donnnent  encore  aujourdhui  la 
plus  haute  idee  de  sa  puissance,  ont  £te  faits  sons  les  vois.  On  commencait  dejy,  a 
bfttir  la  ville  eteriu-lle." 

2  Ibid. 

3  Miss.  E.  Wirt  and  Miss  £.  Cabell. 


136  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

go  boating,  swimming,  fishing?  Were  the  banks  of  Iiock  CreeK 
often  visited  by  him  ? 

In  special  memory  of  him,  accompanied  by  the  two  boys  who 
went  with  me,  as  has  been  told,  in  that  pious  pilgrimage  to  Rock 
Creek  Church — which,  let  me  say,  took  that  name  from  the  parish, 
and  was  not  near  the  stream — I  visited  the  splendid  scenery  of  Rock 
Creek,  on  a  day  most  favorable  to  that  exploration.  Picturesque 
beyond  all  intimation  are  some  portions  of  that  scenery,  and  Theo- 
dore and  Charlie  were  decidedly  enthused  with  all  the  sights  and 
sounds  by  which  the  adventure  was  rewarded.  When  we  got  to  a 
good  place,  deep,  deep  in  the  woods  that  border  on  the  creek  in 
places,  we  were  moved  to  join  in  singing  first  the  Star  Spangled 
Banner,  and  then  Dixie.  If  our  musical  performance  was  not  grand 
in  the  one  case,  or  fine  in  the  other,  we  could  at  least  console  our- 
selves that  had  Chase  been  with  us,  in  the  body,  as  we  fancied  that 
he  might  be  in  the  spirit,  he  would  have  accepted  our  intentions  in 
excuse  of  our  performance — he,  who  was,  himself,  no  great  musician, 
but  was  equal  to  the  best  in  patriotic  fervor. 

Here  is  an  account  of  one  of  his  excursions.  It  is  taken  from  his 
diary,  page  53,  and  runs  as  follows  : 

"  In  the  latter  part  of  February,  my  friend  Swann  proposed  an 
excursion  to  Morven,  his  residence,  near  Leesburg.  I  agreed,  and 
having  made  the  necessary  preparations,  on  Monday  morning  we 
started  in  the  stage.  Our  companions  were  a  young  officer  in  the 
army  and  his  beautiful  bride.  She  was  formerly  an  admired  belle, 
but  she  loved  and  she  married  contrary  to  the  wish  of  her  father. 
It  was  a  stolen  match,  and  the  old  gentleman  had  not  yet  forgiven 
from  the  heart.  I  could  not  help  pitying  her  as  I  saw  a  shade  of 
sadness  stealing  over  her  cheek,  and  a  starting  tear  dimming  her 
bright  eye.  There  was  besides  in  the  stage  a  man  with  singular 
vision.  He  could  see  wit  when  others  could  discern  nothing  but 
folly,  and  sense  when  others  only  perceived  stupidity.  He  filled 
evidently  a  high  place  in  his  own  esteem,  and  doubtless  should  he 
hereafter  publish  a  spelling-book  he  will,  like  his  immortal  proto- 
type, dedicate  it  to  the  universe.' 

"  After  riding  some  miles,  we  stopped  at  a  little  house  by  the 
road  side,  much  like  those  which  a  New  England  farmer  would 
construct  for  the  accommodation  of  his  horses  and  pigs.  Here  we 
same  to  breakfast.  The  house  did  not  wear  a  very  inviting  aspect, 
but  as  I  make  it  a  rule  not  to  judge  by  the  outward  appearance,  I 
went  in.  The  "breakfast  was  spread  in  the  first  room  I  entered. 
The  table  was  covered  with  poultry,  and  bacon,  and  beef,  and  vege- 
tables. The  bar  was  in  close  proximity,  and  the  kitchen  at  no 
great  remove.  But  I  must  hurry  to  the  end  of  the  journey.  At 
night  we  arrived  at  Leesburg,  and  had  a  comfortable  supper  at  Col. 


OP   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  137 

Osborn's  Hotel.  Here  we  passed  the  night.  Early  next  morning 
we  r<>sc,  and,  mounting  the  horses  which  our  friends  had  provided 

for  us,  rode  out  to  Morven,  a  distance  of  about  3  miles.  Our  arrival 
was  quite  unexpected,  and  we  were  obliged  to  go  to  the  kitchen 
until  a  lire  could  be  kindled  in  the  parlor  of  the  mansion.     Very 

soon,  however,  every  thing  was  in  readiness.  A  cheerful  lire  was 
blazing  on  the  hearth  and  an  excellent  breakfast  spread  upon  the 
table.  We  were  no!  disposed  to  keep  Lent,  and  the  good  things  dis- 
appeared beforeus  like  the  chance  snow-fall  in  April.  Alter  break- 
fast 1  took  a  more  leisurely  survey  of  the  mansion  and  its  appurte- 
nances. It  is  situated  upon  the  side  of  one  of  the  Catochin  mountains : 
by  which  it  is  protected  from  the  north-west  winds.  A  beautiful 
valley  extends  below  far  to  the  south-east,  where  cultivated  fields 
and  extensive  woodlands  form  a  variety  delightful  to  the  eye.  At  a 
small  distance  in  front  of  the  house  is  a  garden,  a  lovely  spot  in  the 
season  of  flowers,  as  Swann  told  me,  though  there  was  little  there 
now  to  attract  the  eye.  The  mansion  itself  is  composed  of  a  center 
building  and  two  wings,  which  are  united  by  a  narrow  structure  with 
a  colonnade  in  front.  There  is  also  a  colonnade  or  rather  portico 
in  front  of  the  central  edifice.  In  the  rear  of  the  whole  are  two 
stout  buildings  for  the  overseer  and  house  servants.  Such  is  the 
house  and  such  are  the  grounds,  according  to  the  impressions  I  now 
retain  of  a  visit  made  last  month. 

•AtUr  breakfast,  we  rode  to  Col.  Tutt's  to  see  the  country  ladies. 
Here  1  saw  a  very  pretty  and  agreeable  girl  and  a  plain,  but  kind- 
hearted  old  lady.  We  chatted  about  an  hour  and  went  home  for 
dinner.  After  dinner,  we  rode  to  Raspberry  Plain,  the  residence  of 
Mr.  Hoffman.  Here  I  saw  two  originals  in  the  shape  of  young  ladies. 
Two  agreeable,  intelligent  girls,  who  had  read  much,  thought  much, 
and.  perhaps,  talked  more.  They  made  subtle  distinctions  with  a 
skill  worthy  of  old  Aristotle,  and  syllogized  as  if  they  had  been 
educated  in  the  school  of  Duns  Scotus  or  Thomas  Aquinas.  But  1 
don't  like  argumentative  ladies.  They  have  no  right  to  encroach 
on  our  privileges.  And  is  it  not  settled  by  gray-headed  prescription 
that  the  masculine  is  the  more  worth}-  gender,  and  that  we  are 
entitled  to  an  exclusive  monopoly  of  all  the  wit,  sense,  and  learning 
in  the  world?  I  thought  I  had  two  more  pages,  but  must  break  off 
abruptl}*." 

Here  is  another  specimen  of  his  descriptive  powers  : 

"December  26,  [1829].  The  next  evening,  as1  I  was  going  home 
late.  1  observed  a  bright,  red-colored  light  upon  the  southern  sky, 
which  soon  showed  me  that  there  must  he  a  prodigious  conflagration 
in  that  quarter  of  the  city.  Every  thing  was  perfectly  still.  No 
alarm  was  heard  in  the  Streets,  and  scarcely  a  soul  was  stirring. 
The  alarm,  as  I  found  afterwards,  had  been  already  given,  and  the 
people  had  assembled  in  great  numbers  at  the  scene  of  action.  Curi- 
ous to  witness  the  spectacle.  I  bent  my  steps  in  the  direction  of  the 

1  At  Baltimore. 


138  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

light.  I  soon  found  that  the  fire  was  more  distant  than  I  anticipated, 
but,  unwilling  to  return  until  I  had  accomplished  my  object,  1  still 
held  on,  and  my  perseverance  was  fully  rewarded.  A  large  sugar- 
refining  establishment  was  in  flames.  Large  quantities  of  combust- 
ible liquids  were  stowed  away  in  the  edifice,  which,  as  fast  as  the 
devouring  element  reached  them,  flashed  out  into  fearful  effulgence. 
Thousands  were  gazing  on  the  sight.  Young  children,  old  men,  even 
women,  were  out.  The  engines  sent  upon  the  burning  pile  rivers 
of  water,  but  it  was  turned  to  vapor,  and  supplied  aliment  to  the 
flame.  One  side  of  the  building  now  fell  in,  with  a  tremendous 
crash,  and  the  fiery  element  leaped  madly  as  if  triumphing  in  its 
fall.  Hundreds  were  seen  in  the  lurid  [light]  moving  upon  the 
roofs  of  the  adjacent  buildings,  pouring  water,  spreading  blankets, 
and  [using]  every  precaution  to  save  them.  Only  one  building  was 
consumed  beside  that  in  which  the  fire  originally  commenced." 

It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  belles-lettres  would  not  have  proved 
the  true  vocation  of  the  man  by  whom  that  bit  of  pen-painting  was 
composed.  One  sees,  I  think,  that  fire,  with  the  raging  flames  and 
the  active  and  cautious,  yet  daring,  men  and  women  who  contended 
with  it  as  if  in  sheer  battle.  One  can  hear  the  tremendous  crash  of 
the  falling  side  of  the  fated  building. 

Here  is  a  transcript  from  the  same  diary  : 

"July  31,  [1829].  I  left  Washington  to-day  with  a  view  of  taking 
a  long  journey  northward.  I  traveled  in  the  stage,  which  afforded 
me  many  opportunities  for  observation,  while  it  subjected  me  to 
some  inconveniences.  He  who  travels  in  the  stage  for  a  consider- 
able distance  with  the  same  companions,  may  see  a  miniature  of  this 
world.  Selfishness  is  constantly  ready  to  appropriate  the  most  com- 
fortable seats;  and  politeness  is  ready  to  sacrifice  its  own  ease  to  the 
enjoyment  of  another.  Physical  strength  gives  its  possessor  a  supe- 
riority envied  by  the  vulgar,  and  wisdom,  an  unusual  inmate,  some- 
times vindicates  her  claim  to  a  deeper  homage.  I  confess  that  I 
saw  little  of  what  I  describe,  and  shall  here  describe  little  of  what 
I  saw.  It  would  [serve]  no  purpose  to  delineate  scenes  daily  pre- 
sented. It  is  enough  to  say  that,  after  nine  hours'  riding  thro'  a 
boiling  sun,  we  were  set  down  at  the  door  of  one  of  the  principal 
hotels  in  Baltimore.  I  desired  to  be  shown  to  my  room,  and  to  be 
furnished  with  a  dinner.  The  room  I  found  to  be  far  from  neat,  and 
resolved  upon  a  change,  in  which  resolution  I  was  confirmed  by  Mr. 
Barrel,  who  had  stopped  at  the  same  hotel  and  had  changed  it  for 
Barnum's.  After  dinner,  I  followed  his  example,  and  soon  found 
myself  very  comfortably  situated. 

"After  conversing  with  Mr.  B.,  I  called  upon  my  old  friends,  the 
Wirts.  I  found  them  preparing  to  go  into  the  country,  and,  at  the 
request  of  the  ladies,  I  joined  the  party.  We  rode  to  Mrs.  Patterson's, 
who  has  a  lovely  country-seat  about  two  miles  from  the  town.  [A] 
fine  garden  lies  in  the  rear  of  the  building,  furnished  with  number- 
less varieties  of  plants  and  flowers.     A  declivity,  to  north,  descending 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  139 

by  a  winding  path,  brings  you  to  a  perennial  spring  of  water,  which 
gushes  out  of  [the]  ground,  and  wanders  away  to  mingle  its  pure 
waters  with  those  of  the  Chesapeake.  The  Bay  is  seen  from  the 
eastern  windows,  and  the  dim  outline  of  the  eastern  shore  of  Mary- 
land is  traced  in  a  deeper  blue.  We  took  tea  with  Mrs.  P.,  and  re- 
turned to  the  city. 

••.Mrs.  W.  asked  how  long  I  was  to  remain  in  town.  I  told  her 
a  day  or  two.  She  said  she  expected  to  have  been  consulted  in  my 
arrangements,  and  that  she  intended  to  demand  of  me  a  week  of  my 
time,  at  least.  We  found  Mr.  Wirt  standing  at  the  door,  who  had 
just  returned  from  the  court  at  Annapolis.  The  girls  threw  them- 
selves upon  his  neck,  and  seemed  transported  with  joy;  they  Beemed 
to  forget  that  they  were  in  the  most  public  street  of  the  city  until 
their  mother  reminded  them  of  it,  and  drew  them  into  the  house.  I 
left  them  to  their  enjoyment,  and  returned  to  the  hotel. 

"The  next  da}*  it  rained,  and  the  next  I  went  early  to  the  house, 
but  Mr.  W.  had  gone.  The  clouds  still  threatened  rain,  but,  like 
many  other  menacers,  performed  nothing.  In  the  evening,  I  walked 
with  Elizabeth  and  the  younger  girls  into  Howard  Park,  where  the 
monument  stands.  I  thought  little  of  the  monument,  however,  or  of 
any  thing  but  the  noble  creature  at  my  side.  We  had  rauch  inter- 
esting conversation,  which  was  continued  till  we  returned  to  the 
house.  Then  the  younger  members  of  the  family  surrounded  me. 
Rosa  and  Ellen  had  chairs  before  me  ;  Catherine  sat  by  my  side  ;  and 
little  Agnes,  a  lovely  girl  of  fourteen,  threw  herself  caressingly  on 
the  floor.  To  be  in  the  midst  of  such  a  circle,  and  to  be  conscious 
that  I  shared  in  the  affections  of  that  circle,  was  an  exquisite  delight. 
The  time,  however,  soon  came  that  I  must  return  to  the  hotel,  and  I 
parted  from  them  with  regret.  The  next  day  I  was  again  with  them, 
and  again  I  passed  some  happy  moments. 

"  E.  showed  me  some  rings  she  had  received  from  her  friends  at 
West  Eiver.  The  motto  on  one  was,  •  Pensez  a  moi ;'  on  another, 
'  2w  ,uov  &<;  aya-td.'  I  dined  with  them  to-day,  and  after  dinner 
departed,  having  prolonged  my  stay  to  the  last  moment  possible. 
'  Give  my  love  to  your  mother  and  sisters,'  said  Catherine,  as  I  left 
the  room.     'And  mine,'  added  Elizabeth,  but  I  did  not — "  ' 

"  July  31,  [1820].  I  left  Washington  to-day  with  a  view  of  taking 
a  long  journey  northward.  I  traveled  in  the  stage,  which  afforded 
me  many  opportunities  for  observation,  while  it  subjected  me  to 
some  inconveniences 

"I  reached  the  boat  just  before  she  started.  I  found  my  friend 
Elliott  from  Washington  witb  his  mother,  and  a  pretty  young  lady 
from  Washington,  on  board.  We  had  not  got  out  of  the  Patapsco 
upon  the  Chesapeake  before  the  shades  of  evening  gathered  around 
us.  And  a  glorious  evening  it  was.  The  dark  blue  waters  beneath 
and  the  magnificent  arch  above,  and,  between,  the  vessel  moving 
like  a  living  thing,  breathing  smoke  and  fire.  I  sat  upon  the  deck 
a  long  time,  admiring  the  beauty  of  the  scene,  and  conversing  with 
my  friend.     I  was  still  there,  gazing  with  unsated  admiration  upon 


1  The  characters  are  here  evidently  wrong.     They  seem  to  be,  "  hecar."     The  word 
intended  may  have  been  hear. 


140  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

the  heavens  and  the  water,  when  a  cry  thro'  the  vessel  roused  the 
sleepers  to  exchange  their  berths  in  the  cabin  for  seats  in  the  stage. 
We  had  arrived  at  French  Town. 

"Scarcely  were  we  in  the  stages  when  it  began  to  rain,  and  contin- 
ued without  intermission,  when  we  had  reached  the  other  boat,  until 
we  arrived  at  Philadelphia.  Here  I  immediately  took  a  hack  and 
rode  to  my  cousin,  Geo.  Ralston's,  to  transact  some  business  for  my 
mother.  He  was  not  at  home,  but  Mrs.  R.  supplied  his  place  as 
far  as  she  could,  and  I  returned  to  the  boat.  I  found  my  baggage, 
transferred  by  the  kind  attention  of  Elliott,  to  the  New  York  boat, 
which  was  just  ready  to  depart.  In  a  few  moments  we  were  rapidly 
ascending  the  Delaware,  and  in  a  few  miles  (?)  we  were  set  ashore 
at  a  place  a  few  miles  below  Trenton,  to  cross  the  land  to  New 
Brunswick.  Our  stage  was  small  and  ill-made ;  our  horses  were 
mere  skeletons,  and  the  road  was  horribly  conditioned.  The  Jersey 
roads  are  certainly  the  xc or st  in  the  United  States. 

"We  arrived  at  New  Brunswick,  as  might  be  expected,  after  the 
rest  (who  had  taken  the  other  route),  and  found  that  all  the  best 
rooms  in  the  tavern  had  been  engaged.  We  procured  beds,  how- 
ever, and  early  on  the  next  morning  we  left  New  Brunswick  for 
New  York,  where  we  arrived  before  noon.  I  called  upon  Mrs.  Bar- 
rell,  who  was  to  proceed  to  Boston  under  my  charge,  and  informed 
her  of  my  intention  to  leave  in  the  afternoon  in  the  Fulton.  She 
promised  to  be  at  the  wharf  in  season,  and  I  left  her  to  perambu- 
late Broadway  and  make  some  trifling  purchases.  Having  com- 
pleted them  to  my  satisfaction,  I  went  on  board.  Mrs.  B.  came 
soon,  and  we  left  the  City  of  Gotham. 

"  As  we  passed  along,  I  observed  a  wreck,  and  inquired  the  cause. 
I  was  informed  that  it  was  a  vessel  loaded  with  lime,  which  had 
sprung  a  leak.  The  water  came  in  contact  with  the  lime,  and 
spontaneous  combustion  was  the  result.  The  vessel  was  burned  to 
the  water's  edge. 

"  There  was  a  pair  of  runaway  lovers  on  board,  who  had  been  to 
New  York  to  be  married,  and  were  returning  to  Providence.  He 
seemed  to  be  a  rake  and  she  seemed  to  be  an  idiot,  and  so  I  took 
little  notice  of  them." 

Another  case  of  spontaneous  combustion,  one  might  think.  What 
a  combination  for  a  nuptial  partnership  !  An  idiot  at  home,  a  rake 
abroad  !  But  what  may  interest  for  a  moment  is  the  statement 
that,  throughout  life,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain,  the 
love  of  chastity  marked  Chase's  life  and  beautified  his  character, 
though  every  body  well  acquainted  with  him  supposed  the  sexual 
feeling  to  be  very  strong  in  him. 

"  It  was  three  o'clock,  P.  M.,  when  we  left  New  York.  Night 
overtook  [us]  when  we  had  gone  about  forty  miles,  and  I  sought  my 
cabin.  The  next  morning  we  were  at  anchor.  A  thick  fog  envel- 
oped every  thing,  and  the  captain  was  afraid  to  proceed  lest  he 
might  run  upon  rocks,  which  are  frequent  in  this  part  of  the  sound. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  141 

[n  this  pleasant  situation  we  remained  some  hours,  when  the  fog 
lifted  itself  a  little  and  the  captain  gave  orders  to  move. 

"We  held  a  political  meeting  in  the  fog,  and  nominated  Henry 
Clay  for  president,  with  great  unanimity." 

Here  is  an  indication  not  to  be  forgotten.  It  must  be  recurred 
to ;  and  I  trust  it  will  be  borne  in  mind  by  every  attentive 
reader. 

Chase  proceeds  as  follows  : 

"Toward  evening  we  met  the  Ben  Franklin,  from  Providence. 
She  passed  us  as  if  on  wings. 

"  The  next  morning  we  arrived  at  Providence,  and  took  carriages 
for  Boston.  I  had  been  indisposed  all  the  preceding  day,  and  was 
now  so  ill  that  I  could  hardly  sit.  However,  I  patiently  endured 
until  we  leached  the  Northern  Athens,  where  I  left  my  charge  with 
her  father,  Judge  Ward,  and  hastened  myself  to  the  hotel  and  to 
my  room.  Here  I  sent  for  a  ph}'sician,  who  came  and  prescribed 
medicine,  which  I  did  not  take,  and  gave  me  some  advice  which  I 
did  not  follow.  On  the  contrary,  debilitated  as  I  was,  I  took  the 
stage,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  arrived  at  Concord,  New 
Hampshire." 

Here  is  the  Chase  will  for  you  ! 

"  Here  my  friend  Sparhawk  called  to  see  me,  and  stayed  with  me 
all  night.  I  rode  with  him  to  Hopkinton,  where  my  mother  resides. 
Here  I  remained  sick  nearly  a  fortnight,  and  of  course  did  not 
deliver  my  master's  oration. 

"As  soon  as  I  was  able  to  travel  I  set  out  on  my  return,  going 
down  to  Concord  in  the  evening  and  spending  the  night  with  my 
friend  Sparhawk,  and  proceeding  to  Andover  the  next  day. 

"  My  old  classmate,  Ward,  was  my  stage  companion,  and  we  had 
a  pleasant  ride  together,  talking  much  of  the  persons  and  scenes  of 
by-gone  times.  When  arrived  with  him  at  Andover,  I  walked  with 
him  to  the  Theological  Institution,  where  I  saw  one  or  two  of  my 
old  classmates  and  friends.  One  of  them  was  going  to  Salem,  and 
I  agreed  to  accompany  him.  I  found  a  most  cordial  reception  in 
his  family,  some  of  whom  were  personally  known  to  me  before,  and 
I  spent  a  day  with  them,  going  out,  however,  in  the  meantime,  to 
Ipswich  to  see  my  sister,  there  at  school." 

In  another  place  is  given  his  account  of  his  going  to  Boston, 
thence  to  New  York,  thence  to  Philadelphia,  thence  to  Baltimore, 
where  he  visited  the  Wirts.      The  diary  proceeds: 

"The  next  morning  I  quitted  Baltimore,  most  unwillingly,  for 
Washington,  where  I  arrived  about  noon,  and  found  all  my  friends 
well  and  apparently  very  glad  to  see  me  once  more  among 
them." 


142  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Let  us  now  go  back  a  little.  Here  are  two  entries,  as  to  which  I 
can  not  aid  the  reader's  conjectures  : 

"  Feb.  5,  [1829].  I  have  for  some  time  lived  in  a  dream,  from 
which  I  was  partially  awakened  to-day. 

"  March  30.     Almost  awakened  from  my  dream." 

"What  was  that  dream  ?  No  doubt,  essentially,  'twas  "  love's 
young  dream  "  in  some  new  fashion.  More  than  that  one  can  not 
even  fancy,  safely. 

Chase  apparently  took  not  a  little  pleasure  in  an  innocent  flirta- 
tion.    Here  is  an  attractive  indication  : 

"  April  7.  '  You  must  write  a  few  lines  in  my  album  to  remind 
me  of  you  when  far  away,'  said  Elizabeth  Cabell  to  me,  this  even- 
ing. Elizabeth  is  a  pretty  young  lady  of  eighteen.  She  was  born 
and  educated,  I  believe,  in  the  city  of  Richmond,  but  one  would 
suppose  that  such  a  bloom  could  be  bestowed  only  by  the  breath  of 
the  mountain  breeze.  She  is  singularly  sensible  and  intelligent, 
but  timid  as  a  fawn. 

'"My  lyre  is  broken,  Miss  Elizabeth,'  I  replied. 

'"Repair  it  then,'  said  she,  'for  you  shall  contribute  something 
to  my  treasury  of  friendship's  offerings.' 

" '  Well,  I  will  try,'  and  went  home,  and,  before  going  to  bed, 
wrote  a  few  lines.     The  following  are  near  the  conclusion : 

'"Fain  would  I  bind  my  meraovy  to  all 
The  glorious  things  of  heaven,  the  beautiful 
Creations  of  the  earth,  and  teach  the  breeze 
To  whisper  of  my  name,  that  I  might  be 
The  absent  unforgotten.'  " 

Who  does  not  remember  with  a  mixture  of  delight  and  shame  the 
"halcyon"  days  when  he  wrote  album  verses?  When  acrostics 
went  on  bravely  till  they  came  to  the  strange  name  of  Emeline  or 
Emmeline  Jane  Smith  or  Dorcas  Aspasia  Binks  ? 

Our  hero  was  a  very  human  man  !  Here  is  another  indication  in 
the  same  direction  : 

"Jan.  29,  [1829].  This  evening  I  attended  a  concert  with  Miss 
E.  W.  and  Miss  E.  C.  The  music  was  fine  ;  the  songs,  especially 
one  by  Mr.  Pearman,  were  sufficient  to  take  the  prisoned  soul  and 
lap  it  in  Elysium.  It  was  full  of  deep  and  touching  pathos,  and 
voice  and  manner  were  admirably  adapted  to  the  sentiment.  Mrs. 
Feron,  who  assisted  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pearman,  sang  several  solos,  but 
there  was  too  much  art  and  too  little  nature  in  her  manner.  I  can 
see  no  reason  why  we  should  resort  to  a  foreign  land  for  singing, 
when  we  have  those  at  home  who  can  vie  with  the  best  of  the  foreign 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  143 

vocalists.  Music  is  an  universal  language,  and  all  men  have  been 
taught  the  alphabet ;  so  it  may  be  well  that  we  should  adopt  foreign 
airs,  but  let  us  sing  such  words  as  our  own  poets  furnish,  and 
with  the  organs  which  nature  lias  given  us.  When  we  returned, 
Mr.  Swann  occupied  the  vacant  seat  in  the  carriage." 

On  the  last  day  of  January,  1829,  we  have  this  entry  : 

"  This  day  I  rode  to  the  Papyrotomia  with  the  younger  girls,  and 
returned  rich  in  half  a  dozen  black  profiles.  Mr.  Wirt  was  indis- 
posed, and  I  sat  some  time  in  his  chamber,  conversing  on  various 
topics,  but  principally  upon  the  future  course  that  it  became  me  to 
pursue  and  upon  the  choice  of  a  place  of  residence.  In  the  evening 
the  young  ladies  claimed  precedence  over  their  father,  and  demanded 
my  attention  to  the  song  and  the  piano." 

Kennedy  records  that  Mr.  Wirt  himself  "had  a  great  fondness 
for  music  and  no  small  proficiency  in  it ; "  that,  indeed,  "he  often 
amused  himself  with  writing  down  tunes  from  his  memory,  and, 
perhaps,  composing  in  a  small  way;"  and  that,  "this  taste  induced 
him  to  cultivate  the  musical  talent  of  his  children;"  who  all,  it 
seems,  "  excelled  in  the  art." 

"Many  friends,"  adds  Kennedy,1  "in  Washington  and  Baltimore 
will  remember  the  pleasant  family  concerts  which  the  group  around 
Mr.  Wirt's  fireside  was  accustomed  to  supply.  During  that  period 
"when  the  cholera  detained  him  and  his  household  at  Berkeley 
Springs — in  August  and  September,  1832 — those  who  were  there 
"with  him  can  not  forget  the  well-arranged  little  musical  parties  of 
the  evening,  in  which  he  and  his  children  were  the  only  performers." 

Under  date  September  29,  1829,  Chase  wrote: 

"'Music,  heavenly  maid,'  occasioned  us  a  little  trouble  to-day. 
One  of  the  boarders  was  so  fond  of  his  instrument,  that  he  greatly 
annoyed  a  neighbor  who  was  disposed  to  study.  Neither  would 
yield,  and  as  most  of  the  boarders  (the  Goths  f)  took  part  with  the 
student,  the  votary  of  Haydn  was  compelled  to  take  his  flute,  French 
horn,  flageolet,  violin,  and  violincello  and  find  other  quarters." 

Two  days  afterward  the  same  pen  set  down  the  following  account : 

"Oct.  1.  Called  to-day  on  the  banished  Orpheus,  and  found  him 
very  comfortably  situated  in  the  third  story,  whence  he  had  a  very 
fine  prospect  of  the  windings  of  the  Potomac.  His  table  was  covered 
with  musical  instruments  and  papers,  and  he  was  himself  studying 
a  mathematical  theory  of  musical  sounds." 


1  Life  of  Wirt  Vol.  II,  377,  378. 


144  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

Now  let  us  look  at  another  entry  in  which  music  is  more  than 
mentioned  : 

"  I  spent  the  evening  of  the  day  I  arrived  in  Baltimore  at  Mr. 
Schroeder's.  I  had  become  acquainted  with  this  family  in  Wash- 
ington, and  wished  to  continue  the  acquaintance.  The  evening  passed 
pleasantly.  Conversation  and  music  mingled  their  charms.  The 
conversation  was  interesting  and  the  music  sweet — very  sweet.  Miss 
S.  plays  and  sings  delightfully.  Her  favorite  instrument  is  the 
guitar,  and  it  is  mine,  too  ;  for  it  is  associated  with  many  pleasant 
remembrances.  I  left  at  a  late  hour,  intending  and  promising  to  call 
again  ;  but,  from  circumstances,  was  obliged  to  leave  Baltimore  with- 
out doing  so." 

So  much  for  music.  How  about  the  cognate  theme  of  poetry  ? 
Here  is  a  sample  of  our  hero's  dalliance  with  one  of  the  muses  in 
February,  1830,  not  long  before  he  went  to  Cincinnati  to  reside. 
The  diary  of  the  23d  of  that  month  contains  this  record : 

"  To-day,  I  wrote  for  a  young  friend  the  following  verses  : 

When  Mary  bids,  once  more  the  lyre, 

Long  hushed,  I  wake  again, 
Nor  ask  the  Nine  to  aid  my  lay, 

For  Mary  wills  the  strain. 

"Dull  lyre!  why  trembleth  every  string 

With  emulous  desire 
To  tell,  with  sweeter  tones,  the  flame 

That  Mary's  charms  inspire? 

"To  tell  of  all  her  witching  grace, 

Her  winning  smile,  her  beaming  eye, 
Her  radiant,  mind-illumined  face, 

Her  voice  of  melody  ? 

"  Not  now  the  time — not  thine  the  power 

Such  notes  as  these  to  swell; 
Ah !  no ;  for  sadness  claims  the  hour — 

Thou  canst  but  breathe,  Farewell !  " 

In  another  page  of  the  same  diary  appears  the  following  piece  of 
rhyme : 

A  Wish.— To  M.  G.  M. 

"  His  love  be  thine  who  is  all  truth, 

All  nobleness,  all  mind ; 
The  ardors  of  whose  generous  Youth 

By  virtue  are  refined. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  145 

"  Be,  of  the  noblest  and  the  best 

The  best  and  noblest,  he; 
Anil,  summing  in  one  word  the  rest, 

May  he  be  worthy  thee !  " 

The  date  of  this  effusion  seems  to  have  been  February  23,  1830, 
when  the  writer  still  remained  at  Washington. 


146  THE    PRIVATE    ETFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER   X. 

Washington  in  1827,  1828,  1829,  and  1830. 

THE    diary  I  have  so    often   quoted  gives,  as  we  have  partly 
seen  already,  quite  an  interesting  view  of  life  at  Washington 
in  1827,  1828,  1829,  and  1830. 
Here  is  a  suggestive  entry: 

"Jan.  1,[1829].  This  levee  differed  in  nothing  from  the  one  which 
1  described  elsewhere,  excepting  that  I  was  somewhat  more  con- 
spicuous in  the  crowd.  The  lady  who  leaned  upon  my  arm  was  one 
of  the  most  brilliant  in  the  room,  and  I  shone  a  little  b}r  reflected 
light.  She  was  elegantly  attired  in  a  Scottish  dress  of  the  most  taste- 
ful description,  and  well  did  her  accomplished  manner  become  her 
graceful  array.  The  time,  however,  passed  rather  heavily  off,  as  I  was 
in  charge  of  one  who  attracted  too  many  to  allow  me  opportunity 
for  conversation." 

Harriet  Martineau  has  written  : 

"  One  of  the  most  remarkable  sights  in  the  country  is  the  Presi- 
dent's levee.  Nothing  is  easier  than  to  laugh  at  it.  There  is  probably 
no  mode  in  which  a  number  of  human  beings  can  assemble  which 
ma}'  not  be  laughable  from  one  point  of  view  or  another.  The  Pres- 
ident's levee  presents  many  facilities  for  ridicule.  Men  go  there  in 
plaid  cloaks  and  leather  belts,  with  all  manner  of  wigs,  and  offer  a 
large  variety  of  obeisance  to  the  chief  magistrate.  Women  go  in 
bonnets  and  shawls;  talk  about  the  company;  stand  upon  chairs  to 
look  over  people's  heads,  and  stare  at  the  large  rooms.  There  was  a 
story  of  two  girls,  thus  dressed,  being  lifted  up  by  their  escorting 
gentlemen,  and  seated  on  the  two  ends  of  the  mantel-piece  like 
lustres,  where  they  could  obtain  a  view  of  the  company  as  they  en- 
tered. To  see  such  people  mixed  in  with  foreign  ambassadors  and 
their  suites,  to  observe  the  small  mutual  knowledge  of  classes  and 
persons  who  thus  meet  on  terms  of  equality,  is  amusing  enough. 
But  amidst  much  that  was  laughable,  I  certainly  felt  that  I  was  see- 
ing a  fine  speetacle.  If  the  gentry  at  Washington  desire  to  do  away 
with  the  custom,  they  must  be  unaware  of  the  dignity  which  resides 
in  it,  and  which  is  apparent  to  the  eye  of  a  stranger,  through  any  in- 
conveniences which  it  may  have.  I  am  sorry  that  its  recurrence  is 
no  longer  annual.     I  am  sorry  that  the  practice  of  distributing  re- 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND    CHASE.  147 

freshments  is  relinquished  ;  thought  this  a  matter  of  less  importance 
and  of  more  inconvenience." 

Here  is  another  extract  from  the  same  work  of  Harriet  Martineau  : ' 

"Our  party  went  out  at  eight  o'clock.  As  we  alighted  from  the 
carriage,  I  saw  a  number  of  women,  well  attended,  going  up  the 
steps  in  the  commonest  morning  walking  dress.  In  the  hall  were 
parties  of  young  men,  exhibiting  their  graces  in  a  walk  from  end  to 
end  ;  and  ladies  throwing  off  their  shawls,  and  displaying  the  most 
splendid  dresses.  The  President  [Jackson]  and  some  members  of 
his  cabinet  on  either  hand,  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  first  room, 
ready  to  bow  to  all  the  ladies,  and  shake  hands  with  all  the  gentle- 
men who  presented  themselves.  The  company  then  passed  on  to 
the  fire-place,  where  stood  the  ladies  of  the  President's  family, 
attended  by  the  Vice-President  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
From  this  point,  the  visitors  dispersed  themselves  through  the  rooms, 
chatting  in  groups  in  the  Blue  Room,  or  joining  the  immense  prome- 
nade in  the  great  East  Room.  After  two  circuits  there.  I  went  back 
to  the  reception  room,  by  far  the  most  interesting  to  an  observer. 
I  saw  one  embassador  after  another  enter  with  his  suite  ;  the  Judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court ;  the  majority  of  the  members  of  both  Houses 
of  Congress;  and  intermingled  with  these,  the  plainest  farmers, 
store-keepers,  and  mechanics,  with  their  primitive  wives  and  simple 
daughters.  Some  looked  7iierry,  some  looked  busy  ;  but  none  bash- 
ful. I  believe  there  were  three  thousand  persons  present.  There 
was  one  deficiency — one  draw  back,  as  I  felt  at  the  time.  There  were 
no  persons  of  color." 

That  was  written,  if  I  remember  rigidly,  in  1835  or  in  1836. 
How  did  Chase  feel  on  that  subject,  in  1827,  1828,  1829,  and  part 
of  1830,  while  at  Washington?  I  can  not  answer.  But  I  know 
that  he  lived  to  congratulate  his  friend,  Thomas  Marshall  Key,  on 
the  passage  of  a  bill,  drafted  by  that  strange  character — the  bill 
abolishing  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Key,  while  a  bachelor,  was  distinguished  as  the  author  of  the 
Married  Woman's  Law  in  Ohio.  He  was  one  of  my  most  intimate 
accpiaintances.  I  knew  him  well,  and  loved  him  well,  although  I 
knew  his  faults  and  foibles  almost  as  welt  as  I  knew  his  face  and 
figure.     We  shall  see  much  of  him  hereafter. 

To  return  to  Chase:  it  is  with  some  reluctance,  after  much  con- 
sideration, that  the  following  extract,  from  the  diary  so  often  quoted, 
is  presented  to  the  readers  of  this  work.  But  the  scandal  to  which 
it  refers  has  been  variously  related  in  books  and  other  forms  of 
published  matter.     The  responsibility  of  suppression  seemed  to  me 


1  Society  in  America,  III,  96. 
11 


148  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

greater  than  the  risk  of   censure    in    presenting   the   account    that 
follows : 

It  must  be  remembered  that  our  hero  took  a  northward  journey, 
expecting  to  deliver  his  master's  oration  at  Dartmouth.  Having 
given  of  that  journey  the  account  we  have  already  seen,  he  goes  ou 
as  follows. 

"  Sept.  5.  A  singular  chain  of  occurrences  had  commenced  in  my 
absence.  Mr.  Campbell,  a  Presbyterian  clergyman  in  Washington, 
had  stated  in  confidence  to  Dr.  Ely,  of  Philadelphia,  with  a  view  to 
prevent  the  appointment  of  Maj.  Eaton  to  the  Cabinet,  that  Mrs. 
E.  had  been  delivered  of  a  child  when  she  was  Mrs.  Timberlake, 
supposed  to  be  by  Maj.  E.,  and  that  various  other  reports,  greatly 
prejudicial  to  the  character  of  both,  had  been  for  some  time  in  circu- 
lation. Dr.  El}'  had  made  no  use  of  the  information  then  but  some 
time  afterward  wrote  to  the  President,  informing  him  of  the  circum- 
stances, and  giving  Mr.  Campbell's  name  as  the  author  of  the  report. 
The  President  immediately  sent  for  Mr.  C,  who  confessed  that  he 
had  made  the  statement  to  Dr.  E.,  explained  his  motives,  and  showed 
his  authority.  The  President  was  apparently  contented.  But,  the 
next  day,  he  had  changed  his  mind,  and  called  upon  Mr.  C.  to  deny 
his  belief  in  the  charge.  Mr.  C.  replied  that  he  could  not — when 
the  President  became  angry,  and  talked  of  a  suit  for  slander.  Mr. 
C.  now  thought  it  expedient  to  prepare  for  the  worst,  and  with  that 
view  requested  me  to  call  with  him  at  Mrs.  Williams1  to-day.  I  went 
and  the  old  lady  told  us  that  she  was  a  neighbor  to  Mrs.  Timberlake, 
and  that  Mrs.  O'Neale,  the  mother  of  Mrs"  T.,  had  told  her  that  she 
had  had  twins  in  the  absence  of  Mr.  T.  This  was  the  amount  of  her 
statement,  but  from  other  sources  Mr.  C.  collected  a  mass  of  evidence 
sufficient,  and  more  than  sufficient,  to  establish  every  allegation  he 
had  made,  not  as  of  his  own  knowledge,  but  as  resting  upon  the 
credit  of  a  particular  individual  and  upon  the  strength  of  common 
report.  A  few  days  afterward  a  conclave  was  held  at  the  palace, 
for  the  extraordinary  purpose  of  taking  this  affair  into  consideration. 

"Nearly  the  whole  Cabinet  was  present,  and  some  extra  counselors 
summoned  for  the  special  occasion.  These  last  were  Dr.  Ely  and  Mr. 
Auditor  Lewis.  Mr.  C.  was  summoned  to  appear  and  answer  for 
himself.  I  can  not  state  the  particulars  as  they  transpired.  I  have 
now  no  note  of  the  transaction,  and  the  minutiae  have  faded  from  my 
memory.  However,  the  President  became  hignly  exasperated,  and 
attributed  the  whole  affair  to  the  agency  of  Mr.  Clay,  and  Mr.  C. 
left  the  room  indignant  at  the  treatment  he  had  i*eceived,  and  deter- 
mined to  publish  the  w7hole  affair  to  the  world.  Dr.  Ely  followed 
him  and  entreated  him  to  change  his  resolution.  At  last  he  con- 
sented. Many  other  incidents  grew  out  of  this.  The  ladies  of 
Washington  excluded  Mrs.  E.  from  their  society,  and  so  the  matter 
still  rests.  Eaton  has  threatened  personal  violence  to  Mr.  C,  but 
will  not  probably  execute  his  threat;  and  Mrs.  E.  called  herself  on 
Mr.  C,  and  after  alternate  abuse  and  entreat}',  screaming  and  faint- 
ing, finding  the  whole  ineffectual,  declared  that  his  blood  should  be 
spilt  for  his  audacity." 


OF   SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  149 

Whoever  has  examined  Parton's  version  of  this  matter1  must 
allow  that  the  evidence  of  Mrs.  Eaton's  guilt  was  not  by  any  means 
conclusive.  I  know  Washingtonians  of  great  respectability  who 
hold  her  guiltless.  The  extract  just  made  from  the  diary  of  Mr. 
Chase,  by  no  means  makes  the  case  conclusive.  Mr.  Cha.<-e,  no  doubt, 
believed,  as  did  Dr.  Campbell,  what  Mrs.  Williams  said  that  Mrs. 
O'Xeale  said  that  Mrs.  Timberlake,  her  daughter,  u  should  have 
confessed,"  (as  common  parlance  might  express  itself,)  on  this  occasion. 
After  all,  however,  we  have  nothing  here  but  very  doubtful  hearsay, 
on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other,  the  presumption  in  favor  of  a 
woman's  chastity. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  indications  of  the  quotation  just  made 
is  that  of  Jackson's  making  a  cabinet  matter  of  the  guilt  or  in- 
nocence of  Mrs.  Eaton. 

How  our  hero  then  regarded  Jackson  is  thus  indicated  in  his  diary 
under  date  Jan.  7,  1830 : 

"This  evening  I  went  with  my  friend  Swann  to  the  President's 
drawing-room.  The  East  Room,  now  furnished  splendidly,  but  not 
gorgeously,  was  open  for  the  reception  of  guests.  Near  the  south 
center  stood  General  Jackson,  with  whom  I  now  shook  hands  for  the 
first  time  in  my  life.  He  is  rather  above  the  ordinary  stature,  and 
has  a  graceful  figure.  His  countenance  would  not  inspire  a  disciple 
of  Lavater  with  an  opinion  of  lofty  talent  or  vigorous  intellect. 
True  it  is  that  age  and  hardship  had  done  their  work  upon  him  ;  but 
the  characters  of  mind  are  not  to  be  effaced  b}'  causes  whose  influ- 
ence reaches  not  beyond  this  diurnal  sphere.  General  Jackson  is 
not  a  man  of  mind.  In  his  manners  he  is  graceful  and  agreeable, 
and  much  excels  his  predecessor  in  the  art  of  winning  golden 
opinions  from  all  sorts  of  men.  General  Jackson's  career  should  be 
attentively  observed  by  the  political  student,  who  is  endeavoring 
from  the  book  of  human  affairs  to  glean  the  lessons  of  political 
experience.  If  bis  popularity  continues  it  will  be  strange,  for  I 
have  read  of  no  instance  in  the  history  of  nations  where  popular 
favor  has  for  a  long  time  followed  an  unworthy  object." 

Chase  was  then  not  quite  two-and-twenty  years  of  age.  Was  he 
at  that  time  "  a  disciple  of  Lavater  ?  "  Had  he  studied  physiognomy 
as  that  enthusiastic  Swiss  defines  the  same?  If  so,  he  found  some 
true  cognitions  and  some  quite  unscientific  fancies  in  association. 
Only  part  of  physiognomy  can  be  considered  truly  scientific. 

Chase  was,  at  least  for  some  time,  not  without  personal  vanity. 
In  his  character,  as  in  so  many  others,  one  could  see  how  a  man  may 
be,  at  once,  very  proud  and  not  a  little  vain. 


Life  of  Jackson. 


150  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

And  he  was  evidently  vain  of  his  fine  person — vain  and  proud 
of  his  commanding  port  and  presence,  as,  indeed,  most  men  who 
have  those  fine  possessions  are. 

I  think  just  hereof  three  distinguished  men  of  Ohio,  with  whom 
I  find  myself  comparing  Chase  with  reference  to  person,  port,  and 
presence.  Each  of  them  was  long  ago  distinguished  for  high  stature. 
Two  of  them  still  live;  one  has  departed.  Thomas  Ewing  is  the 
vanished  figure.  Henry  Stanbery  and  William  S.  Groesbeck,  still 
surviving,  are  the  other  type-figures  here  referred  to.  It  is  the  more 
proper  to  refer  to  them  because  the  fame  of  each  is  national.  Their 
types  were  very  different.  Three  tall,  fine-looking  men  less  like 
each  other  I  do  not  remember.  Ewing  was  a  massive  man  in  body 
and  in  mind.  Neither  Stanbery  nor  Groesbeck  is  so  heavy.  Well! 
but  I  have  perceived  in  each  of  them  the  pride  and  vanity  of  person 
here  in  question. 

Under  date  Februaiy  22,  1830,  Chase,  at  Washington,  made  in 
his  diary  an  entry  which  contains  these  words : 

"Judge  Burnett,  of  the  Senate,  is  a  small  man,  of  a  not  un  pleasing 
countenance.  The  indications  of  intellect  are  slight,  but,  by  untir- 
ing industry,  he  has  acquired  a  high  professional  reputation.  He 
converses  with  some  appearance  of  effort,  and  has  been,  as  yet,  a 
silent  member  of  the  Senate." 

It  would  seem  that  Chase  had  really  considerable  faith  at  judg- 
ments of  the  physiognomic  order.  His  ability  to  read  character, 
however,  has  been  more  than  questioned.  Mr.  Whitelaw  Reid, 
ascribing  to  him  deeper  knowledge  of  mankind  than  I,  for  one, 
discerned  in  him,  attributes  to  him,  on  the  other  hand,  profound 
ignorance  of  men.1  He  was  not  so  profoundly  ignorant  of  men,  I 
think,  nor  was  he  so  profound  in  knowledge  of  mankind.  Profun- 
dity, indeed,  has  never  seemed  to  me  a  marked  characteristic  of 
his  knowledge.  It  was  very  various  and  rich  ;  but  very  deep  it 
never  seemed  to  me.  We  shall  find  him  writing  to  Mr.  Mellen  that 
he  was  not  fond  of  political  metaphysics.  Metaphysics,  as  every 
body  knows,  is  a  term  of  fearful  sound  and  sense  to  most  hearers. 
Chase  was  not  so  metaphysical,  in  any  sense,  as  Ewing,  for  example. 
Depth,  in  all  respects,  marked  Ewing  more  than  Chase.  It  does 
not  follow  that  the  former  was  the  greater  man.  If  depth  is  neces- 
sary to  true  greatness.  Washington  was  very  far  from  great ;  and 


1  Ohio  in  the  War. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  151 

neither  Caesar,  nor  Charlemagne,  nor  Napoleon  had  true  greatness, 
while  among  the  very  greatest  of  the  great  arc  Emerson,  Carlyle, 
and  Goethe. 

But  it  is  of  Chase's  physioguomonic  notions  that  the  question  is 
at  present.  Were  they  fixed?  Did  they  remain  in  him  as  he 
passed  from  early  manhood  to  the  confines  of  old  age'.'  Probably, 
they  were  considerably  modified  by  more  extensive  intercourse  and 
more  practiced  observation.  But  of  that  I  yet  have  found  no  direct 
evidence. 

Returning  to  the  President,  of  whom  Chase  said  that  his  coun- 
tenance would  not  inspire  a  disciple  of  Lavater  with  an  opinion  of 
lofty  talent  or  vigorous  intellect,  I  wish  to  say  that  all  my  efforts 
to  discern  true  greatness,  physical  or  psychical,  in  Andrew  Jackson, 
have  been  wretched  failures — almost  as  wretched  as  the  scarecrow 
effigies  of  him  which  make  beholders  far  from  comfortable  in  a 
study  of  the  sculptured  wonders  of  this  place.  But  there  came  a 
time,  we  shall  see,  when  Chase  must  have  modified  the  feeling 
toward  Jackson,  manifest  in  my  last  extract  from  the  former's 
diary.  There  came  a  time  when,  somehow,  he  could  call  himself 
a  Democrat  of  the  Jackson  and  Benton  school. 

Of  that,  however,  I  propose  to  speak  hereafter.  Now,  I  wish 
to  call  attention  to  this  entry  : 

"January  1, [1830].  Among  other  places,  I  called  at  Mr.  Smith's, 
the  President  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  This  family  has 
long  been  on  the  list  of  ni}-  visiting  acquaintances,  but  it  is  recently, 
comparatively,  that  I  have  begun  to  esteem  them  as  friends.  .Mrs. 
Smith  has  written  several  little  works,  one  of  which  was  translated 
into  French,  and  republished  in  Paris.  She  was  here  when  the 
Federal  City  was  in  its  infancy,  and  knew  all  the  great  men  who 
have,  at  different  times,  adorned  the  councils  of  our  republic,  or  who 
have,  from  foreign  lands,  come  to  look  upon  our  rising  greatness. 
In  consequence  of  such  association,  she  can  tell  much  of  by-gone 
days  and  men.  One  evening,  she  related  to  me  the  following  anec- 
dote of  Jefferson  : 

•A  report  had  prevailed  that  J.  had  written  a  letter  to  Charles 
Thompson,  in  which  he  professed  a  conversion  to  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, and  renounced  the  infidel  opinions  which  he  had  formerly 
held.  Mrs.  S.,  delighted  to  hear  this,  wrote  to  Mr.  J.  to  inquire  if 
such  was  the  fact.  He  replied  that  he  had  written  no  such  letter  to 
Mr.  Thompson,  and  that  his  religious  opinions  ought  to  be,  and  were, 
known  only  to  himself  and  God." 

Here  is  another  extract  from  the  same  document  : 

"At  the  drawing-room,  this   evening,  I  saw  little  to  interest  me 


152  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

The  usual  motley  crowd  was  present.  The  high  and  low,  the  ins 
and  the  outs,  the  Avise  and  the  foolish,  the  learned  and  the  ignorant, 
the  old  and  the  young,  the  black  and  the  white,  and  every  inter- 
mediate here  were  congregated  for  various  purposes.  Some  came  to 
see  the  President  for  the  first  time;  some  to  bow  and  prattle  to  the 
ladies  ;  some  to  exhibit  their  own  important  selves,  to  announce  to 
the  world  that  they  were  yet  alive  ;  and  some  to  prosecute  schemes 
of  political  ambition.  It  were  a  curious  speculation  to  follow  to 
quiet  chambers  these  several  characters,  and  trace  their  emotions  of 
gratified  hope  or  disappointed  expectation.  We  might  see  the  belle 
exulting  as  she  numbered  over  her  conquests,  and  the  politician 
reconstructing  the  intricate  web  of  policy  which  that  night's  occur- 
rences had  sadly  disordered.  But  it  is  idle  to  dwell  upon  such 
fancies." 

This  entry  is  under  date  January  7,  1830.  Another,  dated 
February  29,  1830,  has  this  tenor: 

"This  evening  I  attended  a  party  at  Mrs.  Ingham's.  It  was  large 
and  brilliant.  Miss  Livingston  was  there  in  all  her  splendor,  and 
M.  G.  M.  in  all  her  attractive  loveliness.  Many  other  ladies  were 
there,  but  nearly  all  of  them  were  strangers  to  me.  I  was  dull,  and 
the  hue  of  my  feelings  cast  a  shade  all  around  me." 

Under  date  October  4,  1829,  we  have: 

"  Called  this  evening  with  Smith  at  Mr.  Pleasanton's.  Miss 
Matilda  plaj^ed  for  us,  and  talked  with  us,  and  laughed  at  us,  and 
was  rewarded  by  Smith  with  the  denomination  of  'a  piece  of  statu- 
aiy,'  when  we  returned  home.  Whereat  Dr.  Collins  was  offended, 
because,  he  said,  it  was  indelicate  to  compare  ladies  to  statues,  the 
latter  being  generally  naked.  Whereupon  a  learned  discussion  fol- 
lowed, the  particulars  of  which  I  do  not  remember,  and  if  I  did 
should  not  probably  deem  them  worthy  of  relation." 

On  the  9th  of  February,  1829,  our  young  Mr.  Chase  wrote  down 
in  his  diary : 

"Received,  through  the  Wirts,  an  invitation  to  Mrs.  Porter's. 
They  could  not  go,  and  I  did  not  wish  to  do  so ;  but  they  wished  a 
description  of  the  party,  and  so  I  went.  Not  a  great  many  persons 
had  been  invited  ;  but  there  were  enough.  Mrs.  Porter  kindly  chid 
me  for  not  bringing  the  Wirts,  but  I  assured  [her]  that  the  fault  was 
not  mine,  and  she  pardoned  me.  A  laughable  incident  occurred. 
Mr.  Webster  was  standing  engaged  in  conversation  with  some  ladies 
near  the  center  of  the  room  when  a  servant  presented  to  him  what 
seemed  to  be  wine.  He  took  a  glass  and  drank  it  off,  not  without 
some  involuntary  grimaces,  which  attracted  the  notice  of  Mrs.  Porter, 
who  inquired  the  cause,  when  she  discovered,  to  her  mortification  as 
well  as  amusement,  that  the  servant,  through  mistake,  had  brought 
us  in  some  bottles  of  fine  old  whisky.     As  soon  as  propriety  allowed, 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  153 

I  took  my  leave  and  returned  to  Mr.  Wirt's,  where  I  spent  a  pleas- 
ant hour  before  '  twal  o'clock'  summoned  me,  unwilling,  to  my 
home. 

Our  hero  did  not  only  see  society  and  hear  the  same.  He  read 
society  novels — whereof  here  is  evidence,  under  date  September  22, 
1829: 

"Read  to-day  the  new  novel,  Devereux.  It  is,  like  the  preceding 
works  of  the  same  author,  full  of  gorgeous  and  exaggerated  descrip- 
tions. It  makes  human  nature  assume  a  new  aspect.  It  gives  to 
crime  a  sublimity  of  terror  which  attracts  even  while  it  terrifies. 
It  excites  a  feeling  like  that  which  one  feels  when  gazing  from  an 
overhanging  precipice  into  a  yawning  gulf — a  strange  propensity  to 
plunge  in,  reckless  of  consequences.  I  deem  them  most  pernicious 
works — works  which  do  more  to  taint  the  morality  of  society  than 
almost  all  others.  The  author  is,  doubtless,  a  gifted  beins; — but  he 
has  prostituted  God's  noblest  gifts  to  the  vilest  purposes.  He  might 
be  great  in  the  noblest  sense;  he  is  ouly  great  in  evil." 

Here  is  a  remarkably  suggestive  entry,  looking  in  another  direc- 
tion. In  the  same  diary,  under  date  February  4,  1829,  our  hero 
wrote : 

"  Mr.  Choy  gave  a  party  this  evening,  and  I  attended,  as  I  had  neg- 
lected several  previous  evenings.  When  I  arrived  I  found  that  the 
company  had  not  yet  assembled,  and,  alter  paying  my  respects  to 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clay,  I  took  my  station  near  the  door  to  observe  the 
various  manners  of  the  entering  visitants.  I  soon  tired  of  this  em- 
ployment and  went  into  the  next  room  and  looked  at  the  clock  and 
the  company  alternately  until  half  an  hour  had  elapsed,  when  I 
took  ni}'  leave,  glad  to  escape  from  the  scene  of  ceremonious  friv- 
olity." 

It  seems,  therefore,  that  ceremonious  frivolity  was  not  quite 
pleasant  to  our  hero. 

He  will  do.  Methinks,  there  ought  to  be  no  question  now  about 
that. 

Here  is  another  entry  of  decided  interest  to  all  that  is  before  us : 

"  November  18,  [1829.]  I  was  introduced  this  evening  to  Mrs. 
Randolph,  a  daughter  of  Jefferson,  at  Mrs.  Smith's.  She  is  a  dig- 
nified woman.  It  is  said  that  she  inherits  much  of  her  father's  in- 
tellect. I  had  no  opportunity  this  evening  to  judge  the  truth  of 
the  opinion,  but  was  willing  to  take  it  on  trust.  A  weak  mind 
never  inhabited  a  form  so  commanding,  or  imparted  so  much  ex- 
pression to  a  countenance.  Some  of  her  daughters  were  also  pres- 
ent, but,  unfortunately,  in  our  country,  talent  seems  to  go  accord- 
ing to  the  statute  of  distribution  as  well  as  estates.     Very  little  of 


154  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

the  ancestor's  possessions  ever  reaches  an  individual  of  the  thh-d  gen* 
eration." 

In  the  entry  dated  January  1,  [1830].  we  have  the  following  ad- 
ditional notice  of  Jefferson's  daughter  : 

"She  is  a  very  dignified  lady;  converses  extremely  well  hut  spar- 
ingly. She  repeated  to  me,  in  his  own  words,  a  description  of  John 
Adams  by  Dr.  Franklin  :  'Always  an  honest  man,  often  a  great 
man,  and  sometimes  a  madman.'  " 

Madison  also  refers  to  this  saying.  So,  I  think,  does  Jefferson. 
Doubtless,  Franklin  really  so  painted  Adams,  for  the  picture  is  at 
once  like  Franklin's  work  and  Adams'  character.  When  Adams 
babbled  of  court  chamberlains  and  such  things  to  our  first  President, 
was  he  in  his  great  mood  or  his  mad  mood?  Or  had  he  sometimes 
purely  silly  moods? 

Such  questions  seem  to  come  up  pretty  often. 

What  did  our  hero  think  of  the  etiquette,  and  pomp,  and  pride^  at 
Washington  in  1829?  Here  is  a  brace  of  most  suggestive  tran- 
scripts : 

''  Called  this  evening  upon ,  'and  found  him  and  his  family 

at  home.     is  one  of  a  class  of  men  always  to  be  found  in  such 

a  place  as  Washington — mechanics  who  have  suddenly  grown  rich. 
But  at  W.,  instead  of  being  elevated  into  notice  among  the  fashion- 
ables by  their  wealth,  they  must  still  be  content  to  remain  as  they 

were.     One  of  his  daughters  is  a  pedant — the  rest .     I  did  not 

stay  long,  but  made  my  escape  despite  of  requests  from  Miss 

to  prolong  my  visit,  and  went  to  Mr.  Wirt's. 

"  What  a  change  to  pass  from  the  purse-proud,  vulgar  and  affect- 
ed  s  into  the  midst  of  a  pure,  and  gentle,  and  refined,  and  cul- 
tivated circle  !  It  was  enough  to  compensate  me  for  facing  a  biting 
north-west,  through  the  intervening  mile.  Of  Mr.  Wirt  I  have  spok- 
en before,  and  it  is  needless  to  repeat  my  observations  here.  Mrs. 
W is  a  lady  of  graceful  manners,  though,  at  times,  a  little  tinc- 
ture of  aristocratic  feeling  makes  a  stranger  somewhat  uneasy  in 
her  society.  She  has  a  cultivated  taste,  and  has  displayed  it  in  form- 
ing a  Dictionary  of  the  Floral  language,  which  she  intends  yet  to 
give  to  the  world.2  Her  person  is  good,  rising  to  about  the  common 
height,  but  not  exceeding  it.  She  has  been  religiously  educated  and 
is  herself,  I  believe,  in  communion  with  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


1  There  are,  in  Washington,  survivors  of  the  family  here  alluded  to.  No  doubt, 
our  hero,  as  an  old  man,  would  have  modified  his  language  in  describing,  when  he 
was  a  very  young  man,  the  members  of  that  household.  I  suppress,  therefore,  the 
name. 

2  Since  published. 


OF   SALMON  PORTLAND   CHASE.  155 

As  might  be  expected,  she  is  not  fond  of  the  mixed  society  at  Wash- 
ington, and  seldom  goes  abroad  except  when  the  courtesies  of  society 
require  of  her  the  sacrifice.  Her  favorite  spot  is  her  own  sweet 
home,  and  her  chosen  employment  the  education  of  her  daughters. 
Under  such  a  teacher,  they  could  not  but  improve.  As  well  might 
the  rose  refuse  its  beauty  and  fragrance  to  the  wooing  breath  of 
Bpring." 

Here  is  a  quite  interesting  extract  from  the  same  diary : 

"Jan.  28,  [1829].  As  Mr.  Adams  was  soon  to  go  out  of  office,  his 
last  drawing-room  was  numerously  attended.  I  had  engaged  to  go 
with  Miss  Wirt  and  Miss  Cabell,  and  Mrs.  Pleasanton  was  to  mat- 
ron ize  them.  At  the  proper  time,  I  called  for  the  ladies.  They 
were  not  ready.  I  sat  patiently  down  to  await  their  pleasure.  Mrs. 
P.  came  soon,  and  evinced  no  little  dissatisfaction  at  the  delay, 
though  she  endeavored  to  conceal  her  displeasure  under  a  mask  of 
affected  ease  and  gaiety. 

"  At  length,  however,  Ave  were  all  in  the  carriage,  and  'round  and 
round  went  the  wheels,'  until  we  arrived  at  the  President's  gate. 
The  whole  avenue  to  the  palace-door  was  filled  with  carriages  of 
those  who  had  arrived  before  us,  and  we  had  onty  the  meager  satis- 
faction of  not  being  the  last  of  the  train.  Nearly  fifteen  minutes 
elapsed  before  we  were  able  to  reach  the  door.  At  length  we  were  set 
at  liberty  and  entered  the  house.  An  immense  crowd  was  present. 
Three  rooms  were  full  of  guests.  Music  was  heard  in  the  great,  and 
yet  unfinished,  East  Poom,  inviting  the  dancers  to  engage  in  the 
cotillion.  Many  accepted  the  invitation,  and  soon  many  light  feet 
were  tripping  over  the  floor.  At  ten  o'clock,  the  dance  broke  off, 
and  the  supper  room  was  thrown  open.  Long  tables  were  spread  in 
a  spacious  apartment,  covered  with  every  thing  that  could  please  the 
eye  or  gratify  the  taste.  They  were  soon  surrounded  by  a  crowd  by 
no  means  reluctant  to  disburden  them  of  their  load.  As  each  com- 
pany was  satisfied  and  departed,  others  filled  the  vacant  places,  and 
the  banquet  did  not  end  until  after  eleven  o'clock.  Then  the  dance 
was  resumed  for  a  little  while,  until,  one  by  one,  the  gay  group 
diminished,  when  the  music  played  '  Home,  Sweet  Home,'  as  a  finale, 
and  the  pleasures  of  the  evening  were  ended." 

Under  date  October  16,  1829: 

"This  evening  I  introduced  Smith  to  the  family  of  Mr.  Ringgold, 
and  spent  a  few  hours  very  pleasantly." 

I  suppose  this  was  Mr.  Hamilton  Smith.  With  this  gentleman 
the  life  of  our  hero  had  much  to  do,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter.  How 
I  do  not  happen  to  have  received  from  him  any  contribution  to  this 
volume  I  could  not  explain  without  departing  from  the  policy  that 
has  governed  me  throughout,  siuee  the  occurrence  of  some  painful 
things,  to  which  I  have  already  alluded.     Possibly,  the  time  raaj 


156  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

come  when  Mr.  Smith  and  others  will  know  why  that  policy  forbade 
me  even  to  apply  to  them  for  anecdotes  and  other  contributions. 

To  resume.  Here  is,  it  seems  to  me,  a  particularly  interesting 
entry : 

"Dr.  Hunt  was  married  this  evening  to  the  youngest  daughter  of 
Mrs.  Ringgold.  The  evening  was  extremely  unpropitious,  yet  a 
great  crowd  was  present.  I  went  as  a  looker  on.  I  saw  Mr.  Van 
Buren  moving  about  paying  compliments  and  hunting1  for  good  opinions. 
Manj-  beaux  promenaded  the  rooms,  and  many  belles  seemed  d}Miig 
for  their  attentions.  Mr.  Ringgold  was  bustling  around  like  a  man 
determined  that  if  his  guests  were  not  pleased,  it  should  be  no  fault 
of  his.  The  doctor  was  as  happy  as  an  old  bachelor  just  escaped 
from  the  barren  confines  of  single  blesseduess  is  apt  to  be  on  such 
an  occasion,  and  the  bride  was  a  very  pretty  bride.  At  ten  o'clock 
large  folding  doors  were  thrown  open,  displaying  to  the  gourmands 
of  the  company  a  most  inviting  spectacle.  An  instant  rush  was 
made  toward  the  tables;  yet  the  gallantry  of  the  gentlemen  [caused] 
them  to  desist  until  the  fairer  portion  of  creation  had  retired.  Then, 
however,  hams,  rounds  of  beef,  chickens,  were  not  spared.  Pyra- 
mids of  ice  were  demolished  in  less  time  than  is  required  to  record 
their  fate.  Wine  flowed  in  rivers — and  rivers  were  drank  dry. 
At  length,  however,  the  appetite  of  the  most  eager  was  sated,  and  as 
there  was  nothing  more  to  be  seen  I  returned  home." 

Now  let  us  go  back  a  little.  Under  date  January  1,  1829,  an 
entry,  part  of  which  has  been  already  given,  yields  the  following : 

"After  leaving  the  President's  we  called  upon  Mrs.  Porter,  the 
lady  of  the  Secretary  of  War.  She  is  a  very  uncommon  woman.  To 
the  utmost  ease  she  unites  the  most  dignified  propriety  of  manner. 
She  has  the  art  of  setting  all  who  approach  her  perfectly  at  their 
ease,  while  she  never  permits  them  to  forget  even  for  a  moment  the 
respect  which  was  [sic]  due  to  her.  All  who  had  once  been  within 
her  magical  sphere  felt  the  influence  of  her  spells,  and  none  was  ever 
heard  to  breathe  a  wish  for  disenchantment.  If  ever  I  should  be 
joined  'for  better  or  worse,'  I  would  desire  to  be  united  to  one  like 
Mrs.  Porter,  and  having  the  added  and  more  precious  ornament  of 
pure  religion." 

This  was  not  intended  either  as  a  slur  or  a  censure.  We  must 
bear  in  mind  the  marked  religiousness  of  Chase's  education  and  his 
character. 

Let  me  ask  attention  here  to  two  extracts  (out  of  many),  indi- 
cating his  religiousness  in  1829.     The  first  of  them  reads  thus: 

"January  13,  1829.     My  birthday — and  I  have  no  guardian  save 


;  Have  we  here  a  pun,  referring  to  the  bridegroom? 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  157 

Him  whose  wards  we  are  through  life.  I  am  twenty-one.  'To-mor- 
row and  to-morrow  and  to-morrow  creeps  in  this  petty  pace,  from 
da}-  to  day,'  yet  at  length  the  most  distant  imaginable  point  of  time 
will  be  reached.  How  precious  a  treasure  is  time,  and  how  have  I 
lavishly  squandered  it  !  Oh  !  that  J  could  recall  some  of  it  from  the 
abyss!  Vain  is  the  wish.  Time  lost  can  never  be  recalled  or  re- 
deemed. Yet  even  now*  there  is  time,  if  I  will  but  resolve  and  act, 
to  do  much.  Knowledge  may  yet  be  gained,  and  golden  reputation. 
/  nuiy  yet  enjoy  the  consciousness  of  having  lived  not  in  vain.  Future 
scenes  of  triumph  may  yet  be  mine.  Let  me  awaken,  then,  to  a  just 
sense  of  my  great  deficiencies.  Let  me  struggle  earnestly  for  the 
prize  of  well-doing  and  leave  the  event  to  the  great  Arbiter  of  all 
Destinies." 

Under  date  January  1,  1829,  we  have: 

"Among  the  most  popular  of  the  preachers  at  Washington  is  Mr. 
Campbell.  In  the  pulpit  he  has  a  mild  and  subdued  expression, 
which  insensibly  prepossesses  the  hearer  in  his  favor.  This  favorable 
impression,  however,  is  usually  neutralized  when  he  begins  to  speak. 
The  tones  of  his  voice  are  not  agreeable  to  the  unused  ear,  and  the 
variety  of  intonation  excites  a  suspicion  of  affectation.  After  a  while, 
however,  you  forget  all  this,  and  then  his  graceful  and  emphatic  elo- 
cution never  fails  of  its  full  effect.  I  never  knew  a  pulpit-orator 
whose  action  was  so  entirely  free  from  fault.  He  knows  well  how  to 
impart  to  every  gesture  a  meaning  not  less  obvious  and  affecting  than 
that  conveyed  in  spoken  language.  He  is  not  eloquent — at  least. 
not  eloquent  in  the  truest  sense  of  that  word.  But  he  is  a  perfect 
master  of  rhetoric,  and  very  few  people  know  the  difference.  Pro- 
found thought,  clothed  in  language  which  has  a  meaning  of  associa- 
tion, if  I  ma}*  so  speak,  deeper  than  the  import  of  its  letter,  is  essen- 
tial to  an  eloquent  man  ;  and  this  Mr.  Campbell  has  not.  High-reach- 
ing imagination  and  copious  expression  are  his  gifts,  and  upon  a 
skillful  management  of  them  his  reputation  is  built." 

Here  is  a  markedly  characteristic  extract: 

"July  12.  I  went  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Johns  to  a  dilapidated  build- 
ing about  four  miles  from  the  city,  which  goes  by  the  name  of  Rock 
Creek  Church.  As  we  went  out  the  clouds  accumulated  in  heavy 
masses  over  our  heads,  and  rolled  heavily  but  rapidly  along.  I  felt 
that  secret  and  sublime  sensation  which,  I  suppose,  everybody  is  im- 
pressed with  at  such  moments — a  feeling  ?)  of  deep  reverential  awe, 
as  if  in  the  immediate  presence  of  awful  omnipotence.  Drops  of  rain 
had  begun  to  fall  when  we  arrived  at  church.  It  was  a  very  old 
building,  having  stood  there  since  the  earliest  settlement  of  the  dis- 
trict. It  was  never  completed.  The  walls  stood  in  their  nakedness. 
The  roof  was  unconcealed  by  a  ceiling.  Bare  rafters  stretched  their 
enormous  length  from  side  to  side.  It  was  almost  an  uncomfortable 
sensation  to  look  up  and  see  them  impending  above  you.  The  con- 
gregation, as  might  be  expected  in  such  a  place,  was  very  small. 
At  length  the  clergyman  began,  saying,  -The  Lord  is  in  his  holy 


158  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

temple,  let  all  the  earth  keep  silence  before  him;  '  and  the  old  fabric 
gave  back  the  echoed  words  as  if  conscious  that  even  that  rude  place 
might  be  a  fitting  temple  for  the  Most  High,  if  humble  hearts  and 
contrite  spirits  were  met  to  worship  there.  The  service  proceeded, 
but  soon  the  rain  fell  in  torrents,  and  the  '  thunder  mingled  its 
dread  tones  with  the  rush  of  winds  and  the  fall  of  waters.'  The 
tones  of  the  preacher's  voice  were  lost  in  the  elemental  roar,  and  he 
was  compelled  to  dismiss  the  congregation.  They  formed  themselves 
in  groups  around  the  building  and  awaited  the  abating  of  the  storm. 
Night  was  approaching  when  the  rain  partially  ceased,  and  we  all 
seized  the  opportunity  then  offered  to  return  into  the  city,  where, 
however,  we  did  not  arrive  before  the  storm  raged  anew.  Yet  we 
kept  on  through  the  midst  of  it  and,  in  a  short  time,  tho' *  wet  and 
weary,  reached  home." 

Let  me  now  invite  attention  to  my  transcript  of  an  entry  dated 
February  21,  1830,  not  long  before  our  hero  went  to  "  settle"  in  the 
Cincinnati  valley.  Here  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  indications 
that  I  have  to  offer: 

"  I  have  witnessed,  this  evening,  a  scene  unlike  any  thing  I  have 
ever  imagined  or  heard  of.  There  being  no  service  at  the  othei 
churches  on  account  of  the  weather,  I  attended  the  Methodist  chapel. 
I  was  [prepared],  in  a  degree,  for  the  sermon  by  the  prayer.  It  was 
highly  figurative,  and  impassioned,  and  earnest.  The  congregation 
were  much  excited,  and  united  audibly  with  the  minister.  Their 
utterances,  however,  were  not  articulate  language,  but  consisted  of 
exclamations  and  groans,  and,  at  times,  shouts  of  triumph.  When 
the  sermon  commenced,  my  attention  was  irresistibl}x  drawn  to  the 
preacher.  He  began  in  a  low  tone  of  voice,  and  proceeded,  for  some 
time,  in  a  simple,  didactic  strain.  By  degrees,  however,  he  became 
more  and  more  animated,  until,  at  length,  he  forgot  every  thing 
around  him,  and  gave  free  utterance  to  his  crowding  thoughts. 

"  'What  a  paradoxical  creed,"  said  he  '  do  these  Christians  receive, 
say  the  people  of  the  world.'  '  God  in  him  and  he  in  God  ;  how  can 
that  be?'  'In  yonder  blacksmith  shop,  you  see  the  iron  in  the  fire 
and  the  fire  in  the  iron,  and  the  more  the  fire  is  infused  into  it,  the 
more  nearly  does  it  assimilate  itself  to  the  nature  of  that  element. 
If  this  can  be  in  material  things,  why  not  in  spiritual?'  Much  sim- 
ilar illustration  was  used  throughout  the  sermon.  He  described  the 
nature  of  the  Christian  hope,  and  described  the  evidence  of  accep- 
tance with  God.  The  internal  peace,  which  constitutes  much  of  this 
evidence,  might,  indeed,  he  said,  be  sometimes  marred  by  an  unhappy 


1  Qu.,    Thoroughly  ? 

Not  long  ago,  I  paid,  with  two  young  companions,  a  pious  pilgrimage  to  the  spot 
where  stood  that  "  dilapidated  building,"  but  where  now  stands  a  new  church.  I 
love  to  visit  every  spot  trodden  by  the  footsteps  of  our  hero  as  a  young  man,  though, 
as  already  more  than  once  quite  clearly  intimated,  he  did  never  seem  to  me  above 
the  reach  of  weakness  and  of  worse  than  weakness. 


OF    SALMON    POKTLAXD    CHASE.  159 

physical  constitution.  '  The  spirits  of  the  believer  may  be  depressed. 
He  may  faint  in  his  march  Zi  on  ward  ;  and  the  tempter  may  thus 
obtain  power  over  him  ;  and  his  hope  of  glory  may  be  obscured  ;  and 

he  may  hang  his  harp  upon  the  willows  and  sing  no  more  the  song 
of  Zion  ;  but  in  a  little  while  the  clouds  will  break  away,  and  the 
light  of  God's  countenance  will  shine  upon  him,  and  he  will  take 
down  his  harp  from  the  willows,  and  tune  it  to  a  sweeter  strain,  and 
strike  the  notes  with  a  bolder  hand,  till  every  chord  resound,  Glory 
to  God.' 

"He  spoke  of  the  delusive  phantoms  of  pleasure  which  mock  the 
pursuits  of  the  ungodly.  He  dwelt  upon  the  divine  declaration, 
'there  is  no  peace  to  the  wicked.'  He  described  the  transition  from 
this  state  to  the  peace  of  God.  'At  length,  he  said,  'the  angel  of 
deliverance  approaches,  and  the  prison  walls  are  shaken,  and  the 
fetters  fall  off,  and  the  soul  emerges  from  its  bondage  into  glorious 
liberty.  I  tell  you,  a  new  song  is  put  into  his  mouth,  and  he  shall 
sing  it  forever.' 

"  I  am  conscious  that  I  but  feebly  imitate  his  language.  It  was 
plain,  plainer  than  that  I  have  attributed  to  him,  but  more  expres- 
sive. There  was,  besides,  a  suddenness  of  transition  from  darkness 
to  light,  and  from  deep  horror  to  lofty  rapture,  and  a  manner  of 
delivery  and  a  peculiarity  of  intonation  which  must  be  seen  and 
heard  to  be  understood.  The  whole  was  intended  for  present  effect. 
And  that  end  was  answered.  I  never  conceived  it  possible  that 
declamation  could  so  affect  even  so  ignorant  an  audience.  Some 
shouted  aloud  in  anticipation  of  heaven.  Some  shrieked  in  dread 
of  hell.  Sobs  and  groans  resounded  through  the  house,  mingled 
with  the  loud  gratulations  and  thanksgivings  of  those  who  appro- 
priated to  themselves  the  rich  promises  of  the  preacher.  Some 
started  wildly  from  their  seats  as  if  to  rush  to  joy  or  escape  from 
woe,  while  many  gazed  with  an  earnestness  of  astonishment  which 
demonstrated  that  such  a  scene  was  not  common  even  in  a  Metho- 
dist meeting." 

Bear  this  well  in  mind,  discerning  reader  !  We  shall  find  the 
writer  of  it  become  a  Methodist  himself,  and  that  in  the  full 
maturity  and  strength  of  his  faculties. 

But,  while  thus  attending  to  things  immaterial,  our  hero  could 
attend  to  things  material,  with  lively  interest.  Here  is  an  extract 
from  his  diary,  under  date  December  27,  1829  : 

"I  went  out  to  day  to  see  the  finished  portion  of  the  Baltimore 
&  Ohio  Railroad.  Only  two  miles  have  been  as  yet  completed,  but 
this  distance  suffices  for  experiments.  The  cars  are  very  long,  and 
about  as  wide  as  ordinary  road-wagons — containing,  without  incon- 
venience, from  twenty  to  thirty  people.  The}'  weigh,  as  I  was 
informed,  about  fifteen  hundred  pounds  apiece.  Yet  I  could  set  one 
of  them  in  motion  and  draw  it  along  with  my  little  finger.  Friction 
is  reduced  almost  to  nothing.  I  saw  a  horse  draw  a  loaded  car  at 
the  rate  of  ten  miles  an  hour,  and,  apparently,  with  ease.     A  small 


160  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE   AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

car,  manned  with  a  single  sailor,  was  rigged  with  a  mast  and  sails. 
He  admitted  two  or  three  passed  [passengers],  and  the  little  vehicle 
shot  off  before  the  wind,  to  the  great  amusement  and  delight  of  the 
surrounding  spectators.  The  railroad  must  be  completed.  It  is  a 
project  of  too  great  consequence  to  the  country  to  be  suffered  to 
remain  unexecuted.  Many  find  fault  with  the  proceedings  of  the 
directors,  and  accuse  them  of  a  needless  waste  of  the  funds  of  the 
company.  I  am  not  able  to  judge  of  the  justice  of  this  imputation; 
but  am  willing  to  presume  it  to  be  without  foundation.  I  know 
how  easy  it  is  to  discover  imperfections,  and  I  kuow  how  impossi-- 
ble  it  is  to  be  perfect.  Mr.  Niles,  who  is  a  man  of  great  practical 
intelligence,  and.  generally,  fair  and  impartial,  speaks  well  of  them, 
saying  that  'the  concern  could  not  be  placed  in  abler  or  better  hands. 
The  board  of  directors  is  composed  of  an  unusual  number  of  deeply- 
thinking,  closely-calculating,  and  indefatigably-industrious  gentle- 
men.'    I  am  willing  to  trust  his  judgment. 

"  The  road  is  of  incalculable  importance.  It  removes  the  Alle- 
ghanies.  Annihilates  them  as  an  obstacle  to  the  intercourse  between 
the  East  and  the  West,  while  it  leaves  them  still  to  answer  the  great 
ends  for  which  Providence  destined  them. 

"It  makes  Cincinnati  and  Baltimore  neighboring  cities,  and  ren- 
ders every  kind  of  communication  between  them  as  easy  as  it  is 
now  between  Baltimore  and  Xew  York.  It  will  open  to  the  West  a 
market  for  their  produce,  and  facilitate  the  introduction  of  the 
manufactures  of  the  East.  But  it  is  useless  to  attempt  an  enumer- 
ation of  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  the  completion  of  this  great 
work.  Time  alone  can  make  out  the  catalogue,  and  time,  I  am 
sure,  will  make  out  a  larger  and  more  splendid  list  than  its  most 
sanguine  advocates  now  anticipate." 

These  words  were  written,  as  indeed  their  own  terms  indicate,  at 
Baltimore. 

Under  date  October  30,  1829,  we  have: 

"  I  read  to-day  the  life  of  Sir  Isaac  Xewton,  as  published  by  the 
Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge.  How  do  the  perse 
vering  exertions  of  such  great  minds  to  acquire  knowledge  and 
extend  the  boundaries  of  science,  put  to  shame  my  feeble  efforts. 
Yet  I  think  to  reach  the  pinnacle  of  learning.  Alas!  that  I  should 
foolishly  dream  of  extensive  attainments  when  I  suffer  so  much  of 
my  time  to  glide  away  in  reverie — when  I  devote  a  still  larger 
proportion  to  idle  visiting.  Under  such  circumstances,  who  could 
do  any  thing  worth  the  doing?" 

On  the  5th  of  the  next  month  he  wrote : 

"  The  impressions  mentioned  in  the  preceding  pages  were  con- 
firmed powerfully  by  an  article  I  read  to-day  upon  Dwight's 
Travels  in  German?/.  Here  I  read  of  boys  of  eighteen  whose 
attainments  in  literature  were  far,  very  far,  beyond  mine,  and 
whose  knowledge  of  the  abstract  sciences  could  hardly  be  compared 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  161 

to  mine.  It  would  be  as  lOtoO.  I  consoled  myself,  in  some  degree, 
by  imputing  my  ignorance  to  a  defective  education.  But  this  is 
but  miserable  comfort ;  had  1  possessed  energy,  resolution,  Industry, 

I  might  have  made  attainments  large  as  theirs.  But  because  I 
could  not  be  suited  as  to  the  mode  of  study;  because  I  could  not 
surround  myself  with  every  thing  that  could  assist  Labor,  or  facili- 
tate research,  1  became  tired  and  idle.     Until  these  things  can  be, 

shall  1  refuse  to  labor?  Then  away  with  the  fond  expectations  I 
have  long  indulged  ;  they  will  never  he  gratified.  Had  the  great 
men,  had  the  German  scholars — deferred  the  labor  of  application 
until  placed  in  circumstances  precisely  according  with  their  most 
extravagant  imagination,  would  their  names  ever  have  been  com- 
mitted to  time  as  a  trust  of  which  he  might  be  proud?  Let  me  no 
longer  deceive  myself — these  miserable  pretenses  are  nothing  more 
than  apologies  for  laziness  or  cloaks  for  incapacity." 

The  love  of  study,  in  alternate  harmony  and  conflict  with  the  love 
of  wealth  and  fashion — or  in  other  words  of  what  is  called  society — 
may  appear  to  have  strongly  marked  the  life  of  him  by  whom  these 
words  were  written. 

In  the  entry  under  date  October  9,  1829,  we  have  these  interest- 
ing sentences : 

"  As  we  were  coming  home,  we  passed  a  man,  whose  tattered  rags 
seemed  to  plead  eloquently,  tho*  silently,  for  relief.  I  proposed  to 
the  doctor  to  stop  till  he  came  up,  and  offer  him  some  money.  To 
our  surprise  he  refused  it,  but  requested  clothes.  These  we  had  not 
to  spare.  He  threw  back  his  miserable  cloak,  exhibiting  the 
epitomized  history  of  suffering  under  it,  and  exclaimed:  'Twenty 
years  ago,  I  was  master  of  thirty  thousand  dollars,  and  now  I  have 
not  one  picayune.  Edward  Livingston  has  brought  me  to  this.' 
I  now  wonder  that  I  did  not  stop  to  hear  some  explanation  of  this 
strange  charge  against  a  man  who  stands  high  in  general  esteem, 
and.  at  the  present  moment,  occupies  a  seat  in  the  National 
Senate." 

Of  the  measure  in  which  Salmon  Portland  Chase  was  charitable, 
in  the  sense  of  being  ready  to  do  works  of  mercy  to  the  body,  I 
know  very  little.  I  do  not  suppose  that  he  was  eminently  charit- 
able, eminently  liberal,  at  any  time.  He  never  was  an  avaricious 
man,  however,  or  a  man  without  pity. 

Of  his  interest  in  reform  and  advancement,  his  diary,  under  date 
May  25,  1829,  affords  a  pleasant  proof,  as  follows  : 

"  I  attended  this  evening  a  public  meeting  to  consider  upon  the  es- 
tablishment of  an  infant  school  in  this  city.  The  meeting  was  very 
respectably  attended,  and  some  addresses  were  delivered,  of  consider- 
able interest.     It  is  wonderful  to  reflect  upon  the  progress  and  excite- 


162  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

merit  of  society.  Carried  on  by  that  progress,  and  participating  ir> 
that  excitement,  it  is  not  always  perceptible  to  us.  The  stream 
rushes  on,  but  as  we  are  borne  upon  its  bosom,  we  are  insensible  of 
its  motion ;  the  atmosphere  is  hot  and  inflamed,  but  a  fever  rages 
in  our  own  veins,  and  we  are  not  aware  that  the  temperature  is  at 
all  changed.  But  if  we  remove  ourselves,  in  idea — if  we  take  a 
high  and  commanding  elevation — if  we  get  above  this  dim  spot 
into  the  regions  of  pure  and  serene  air,  we  obtain  a  view  of  the 
most  extraordinary  character.  Man  is  seen  rousing  himself  from 
the  slumber  of  ages,  and  shaking  off  the  bondage  of  ignorance  and 
intolerance.  Governments  are  seen  remodeling — the  old  tottering 
to  their  fall,  and  the  new  springing  up  in  beautiful  proportions 
and  resting  upon  broad  and  stable  foundations.  Knowledge  is 
diffusing  her  influences  among  the  nations.  The  wilderness  is  re- 
ceding before  the  advance  of  civilization.  Cities  are  springing  up 
where  the  forest  recently  stood,  and  States  are  born  and  grow  up  to 
mature  strength  in  less  than  half  the  time  allotted  to  man  upon 
earth.  Space  is  almost  annihilated.  Human  invention  is  approx- 
imating the  remote  and  facilitating  the  difficult.  The  life  of  man 
embraces  a  far  greater  variety  of  incidents,  and  may  be  made  of 
far  greater  importance  to  himself  and  to  others  than  it  ever  could 
before.  And,  as  if  to  meet  the  new  demands  made  upon  human 
intellect,  new  methods  of  instruction  are  devised,  and  the  work  is 
commenced  earlier.  Infant  schools  begin  with  the  earliest  dawn. 
They  train  the  mind  of  the  babe  to  activity  and  observation.  They 
store  it  with  the  thoughts  of  others,  and  teach  it  to  think  for  itself. 
The  world  is  no  longer  a  dull  mass  of  matter  of  which  the  child 
knows  nothing  and  cares  to  know  nothing.  It  is  full  of  wonders, 
and  the  very  child  now  learns  to  send  a  delighted  and  intelligent 
eye  over  them.  Young  creatures,  whose  fathers  at  their  age  but 
learned  to  lisp  nursery  nonsense,  have  made  large  attainments  in 
really  useful  knowledge — knowledge  likely  to  make  them  better, 
happier,  and  more  respectable.  Yet  the  world  is  but  half  awake. 
The  wonderful  capabilities  of  humanity  are  known  but  to  few. 
Colleges,  schools,  yet  contain  but  a  small  portion  of  the  population. 
Physical  labor  yet  bears  heavily  upon  the  great  multitude,  and 
their  noble  faculties  are  almost  unknown  even  to  the  possessors. 
Yet  this  state  of  things  can  not  last.  The  signs  of  this  time  indi- 
cate the  going  on  of  a  mighty  revolution,  and  oppressed  human 
nature  shall  yet  be  redeemed  from  the  thraldom  of  sin,  and  igno- 
rance and  the  serpent's  head  effectually  crushed." 

Assuredly,  the  indications  of  these  extracts  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  legal  studies  of  our  hero  were  attended,  and,  to  some  ex- 
tent, peeuliarized,  by  other  studies  and  pursuits,  are  such  as  one  must 
love  to  dwell  on. 

Here  is,  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  a  thoroughly  religious  young 
man  of  the  world,  preparing  for  the  duties  of  the  legal  profession. 
Such  a  man  should  have  professional  prospects.  There  should  be, 
for  such  a  man,  a  splendid  future  at  the  bar. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  163 

A  lawyer  as  a  lawyer,  ought  to  be  a  gentleman.  I  have  else- 
where said  that  William  Wirt  was  one  of  the  most  perfect  gentlemen 
that  ever  breathed.  And  Mrs.  Wirt,  in  spite  of  that  '  little  tincture 
of  aristocratic  feeling1  was  clearly  a  most  lovely  lady.  Of  her 
daughter,  Elizabeth,2  Chase  wrote,  in  1829: 

Elizabeth,  the  elder,  is  a  noble  creature. 

"  She  is  not  very  beautiful,  and  yet 

There  is  that  in  her  dark,  bright,  joyous  eyes, 

And  in  the  expression  of  her  speaking  face, 

Where,  'mid  the  graces,  dwell  perpetual  smiles, 

As  sunshine  dwells  upon    the  summer  wave, 

Changing  forever  yet  forever  bright 

With  the  sweet  frankness  of  confiding  youth 

And  the  pure  light  that  ever  more  pours  forth 

From  the  mind  s  fountain,  that  demanded  more 

Than  the  cold  name  of  Beauty,  which  may  be 

The  attributes  of  beings  whom  no  ray 

Of  intellect  illumines,  and  no  charm 

Of  Loveliness  invests. 

"  She  has  bright  raven  locks  and  a  fine,  frank,  open,  brunette 
countenance.  She  moves  like  a  wind-borne  thing  over  the  earth. 
Her  step  is  almost  a  dance,  so  much  is  she  borne  up  by  the  excite- 
ment of  her  joyous  spirits.  I  would  not  trust  her  with  a  secret.  If 
her  lips  did  not  speak  it  her  eyes  would.  Her  sister  is  a  more 
Bjpiritudle  being.  There  is  more  softness  and  more  bland  sweetness 
in  her  manner.  Her  cheek  is  something  paler  and  has  a  mournful 
meaning.  Perhaps  she  thinks  of  her  lover,  who  is  away  on  the  sea. 
Perhaps,  she  is  only  meditating  upon  the  fleeting  nature  of  all 
sublunary  enjoyments.  Wherever  you  go,  pure  sisters,  the  friend 
who  writes  these  words  shall  send  up  his  prayers  for  your  unbroken 
felicity,  here  and  in  a  purer  world." 

Can  there  be  the  slightest  question  that  association  with  the  Wirts 
and  with  their  friends,  was  part  of  the  best  preparation  of  our  hero 
for  the  profession  of  the  law?  I  think  not.  That  profession  was 
to  Salmon  Portland  Chase  what  it  should  be  to  every  well-educated 
man — what,  for  example,  it  was  to  Henri  Francois  d' Aguesseau, 
when  he  wrote  on  the  Independence  of  the  Advocate,  his  discourse 
on  the  Knowledge  of  Man,  and  his  discourse  on  the  Causes  of  the 
Decline  of  Eloquence.3 


1  Ante,  p.  154. 

2  Now  Mrs.  Admiral  Goldsborough. 
"  Oeuvres  completes  du  Chancelicr  cT Agaesseau,  par  M.  Pardessus,  tome  premier  pp. 

:,  31. 

12 


3 

1,  14,  31 


164  THE    P11IVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER    XI. 

LEGAL   STUDIES — ADMISSION   TO   THE    BAR — FAREWELL   TO    WASHINGTON. 

TN  an  entry  under  date  "  1,  2,  etc.,"  1829,  Chase  wrote: 

"  December  1,  2,  etc.,  [1829.]  I  was  now  engaged  in  reading  large 
quantities  of  law,  daily.  I  read  thirty  pages  in  Espinasse's  Xisi 
Prius  and  thirty  pages  in  Stephen  on  Pleading,  besides  attending  to 
numerous  and  urgent  duties.  Of  course,  I  read  superficially,  but  my 
object  was  rather  to  finish  a  certain  number  of  books  before  1  applied 
for  admission  to  the  bar  than  to  acquire  legal  knowledge.  I  effected 
my  object,  but  at  a  great  sacrifice.  I  have  given  strength  to  a  habit 
of  superficial  reading  which  was  strong  before.  It  will  not  now  be 
easy  to  eradicate  it,  and  substitute  for  it  a  habit  of  close  attention 
and  patient  reflection.  Yet  this  must  be  done,  or  my  admission  to 
the  bar  will  do  me  little  good." 

Were  this  a  work  of  simple  eulogy,  I  might  insist  that  the  con- 
fession we  have  just  seen  must  be  ascribed  to  a  habit  of  self-censure, 
self-accusation,  self-disparagement.  On  the  other  hand,  were  not 
this  work  composed  by  a  lawyer  of  reading,  observation,  and  ex- 
perience, it  might  be  in  danger  of  countenancing  the  disparagement 
of  our  hero,  as  a  legist,  which  has  shown  itself  in  certain  quarters. 

In  another  chapter  I  have1  indicated  my  opinion  of  Salmon  Port- 
land Chase,  as  a  legal  practitioner.  Here  I  wish  to  notice  some 
peculiarities  of  his  preparation  for  the  bar,  and  then  to  draw  atten- 
tion to  some  other  matters. 

Under  date  December  31,  1829,  we  have: 

"  The  last  day  of  the  year  has  arrived — a  year  that  to  me  has  been 
fruitful  of  events  ;  some  of  them  of  a  not  unpleasing  character.  My 
vanity  has  been  flattered  by  many  proofs  of  the  estimation  in  which 
I  am  held  by  my  acquaintance — though  my  conscience  tells  me  I  am 
far  from  deserving  it  even  in  its  lowest  degree.  During  the  past 
year  I   have  made  some  attainments  in  literature  and  science  not 

1  Chapter  LIV. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  165 

altogether  valueless,  yet  when  I  compare  what  T  have  done  with 
what  I  might  have  done — when  I  place  the  reality  b}T  the  side  of 
the  possibility,  and  perceive  into  what  insignificance  it  instantly 
shrinks,  I  feel  humbled  and  mortified  by  the  conviction  that  the 
Creator  has  gifted  me  with  intelligence  almost  in  vain.  I  am  almost 
twenty-two,  and  have,  as  yet,  attained  but  the  threshold  of  knowl- 
edge. I  have  formed  few  settled  opinions,  and  have  examined  but  few 
subjects.  The  night  has  seldom  found  me  much  advanced  beyond 
the  station  I  occupied  in  the  morning,  and  the^end  of  the  year  has 
at  length  come  round  and  finds  me  almost  in  the  very  spot  I  was 
in  at  its  commencement.  I  have  learned  little  and  have  forgotten 
much,  and,  really,  to  conclude  of  the  future  from  the  past,  I  almost 
despair  of  making  any  figure  in  the  world.  Let  me  consider  that  I 
have  not  reached  the  age  when  improvement  is  hopeless,  and  that 
many  obstacles  have  hitherto  surrounded  me  and  impeded  my  prog- 
ress. Let  me  console  myself  by  this  reflection,  and  take  courage. 
Let  me  once  more  resolve  to  struggle  earnestly  for  the  prize  of  well- 
doing, and,  looking  in  humble  confidence  to  him  who  is  glorified  in 
all  the  attainments  of  all  his  creatures,  press  on  again  in  the  race 
of  virtue,  of  learning  and  science  to  the  goal  of  virtuous  and  holy 
reputation." 

Was  the  way  to  virtuous  and  holy  reputation  to  be  found  in  the 
profession  of  the  law?  How  did  this  young  man,  intending  to  be- 
come a  lawyer,  regard  the  general  compatibility  of  the  profession  he 
had  chosen  with  aesthetics  and  with  ethics? 

From  time  to  time,  as  we  go  forward,  we  shall  find  some  clear  in- 
dications of  the  proper  answer  to  this  question.  But,  since  the  death 
of  Salmon  Portland  Chase  and  the  dying  away  of  the  uudiscerning 
laudation  of  him,  in  some  of  which  so  many  persons,  lawyers  and  non- 
lawyers,  ventilated  their  own  vanity  as  well  as  glorified  our  hero,  so 
much  has  been  said  in  disparagement  of  this  man  as  a  judge,  that  it 
is  in  chapters  relating  to  his  judicial  career  and  character  that  I 
have  thought  proper  to  present  the  largest  body  of  matter  in  rela- 
tion to  the  view  he  took  of  polity  and  jurisprudence  and  of  his  pro- 
fession.1 

Here  I  call  attention  to  what  I  deem  a  very  important  extract 
from  his  diary,  under  date  February  14,  1829.     It  reads  as  follows  : 

"I  heard  Mr.  Webster  to-day  for  the  first  time  in  the  Supreme 
Court.  It  was  a  cause  originally  unimportant;  but  time  and  the 
progress  of  improvement  had  greatly  augmented  the  value  of  the 
property  in  controversy.  Years  ago  the  land  was  a  waste,  unin- 
habited and  unimproved.  A  few  dollars  bought  it  and  were  applied 
to  the  payment  of  the  debts  of  an  intestate.     .Recently,  the  heirs 

1  Post.  Chapters 


166  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

have  discovered  a  flaw  in  the  chain  of  title,  and  have  claimed  the 
land.  It  is  now  covered  by  factories  and  dwellings,  and  exhibits  the 
busy  scenes  of  a  prosperous  manufacturing  town. 

'•Mr.  Webster  argued  the  cause  for  the  heirs  and  with  great  power. 
He  states  his  case  with  great  clearness,  and  draws  his  inferences  with 
exceeding  sagacity.  His  language  is  rich  and  copious;  his  manner 
dignitied  and  impressive;  his  voice  deep  and  sonorous;  and  his  senti- 
ments high  and  often  sublime.  He  argues  generall}7  from  general 
principles,  seldom  descending  into  minute  analysis  where  intricacy 
is  apt  to  embarrass  and  analogy  to  mislead.  He  is  remarkable  for 
strength  rather  than  dexterity,  and  would  easier  rend  an  oak  than 
untie  a  knot.  If  I  could  carry  my  faith  in  the  possibility  of  all 
things  to  labor,  so  far  as  to  suppose  that  any  degree  of  industry 
would  enable  me  reach  his  height,  how  day  and  night  should  testily 
of  my  toils  !  " 

We  shall  soon  have  to  consider  Salmon  Portland  Chase  in  the 
special  character  of  a  legist  agitator — of  a  lawyer,  agitating,  as  a 
lawyer,  against  the  extension  and  perpetuation  of  the  late  "peculiar 
institution  of  the  South."  We  shall  find  him  insisting  on  the  strict 
peculiarity  of  that  institution — applying  to  it  the  strict  rule  in  Shy- 
lock's  case,  according  to  fair  Portia's  ruling.  We  shall  not,  how- 
ever, find  him  talking  wildly  about  higher  laws  or  about  covenants 
with  hell.  If  we  shall  find  him  mad,  we  shall  find  him  showing 
something  quite  like  method  in  his  madness.  He  will  not  deny  that 
slavery  may  exist,  by  force  of  unwritten,  positive  law,  as  ruled  in 
Commonwealth  v.  Aves.  But,  allowing  full  effect  to  the  decision 
in  that  case,  and  to  the  decision  in  the  case  of  the  Antelope,  we  shall 
find  him  following  Marbury  v.  Madison,  in  arguing,  with  pen  and 
lips,  that  a  supposed  legislative  enactment  which  is  in  repugnance 
to  the  Constitution,  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  is,  by  reason  of  that 
repugnance,  not  voidable  merely,  but,  from  the  beginning,  absolutely 
void.  We  shall  find  him  arguing  this  about  the  act  of  Congress  re- 
lating to  fugitives  from  service — or,  in  other  words,  to  slaves. 

We  see,  then,  that  it  is  important  to  this  work,  to  introduce  a 
purely  popular  account  of  the  legal  system  of  the  Union  as  Ave  see 
it,  for  example,  in  Ohio. 

Though  our  hero  studied  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  he  did  not 
expect  to  live  at  Washington  or  elsewhere  in  the  District.  He  ex- 
pected to  "go  West."  The  legal  system  of  this  district  is  peculiar. 
Let  us  take  the  legal  system  of  Ohio  for  needed  illustration. 

Years  ago,  I  "set  up,"  in  type,  without  writing,  and  caused  to  be 
stereotyped,  intending  soon  to  publish  a  very  little  volume,  con- 
templating contribution  toward  proper  popularization  of  the  Law. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND   CHASE.  167 

It  was  to  bear  the  name  A  Primer  of  the  Late  distinctively  American. 
It  never  came  to  seem  to  me  quite  fit  for  publication.  But  this  ex- 
tract from  it  may  be  found  to  serve  uur  present  purpose : 

If  we  look  at  the  Legal  System  as  it  is  applied  to  the  life  of 
Cincinnati,  we  may  raise  our  eyes  from  the  least  up  to  the  greatest 
in  that  system  thus : 

1.  By-Laws  of  the  local  Private  Corporations  ; 

2.  Ordinances  of  the  Municipal  (Public)  Corporation,  called  the 
City  of  Cincinnati ; 

3.  So  much  of  the  Common  Law  of  England  as  has  not  been  abro- 
gated by  the  cessation  of  its  reason,  ami  as  is  harmonious  with  the 
statutes  and  the  Constitution  of  this  State,  with  the  genius,  habits, 
and  ideas  of  the  people,  living  in  Ohio;  with  advanced  civilization 
and  improved  moral  sensibility;  with  the  legal  system  of  the 
Union,  with  the  law  of  nations  and  with  the  law  of  nature  ; 

4.  Statutes — that  is,  enactments  by  the  General  Assemblv — of 
Ohio; 

5.  The  Constitution  of  this  State  ; 

6.  The  Supreme  Law  of  the  Land  ;  that  is,  the  Legal  System  of 
the  Union ; 

7.  The  Law  of  Nations ; 

8.  The  Law  of  Nature.1 

Practically,  recognition  of  the  so-called  law  of  nature — which 
may  be  distinguished  as  the  law  of  laws — the  law  of  that  which 
ought  to  be  the  rule  of  conduct  and  the  regulation  of  relation  and 
possession — can  not  be  judiciously  allowed  to  go  beyond  construc- 
tion as  applied  to  written  constitutions.  How  with  reference  to 
simple  statutes  *?  Can  a  judge  declare  a  statute  void  because  it 
seems  to  him  repugnant  to  the  law  of  nature,  though  not  forbidden, 
either  expressly  or  by  implication,  in  the  written  constitution  ?  I 
would  say  not.  But  as  to  the  legislation  by  city  councils  and  the 
like,  the  rule  seems  to  be  well  established,  that  an  ordinance  may  be 
judicially  disregarded  on  account  of  its  repugnance  to  the  law  of 
nature. 

Chase  was  very  much  disposed  to  hold  up  the  regard  due  to  the 


1  Another  form  of  statement  may  be  thus:  1.  Rules  and  Regulations  commonly 
called  By-Laws)  of  Private  Corporations;  '2.  City  Laws,  comprehending  Ordinances 
and  By-Laws,  properly  so  designated;  3.  An  Ohio  Modification  of  the  English 
Common  Law,  a  like  modification  of  Ecclesiastical  Law,  a  like  Modification  of  old 
English  Statutes,  and  the  Law  Merchant  of  Ohio;  4.  the  Statutes  of  Ohio;  5.  the 
State  Constitution;  6.  the  Supreme  Law  of  the  Land,  extending  to  all  the  States 
and  Territories  of  the  Union,  and  comprising:  a.  the  Acts  of  Congress;  b.  Treaties; 
c.  the  Constitution  of  the  Union;  and  7.  the  Law  of  Nations  with  the  Law  of  Na- 
ture. 


168  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

law  of  nature.  Sometimes,  as  in  a  case  in  which  I  had  the  honor  to 
be  one  of  his  professional  opponents,1  he  appeared  to  me  to  carry  to 
the  verge  of  sheer  extravagance  his  views  about  that  portion  of  the 
legal  system. 

And  he  had  some  other  peculiar  views  of  fundamental  law.  In 
the  celebrated  Vanzandt  case,  of  which  a  full  account  is  elsewhere 
given,  chiefly  in  our  hero's  own  language,  he  insisted  that  the  Ordi- 
nance of  1787  for  the  government  of  the  territory  north-west  of  the 
river  Ohio,  did  not  give  place  to  the  first  constitution  of  the  State 
named  after  that  river,  but  continued,  in  that  State,  to  have  the  face 
of  a  practically  immutable  law. 

When  did  he  form  these  views,  and  where?  Was  it  here  in 
Washington  while  he  had  Wirt  for  a  legal  teacher,  and  was  often  at 
least  hearing  of  decisions  by  Chief  Justice  Marshall? 

I  am  not  able  to  answer.  But  this  much,  at  least,  is  quite  cer- 
tain. Iu  the  already2  cited  lecture-essay  on  the  Life  and  Character 
of  Henry  Brougham,  Chase,  at  three-and-twenty  years  of  age,  ex- 
pressed himself  quite  in  the  fashion  of  a  law  reformer.3 


1  Ball  vs.  Hand.  2  Introduction. 

3 He  said:  "The  common  law  of  England,  originating  in  a  barbarous  age,  in  a 
state  of  society  where  commerce  and  manufactures  were  unknown,  and  men  were 
divided  into  despised  tillers  of  the  ground  and  fierce  wielders  of  the  sword,  is  not  and 
could  not  be  expected  to  be  adapted  to  the  exigencies  of  a  civilized,  manufac- 
turing, and  commercial  community.  As  at  present  administered,  the  common  law 
may  almost  be  said  to  be  a  common  nuisance.  True,  many  additions  and  altera- 
tions have  been  made  in  the  process  of  time.  It  is  quite  a  different  thing  from 
what  it  was;  but  it  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  a  better  thing.  It  is  now  an  immeuse 
patch-work;  the  parts  have  been  collected  from  a  great  variety  of  codes,  fitted  to  a 
great  variety  of  times  and  circumstances.  Some  of  it  is  Danish,  some  Saxon,  some 
Norman,  and  some  Roman.  Some  of  it  is  ancient  and  some  of  it  is  modern.  It  is 
like  a  coat  made  of  old  cloth  and  new  cloth,  with  sleeves  for  a  baby,  skirt  for  a  boy, 
and  a  body  for  a  man.  It  is  like  a  coat  in  another  respect,  too ;  it.  is  found  to  fit  no- 
body. The  administration  of  the  law  is  more  wretchedly  defective  than  the  law 
itself.  Justice  is  sold  at  an  enormous  price.  The  witty  saying  of  Home  Tooke  is 
too  true.  To  one  who  said,  '  the  courts  are  open,'  he  replied,  'Aye,  like  the  London 
Tavern — to  all  who  can  pay  the  bill ! '  So  high  are  these  bills,  so  great  is  the  expense 
of  legal  proceedings,  that  it  is  frequently  better  to  pocket  an  injury  quietly  and  say 
nothing  about  it,  than  to  attempt  to  obtain  redress  at  law.  If  any  one  in  England 
have  a  hundred  dollars  owing  to  him,  and  his  debtor  refuse  to  pay,  it  is  cheaper  to 
let  it  go  than  to  sue  for  it.  If  any  one  have  paid  a  hundred  dollars  and  taken  a 
receipt,  and  the  man  who  has  been  paid  demand  a  second  payment,  it  is  cheaper  to 
pay  the  money  over  again,  than  to  go  to  law  and  defend  the  suit  successfully.  So 
that  it  was  not  fancy,  but  sober  truth,  that  guided  Dean  Swift's  pen,  when  he  repre- 
sented the  father  of  the  famous  Gulliver  as  ruined  by  gaining  a  Chancery  suit  with 


OP   SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  169 

Thus  it  is  quite  evident  that  very  early,  indeed,  this  "  literary 
lawyer"  showed  himself  an  agitator  for  reform  of  laws  and  legal 
manners.  Doubtless  much  of  his  enlightened  liberality,  in  this 
respect,  he  owed  to  intercourse  with  that  other  "  literary  lawyer," 
his  preceptor,  William  Wirt. 


costs.  To  put  the  matter  more  plainly  before  our  readers,  we  will  narrate  the  lead- 
ing circumstances  of  one  case  in  which  Mr.  Brougham  was  himself  employed,  and 
of  which  a  meagre  account  may  be  found  in  Mr.  Starkie's  very  valuable  book  on 
Evidence.  We  shall  use  nearly  the  language  of  Mr.  Brougham's  speech  on  the  Re- 
form of  the  Law,  in  which  we  find  a  more  detailed  statement  of  the  transaction. 

"  The  case  was  in  the  Court  of  Exchequer,  and  Mr.  Brougham  was  counsel  for  the 
defendant.  It  became  his  duty  to  examine  a  witness  for  the  Crown,  who  exhibited 
strong  indications  of  perjury ;  but  the  verdict  went  against  him,  notwithstanding. 

"  On  a  new  trial,  however,  the  suspicion  of  perjury,  before  entertained,  was  turned 
into  certainty,  and  the  defendant  was  acquitted.  A  prosecution  for  perjury  was  in- 
stituted against  that  witness,  and  seventeen  others  connected  with  him.  Eighteen  in- 
dictments were  found,  and  the  Crown  removed  the  whole  into  the  King's  Bench.  The 
Attorney-General  conducted  the  prosecution.  On  the  first  indictment,  Meade,  the  per- 
jured witness  already  mentioned,  was  clearly  convicted.  The  other  seventeen  were 
then  to  have  been  tried,  but  the  Crown  had  made  them  all  special  jury  cases,  and, 
of  course,  there  was  not  a  sufficient  number  of  jurors  present.  A  warrant  was 
prayed  as  is  usual,  we  believe,  in  such  cases,  that  the  jury  box  should  be  filled  from 
the  by-standers;  but  the  Crown  refused  the  warrant.  Thus  an  expense  of  near 
fifty  thousand  dollars  was  incurred,  and  a  hundred  witnesses  were  brought  from  a 
great  distance  to  London,  all  for  nothing,  except  after  the  vexation,  and  trouble, 
and  delay  he  had  endured,  to  work  the  ruin  of  the  prosecutor,  who  had  at  first 
been  harassed  on  the  testimony  of  the  perjured  witnesses.  These  poor  farmers  had 
no  more  money  to  spend  in  law;  all  the  other  prosecutions  were  dropped.  Even 
the  wretch  who  had  been  convicted  obtained  a  rule  for  a  new  trial;  but  funds  were 
wanting  to  meet  him  again,  and  he,  too,  escaped;  so  that  public  justice  was  utterly 
frustrated,  as  well  as  the  most  grievous  wrong  inflicted  on  individuals.  Nor  did  it 
end  here.  The  poor  farmer  was  fated  to  lose  his  life  by  the  transaction.  He  lived 
in  the  same  village  with  Meade,  the  false  witness;  and,  one  evening,  inconse- 
quence, as  was  alleged,  of  some  song  sung  by  him  in  the  streets,  this  man,  Meade, 
seized  a  gun  and  shot  him  dead  on  the  spot.  He  was  acquitted  of  murder,  on  the 
ground  of  provocation,  but  found  guilty  of  manslaughter,  and  sentenced  to  an  impris- 
onment of  two  years.  A  case  of  more  complicated  and  enormous  hardship,  one 
fraught  with  more  cruel  injustice  to  the  parties,  can  scarcely  be  imagined  to  have 
occurred  in  any  country.  Nor  was  this  a  very  uncommon  case.  We  have  not  sought 
through  many  volumes  to  find  it.  Such  cases  occur  frequently.  The  Courts  are 
familiar  with  them.  The  reports  are  full  of  them.  They  have  almost  ceased  to  be 
shocking  to  the  administrators  of  the  law.  'So  anxious' — we  quote  from  Blackstone 
by  way  of  commentary — '  so  anxious  is  the  law  of  England  to  maintain  and  restore  to 
every  individual  the  enjoyment  of  his  civil  rights,  without  intrenching  upon  those  of 
any  other  individual  in  the  nation;  so  parentally  solicitious  is  our  whole  legal 
constitution  to  preserve  that  spirit  of  equal  liberty  which  is  the  singular  felicity 
of  the  British  nation.' 


170  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Writing  to  S.    Teackle    Wallis,  Esq.,   Mr.  Wirt   drew   off  this 
paragraph,  with  others  : 

"  Bacon's  Essay  on  the  Advancement  of  Science,  Locke  on  the  Human 
Understanding  and  on  Government,  and  some  of  the  preliminary  chap- 


"  Strange  that  Mr.  Brougham  should  desire  to  interfere  with  such  striking  mani- 
festations of  parental  solicitude.  Strange  that  the  people  of  England  should  desire 
to  rid  themselves  of  the  guardianship  and  tender  care  of  so  kind  a  parent!  Yet, 
strange  though  it  be,  it  is  not  the  less  true.  The  people  and  their  great  advocate, 
influenced,  doubtless,  by  some  singular  obliquity  of  moral  vision,  thought  they  saw 
great  and  grievous  defects  and  vices  in  that  system,  which,  to  the  clearer  eye  of  Sir 
William  Blackstone,  seemed  so  perfect  and  so  goodly.  And  Mr.  Brougham  set  him- 
self strenuously  to  the  work  of  reform.  He  began  by  a  speech  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  the  report  of  which  fills  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  closely  printed 
pages.  It  is  perhaps,  saying  not  too  much  of  this  speech  to  aflirm,  that  there  is  not 
one,  either  ancient  or  modern,  that  contains  a  larger  amount  of  information,  all 
bearing,  with  admirable  adaptedness  and  resistless  effect,  upon  the  very  question 
under  consideration.  In  this  speech,  he  brought  before  the  House  the  whole  condi- 
tion of  the  common  law.  No  nook  of  the  immense  field  had  escaped  his  observa- 
tion. He  went,  into  every  dark  corner  and  hidden  recess,  as  into  familiar  and  fre- 
quented haunts.  And  to  this  great  knowledge  of  what  the  law  was,  he  added  a 
clear  and  sound  understanding  of  what,  the  law  should  be.  While  he  pointed  to  the 
evil,  he  did  not  omit  to  indicate  the  remedy.  All  that  he  said  was  said  with  so  much 
distinctness  and  simplicity,  that  no  idea  could  be  misunderstood;  yet,  with  such 
force  and  energy,  that  no  mind  could  remain  unimpressed.  He  concluded  with 
his  celebrated  motion  for  the  reform  of  the  law :  '  That  an  humble  address 
be  presented  to  his  Majesty,  praying  that  he  will  be  graciously  pleased  to 
issue  a  commission  for  inquiring  into  the  defects  occasioned  by  time  or  otherwise, 
in  the  laws  of  this  realm,  and  into  the  measures  necessary  for  removing  the  same.' 
He  afterwards,  for  the  sake  of  conciliation,  made  this  motion  less  broad,  by  substitu- 
ting the  administration  of  justice  in  the  Superior  Courts,  and  the  law  of  real  prop- 
erty, as  objects  of  inquiry,  instead  of  the  laws  of  the  realm  generally.  Thus 
modified,  the  motion  was  carried  unanimously.  Two  commissions  were  issued  by  the 
Crown,  and  the  reports  of  the  commissioners  have  been  elaborate  and  valuable. 
There  is  a  spirit  now  awake  upon  the  subject  that  will  not  slumber  again,  until,  in- 
stead of  the  present  cumbrous  and  unintelligible  system  of  law  and  courts,  like  that 
far-famed  labyrinth,  into  which  if  a  man  once  entered  he  never  found  his  way  out 
again,  England  shall  have  a  simple  and  intelligible  code  of  laws,  and  a  cheap  and 
prompt  administration  of  justice.  Mr.  Brougham  has  already  done  much.  He  well 
understood  what  was  to  be  done,  and  how  it  was  to  be  done ;  and  he  went  to  work 
cautiously,  as  a  man  should,  who  is  dealing  with  the  veins  and  arteries  of  the  social 
system.  Last  June,  he  brought,  before  the  House  the  result  of  his  labors.  His  bill 
proposes  to  divide  England  into  judicial  districts  of  a  convenient  size.  He  would 
have  only  one  judge,  who  should  have  power  to  try  and  determine,  with  the  aid  of 
a  jury,  all  causes  of  a  certain  importance.  If  the  parties  desire  it,  the  judge  may 
hear  and  determine  any  cause  without  a  jury.  When  required,  the  judge  must  also 
act  as  an  arbitrator.,  and  his  award  will  have  the  force  of  a  judgment.  But  the 
most  remarkable  feature  of  the  plan  is  this  :   Any  party  may  cite  another  against 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  171 

ters  of  Hooker  on  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  are  on  the  same  gigantic 
scale  of  thinking.  These  essays  of  Burke,  and  the  constitutional  opin- 
ions of  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  belong  to  the  same  great  class  of  intel- 
lectual effort,  and  you  ought  to  become  familiar  with  them." ' 

If  I  am  not  mistaken,  intimation  has  already  been  hazarded  in 
this  volume,  that  life,  law,  and  language  seem  to  be  the  special 
studies  proper  to  the  legist. 

That  the  forum  is,  indeed,  but  life  in  little,2  must  be  obvious. 
Life,  however,  interests  the  legist,  not  only  in  the  sense  in  which 
the  term  life  makes  one  think  of  manners,  traits,  passions,  tenden- 
cies, but  in  the  special  sense  in  which  life  is  regarded  by  the  books 
on  physiology,  and  in  the  system  usually  treated  as  comprising 
medicine  and  hygiene. 

Chase  bound  me  to  him  not  a  little  by  the  interest  he  took  in  a 
work  which,  to  the  acceptance  of  by  far  the  greatest  number  of 
its  reviewers,3  though  without  extensive  publication,  undertook  to 
contribute  toward  the  improvement  of  the  system,  which  may  well 
be  called  forensic  hygiene  and  medicine,  and  also  of  that  which  may 
well  be  called  State  hygiene  and  medicine. 


whom  he  has  any  claim  or  complaint,  before  the  judge.  When  there,  they  are  to 
state  their  case  in  their  own  way,  without  any  lawyer;  and  the  judge,  having  heard 
them  both,  is  to  give  them  his  advice  like  a  friend.  If  they  agree  to  abide  by  it, 
this  advice  acquires  the  force  of  a  regular  adjudication.  This  part  of  the  plan 
seems  admirable  in  theory,  and  has  worked  well  wherever  it  has  been  reduced  to 
practice. 

••  We  see  no  reason  why  such  a  plan  might  not  be  introduced  into  the  courts  of  this 
country  with  advantage.  While  we  have  great  and  just  cause  of  grateful  triumph 
that  so  much  of  the  absurdity  and  evil,  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Brougham  in  the  system 
of  English  law,  has  been  purged  from  our  jurisprudence,  we  have  also  reason  to  be 
ashamed  that  so  much  remains.  Our  modes  of  distributing  justice,  especially,  are 
far  from  perfect.  And  we  may  hope  that  it  is  not  presumptuous  to  imagine,  nor  an 
unpardonable  irreverence  of  antiquity  to  suggest,  that  the  present  generation  may 
improve  what  a  former  generation  has  left  susceptible  of  improvement.  If  our  laws 
and  courts  should  be  so  improved  that  justice  could  no  longer  be  represented,  and 
truly  represented,  as  limping  tardily  along  after  a  nimble  rogue,  and  only  catching 
him,  if  she  catch  him  at  all,  when  he  can  get  no  farther,  in  the  last  court  cf  appel- 
late jurisdiction,  we  may  hope,  also,  that  no  lawyer  would  be  found  weeping  in 
secret  over  shrunk  fees  and  a  lean  docket." 

1  Kennedy's  Life  of  Wirt,  vol.  II.,  page  385. 

2  Warden,  Man  and  Law. 

3  Particularly  the  North  American  Review,  the  Independent,  the  Neio  Englander,  the 
Freeman's  Journal.  Allibone's  delusively  defective  dictionary  of  authors  gives  a 
most  imperfect  notion  of  the  manner  in  which  that  work  was  treated  by  reviewers. 


172  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

We  shall  find  him  taking  a  most  painful  interest  in  parts  of 
medical  learning.1  Did  he,  while  preparing  for  the  bar,  concern 
himself  sufficiently  with  legal  medicine?  I  think  not.  Of  that, 
however,  I  propose  to  say  a  word  hereafter. 

That  he  did  not  more  devote  himself  to  legal  studies  while  at 
"Washington,  he  seemed  deeply  to  regret.  But  let  us  make  correct 
distinctions  on  that  subject.  He  had  Wirt  for  a  legal  teacher.  Wirt 
would  naturally  give  far  more  attention  to  the  reports  of  cases 
decided  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  than  to  any 
other  reports.  It  would  naturally  happen,  then,  that  those  reports 
should  be  more  interesting  than  any  other  to  his  legal  pupils,  of 
whom  Chase  was  probably  the  most  considered. 

Now,  at  this  time,  there  should  be  no  question  but  that  the  finest 
reports  we  have  are  the  reports  in  question. 

Nothing  more  than  evidence  of  law  is  yielded  by  decisions.2  Law 
is  made  by  legislation,  not  by  judgment.  The  expression  "judge- 
made  law,"  like  the  expression  "  case-law,"  shows  confusion  of 
ideas.  Dieere  -non  dare — to  declare  law,  not  to  make  it — is  the 
function  of  the  judge.  But  let  us  not  forget  the  facts.  All  law  is 
not  made.     Great  part  of  it  is  a  mere  growth. 

I  do  not  speak  alone  of  law  as  fixed  in  usage.  As  to  many  interests, 
the  law  is  that  that  which  ought  to  be,  as  ascertained  by  enlightened 
judgment,  shall  be.  Here  we  have,  apparently,  judicial  legislation. 
Alter  all,  however,  the  decision  is  not  law,  but  only  evidence  of 
law — a  distinction  of  capital  importance. 

Did  our  hero,  while  preparing  for  the  bar,  pay  due  attention  to 
the  interest  of  the  law  in  language  '? 

Language,  life,  and  law,  I  take  it,  are  the  preeminently  proper  studies 
of  a  legist.  Every  completely  educated  American  legist  might  well 
be  expected  to  know  German,  French,  Greek,  Latin,  English.  I 
confess  I  know  too  little  of  the  Greek,  and  not  enough  of  Latin ;  so 
that  I  am  rather  taking  exception  to  a  common  fault  of  legal  edu- 
cation than  professing  to  have  done  all  I  should  have  done  in  lingual 
study. 

While  I  was,  in  aid  of  this  work,  for  a  short  time  private  secre- 
tary to  our  hero,  there  were  interesting  talks  about  linguistics  between 
"my  chief,"  as  he  seemed  pleased  to  have  me  call  him,  and  myself. 


^ost,  p.  21-2. 

2Gholson,  J.,  in  Shelley  v.  Jeff.  Br.  Bank,  9  Ohio  State  Rep.,  606.     And  see  1    Bl 
Comm.,  70,  71. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  173 

For  my  part,  I  was  much  fonder  of  linguistics  than  of  language,  if 
I  may  so  convey  my  meaning,  while  my  chief  was  not  so  interested 
in  the  science  of  the  typical  in  speech,  of  etymology,  etc.  Indeed, 
except  as  to  Greek  and  Latin,  and  his  mother-tongue,  he  appeared 
to  have  comparatively  little  interest  in  language.  True,  he  was  not 
ignorant  of  French,  and  he  had  learned  a  little  German  ;  but  I  was 
quite  disappointed  in  his  learning  in  linguistics. 

Let  us  now  examine  whether  Chase  prepared  himself  sufficiently 
for  the  service  he  would  hope  at  least  to  have  to  render  to  his  clients 
as  an  orator. 

The  evidence  relating  to  that  subject  we  have  partly  seen  already. 
Let  me  now  invite  attention  to  another  extract  from  his  diary. 

December  24,  1829,  our  fledging  legist  went  to  Baltimore  with 
artist  King,  whom  he  highly  eulogizes.  He  set  down  about  this 
trip : 

':  When  we  arrived  in  Baltimore,  I  took  lodgings  at  the  hotel. 
Mr.  King  had  relations,  with  whom  he  found  quartet's.  The  same 
evening.  I  called  at  Mr.  Wirt's,  but  having  business  in  the  city,  did 
not  remain  long.  At  night,  I  returned  again,  and  spent  some  hours 
in  conversation  with  the  family.  The  next  day  was  Christmas,  and 
we  were  all  to  dine  together  at  Mr.  W's.  In  the  morning,  I  went  to 
church.  The  Eev.  Mr.  Johns,  of  Baltimore,  preached.  It  is  the  habit 
of  this  clergyman  to  deliver  his  sermons  memoriter.  This  gives  him 
a  great  advantage  over  reading,  and  over  most  extempore  preach- 
ers also.  His  discourses  are  beautifully  written,  and  very  im- 
preseively  delivered.  They  seem  to  come  fresh  from  the  heart  of  the 
Bpeaker,  and  reach,  I  doubt  not,  the  hearts  of  many  of  his  auditors. 
After  church.  I  went  to  Mr.  Wirt's,  where  most  of  the  other  guests 
were  already  assembled.  Our  party  was  a  very  pleasant  one,  and 
we  sat  at  the  table  until  dark.  We  then  adjourned  to  the  draw- 
ing-room, where  we  spent  the  evening  in  social  chat  or  innocent 
amusement." 

Still  the  Wirts— the  Wirts!     Thank  Heaven  for  that! 
September  26,  1829,  we  have  this  minute: 

••  Called  at  Mrs.  Elger's  this  evening,  and  ree'd.  thro'  Miss  Mar- 
garette  a  rather  unexpected  message  from  Miss  E.  G.  W.:' 

October  9,  1829,  appears  : 

"Eose  early  and  went  to  Baltimore  with  Dr.  Collins  in  his  gig. 
Stopped  at  Mr.  Wirt's,  and  took  the  family  by  surprise.  Elizabeth 
and  Catherine  hail  gone  to  bid  farewell  to  Mrs.  Ousely,  who  was 
about  to  embark  for  Europe.  They  soon  returned,  and  I  conversed 
with  them  for  some  time.     I  then  went  to  my  hotel  and  spent  the 


174  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

night.  The  next  morning,  when  I  called,  E  —  intrusted  me  with  a 
token  leaf  for  a  friend  at  Washington,  and  bidding  them  farewell, 
we  came  away." 

November  14,  1829,  Mr.  Chase  set  down  in  his  diary  : 

"Calling  on  Mrs.  Elgers  to-day,  she  showed  me  a  letter  she  had 
just  received  from  C.  L.  Wirt,  in  which  she  reproached  me  with  neg- 
lect of  writing  to  them.  I  might  say  in  the  words  of  one  mentioned 
in  the  Old  Testament:  'Is  there  not  a  cause?'  " 

I  do  not  understand  this ;  and  I  dare  not  speculate  about  a  theme 
so  sacred. 

The  Wirts  Avere  then  at  Baltimore.  On  the  28th  of  Febroary, 
1829,  at  Washington,  the  head  of  the  house  wrote  to  Judge  Carr  a 
letter,  containing  the  sentences: 

"  My  wife,  on  a  full  view  of  the  whole  ground,  gives  the  preference 
to  Baltimore.  She  is  delighted  to  get  away  from  the  threatening 
storm  and  from  the  new  association  here — and  my  children  are  all 
reconciled  to  it.  I  have,  thank  God,  a  happy,  innocent,  and  most 
affectionate  family,  and  I  have  every  prospect  in  a  few  years  of 
placingthem  in  independent,  if  not  affluent,  circumstances.  I  am  bright 
and  buoyant  with  hope,  and  shall  meet  the  spring  of  the  year  with 
all  its  own  appropriate  gaiety  and  cheerfulness.  As  Erskine  said, 
when  they  turned  him  out  of  the  office  of  chancellor,  "I  am  much 
obliged  to  them,  for  they  have  given  me,  in  exchange  for  a  dog's 
life,  that  of  a  gentleman.'  I  have  greater  confidence  in  that  God  who 
has  never  forsaken  me,  even  in  those  headlong  moments  of  my  life, 
when  I  have  forgotten  myself;  and  in  addition  to  this,  with  so  much 
on  earth  to  cheer  and  support  me,  such  a  family,  such  friends,  I 
should  be  a  poor  wretch,  indeed,  to  despond.  God  willing,  you  shall 
hear  of  me  in  time  to  come  to  my  advantage."1 


Un 


)t  me  in  time  to  come  to  my  advantage 
der  date,  February  29,  1830,  we  have: 
i  the  next  dav.  I  went  to  Baltimore. 


"On  the  next  day,  I  went  to  Baltimore,  and,  having  made  some 
other  calls,  visited  Mr.  Wirt.  It  was  not  as  it  was  wont  to  be.  Some 
of  the  family  were  sick,  others  did  not  appear,  and  they  who  did 
seemed  changed.  Perhaps,  it  was  but  the  picturing  of  my  fancy, 
but  I  fear  not.  The  next  da}',  coming  out  of  church,  I  met  one  of 
the  young  ladies.  I  had  not  seen  her  on  the  preceding  day,  and 
perhaps  my  own  manner  was  somewhat  affected  by  the  reception  I 
had  met.  She  accused  me  of  coldness.  I  defended  myself  as  well  as 
I  could,  and  went  home  with  her.  I  called  again  the  next  dajT,  and 
bade  them  farewell." 

That  was  but  a  passing  cloud  in  the  sky  of  our  hero's  friendship 
with  the  Wirts. 


1  Life  of  Wirt,  by  Kennedy,  II,  227. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  175 

"  Amantium  irce  amoris  redintegratio  est,'" 
is  beautifully  rendered  by  an  English  bard: 

"The  falling  out  of  faithful  friends 
Renewing  is  of  love." 

But  let  us  go  back  to  our  hero's  preparation  for  the  bar. 

Did  he,  while  with  Wirt,  study  elocution?  Did  he  then  devote 
himself  to  rhetoric  except  as  we  have  seen?  Having  such  a  model 
as  he  had  in  William  Wirt,  he  could  hardly  have  failed  to  study, 
more  or  less  attentively,  the  requisites  of  oratory  such  as  is  peculiarly 
appropriate  to  the  exercises  of  the  advocate.  Did  he  formally  study 
elocution,  did  he  methodically  study  rhetoric,  with  reference  to  the 
profession  he  had  chosen  ? 

He  could  not  have  studied  Rush  's  wonderful  book  ;  because  it  was 
not  written.  But  he  could  have  studied  other  works  on  elocution, 
and  there  were,  at  his  command,  good  treatises  on  rhetoric. 

In  his  profession,  he  would  need  a  forensic  logic  for  conducting 
legal  thinking,  a  forensic  rhetoric  for  communicating  the  results  of 
legal  thought.  How  far  he  recognized  this  truth,  and  acted  on  it, 
it  is  now  impossible  to  ascertain.  But  what  is  certain  is,  that  he  was 
destined  to  become  distinguished  as  a  fine  forensic  speaker. 

These  three  entries  are  of  cognate  interest : 

"Dec.  7,  [1829].  Went  to  Court  to  be  admitted,  but  was  not 
examined.     The  Court  assigned  Tuesday  for  our  examination. 

"Dee.  9.  Attended  again,  and  the  Court  again  put  off  our  exami- 
nation till  the  14th. 

"Dee.  14.  Attended  the  Court,  and,  with  several  others,  was 
examined  for  admission  to  the  bar.  One  was  rejected,  two  were 
deferred;  three,  of  whom  1  was  one,  were  admitted.  So  I  am  now 
an  attorney-at-law.     I  have  a  profession.     Let  me  not  dishonor  it." 

Here  is  a  transcript  of  the  entry  made  by  our  hero  in  his  diary 
under  date,  March  6,  1829  : 

"  When  we  see  uncommon  talent  connected  with  uncommon  weak- 
ness; when  we  see  great  genius  subjugated  by  vicious  appetite;  we 
are  apt  to  excuse  Nature  of  injustice,  and  blame  the  unequal  appor- 
tionment of  her  favors.  Why,  we  are  apt  to  inquire,  are  not  the 
mighty  in  mind  strong  in  principle?  Why  are  not  the  emancipated 
from  ignorance  secured  from  the  worse  thraldom    of  vice?    These 

reflections   naturally  arose    in    my  mind  when  I  saw  Mr.  T 

displaying  in  the  Supreme  Court  an  acuteness  and  profundity  of  dis- 


176  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

cernmcnt  and  a  comprehensiveness  of  grasp,  wonderful  in  any  man, 
but  especially  wonderful  in  one  so  young,  and  reflected  that  he  was 
a  slave  to  drink,  and  that  in  a  few  hours  those  astonishing  powers 
would  be  lost  in  intoxication.  Here  is  a  mournful  proof  that  talent 
and  learning  are  ineffectual  guards  against  vice,  that  it  is  not  enough 
that  the  light  of  reason  beam  brightly  upon  the  path,  unless  her 
decisions  be  carried  into  execution  by  strong  moral  principle. 
Reason,  indeed,  may  show  us  the  right,  but  conscience,  and  con- 
science alone,  can  impel  us  to  walk  in  it.    Mr.  T is  about  35  years 

of  age ;  of  a  slender  frame  and  expressive  countenance.  It  is  dark- 
ened, indeed,  b}*  the  influence  of  his  vice,  but  all  its  original  glory 
is  not  yet  lost.  His  mind  still  acts  powerfully — the  demon  has  not 
yet-obtained  the  mastery  over  that — and,  I  suppose,  when  he  is  sober, 
that  is  still  alive  to  a  sense  of  reputation.  He  exerted  all  his 
strength  to-day.  Displaying  a  copious  learning,  an  accurate  re- 
search, a  rich  and  harmonious  diction,  a  deep  and  minute  analysis, 
he  treated  the  most  abstruse  subjects  as  school-boy  themes,  and  passed 
through  the  darkest  fields  of  discussion  as  if  they  had  been  familiar 
and  accustomed  walks.  Every  body  was  astonished  by  the  unex- 
pected display.  As  I  went  home  from  the  court  with  the  Attorney- 
General,  he  remarked  that,  for  twenty  years  he  had  heard  nothing 
equal  to  it.  But  his  reputation  will  fade  away.  He  might  incorpo- 
rate his  fame  with  time,  and  build  for  himself  an  indestructible 
monument — he  might,  but  will  not.  And  in  a  few  years  when  he 
himself  has  sunk  into  the  final  slumber,  his  name  and  his  remem- 
brance will  pass  away  forever.  Would  that  for  his  sake  the  opiate 
which  then  shall  have  power  over  him  might  master  him  forever." 

When  Salmon  Portland  Chase  left  Washington,  determined  to 
become  a  Cincinnatian,  he  resolved  to  be  a  sober  man.  He  kept 
that  resolution. 

Here  is  another  extract  of  like  indication  : 

"Nov.  15,  1829.  Went  to  hear  Mr.  Hewitt  preach  on  the  subject 
of  temperance.  .  .  .  The  largest  audience  I  had  ever  seen  gathered 
in  a  Washington  church  listened  with  profound  attention  and 
departed  to  their  homes,  all  instructed  and  some,  doubtless,  reformed." 

We  have  found  our  hero  censuring  himself  on  account  of  failing 
to  take  advantage  of  his  opportunities  to  study  men  and  things  at 
Washington.  Yet  his  diary  is  very  rich  in  matter,  more  or  less 
reflective  of  the  public  life  of  this  Capital  at  that  time. 

Here  is,  it  seems  to  me,  a  very  interesting  proof  of  that  which 
I  have  just  suggested  : 

"  March  4, 1829.  To-day,  the  ' Peoples'  President '  was  inaugurated. 
Prodigious  numbers  assembled  to  witness  the  ceremony.  Huge 
masses  of  men  covered  all  the  area  of  the  Capitol,  in  the  portico  of 
which  the  G-eneral  stood.     The  mob  listened  in  breathless  expecta- 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  177 

tion  while  the  Inaugural  Address  was  delivered,  but  not  a  word 
reached  their  eager  ears.  The  members  of  the  last  Cabinet  were 
invited,  ami  seats  were  prepared  for  them,  but  they  did  not  choose  to 
attend  to  hear  themselves  abused  by  insinuation." 

Tender  souls  !  Their  courtesy  was  not  of  the  first  order,  and  one 
might  infer  against  their  sense,  according  to  Franklin's  alteration  of 
the  lines  of  Pope: 

"  Immodest  words  admit  of  no  defense, 
For  want  of  modesty  is  want  of  sense." 

"Now,"  saith  Franklin,  "is  not  want  of  sense  (where  a  man  is  so 
unfortunate  as  to  want  it)  some  apology  for  his  want  of  modesty? 
and  would  not  the  lines  stand  more  justly  thus? 

"Immodest  words  admit  but  this  defense, 
That  want  of  modesty  is  want  of  sense." 

"  This,  however,  I  should  submit  to  better  judgments."  l 

Imitating  an  example  so  illustrious,  I  venture  to  submit  to  better 
judgments  whether  want  of  courtesy  does  not  at  least  strongly  tend 
to  prove  a  want  of  sense? 

How  Adams  behaved  to  Jackson  when  the  latter  approached  him 
on  a  certain  occasion  is  well  known.  The  anecdote  is  far  from 
creditable  to  John  Quincy  Adams. 

To  resume  !     Chase  continues  in  this  fashion  : 

When  the  address  was  over,  the  President  mounted,  a  horse  and 
rode  toward  the  President's  house.  The  multitude  followed,  shout- 
ins,  some  on  horseback  and  some  on  foot.  The  tide  rolled  on  to  the 
house.  Mr.  Adams  had  left  it  a  few  days  before,  and  retired  to  Meridian 
Hill,  calm  and  serene  without  and  within." 


1  Bigelow's  Version  of  Autobiography,  p.  101. 
Laboulaye  {Memories  de  Benjamin  Franklin,  44),  gives: 
"  II  faut  que  je  vous  cite  les  deux  vers : 
Pour  la  presomption  il  n'y  a  point  d'excuse, 
Car  manquer  de  modest ie,  e'est  manquer  de  sens." 
"  Cependant  le  manque  de  sens  (quand  on  est  assez  malheureux  pour  en  manquer) 
n'est  il  pas  en  quelque  sorte  une  excuse  pour  le  manque  de  modeslie?  et  ces  deux  vers 
ne  seraient-ils  pas  plus  justes,  si  Ion  disait: 

"Pour  la  presomption  il  n'y  a  qu'une  excuse, 
C'est  que  manquer  de  modest  ie,  e'est  manquer  de  sens." 
"  Mais  je  laisse  a  des  juges  plus  tclaires  le  soin  de  decider  cette  question." 


178  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

About  that  calmness,  that  serenity,  one  needs  must  doubt  in  spite 
of  Chase's  judgment. 

"He,"  continues  Chase,  "had  performed  his  duty,  and  was  con- 
tent with  that  consciousness.  The  misled  people  could  take  from 
him  his  office,  but  they  could  not  deprive  him  of  that." 

Our  hero  did  not  know  John  Quincy  Adams.  Adams  was,  like 
his  father,  a  true  worthy ;  but  he  was  not  such  a  worthy  as  he 
seemed  to  our  young  hero.     Chase  continues  to  relate  as  follows : 

"Every  thing  in  the  house  had  been  left  in  the  neatest  arrange- 
ment. But  half  an  hour  threw  every  thing  into  confusion.  Those 
who  entered  first  were  obliged  to  find  their  way  out  through  the 
windows ;  for,  to  return  through  the  doors  was  almost  an  impossi- 
bility. At  length,  curiosity  was  sated,  and  all  had  offered  their  con- 
gratulations ;  the  General  gave  the  last  shake  of  the  hand  with  more 
pleasure  than  any  before,  and  returned  again  to  the  hotel,  that  the 
ravages  of  the  mob  might  be  rejniired,  and  the  building  prepared 
once  more  for  his  residence. 

"  For  me,  I  would  prefer  to  fall  with  the  fallen  than  to  rise  with 
the  rising." 

Here  is  a  reflection  of  Wirt's  influence  over  Chase — of  which  a 
farther  word  hereafter  must  be  said. 

Attention  is  next  invited  to  an  extract,  bringing  on  the  stage  the 
Kinderhook  Magician.     Under  date  Dec.  29,  1829,  is  this  entry  : 

"When  Mr.  Van  Buren  first  came  to  Washington,  Mr.  Swann 
was  among  the  very  first  citizens  who  opened  his  house  to  him 
and  extended  to  him  the  courtesies  of  hospitality.  Mr.  Van  Buren 
was  then  merely  a  Senator,  with  no  apparent  prospect  of  ever  being 
any  thing  more.  Of  course,  Mr.  Swann's  attentions  could  be 
prompted  b}T  no  spirit  of  selfishness.  Indeed,  at  that  time,  no  one 
thought  it  necessary  to  conciliate  the  favor  of  men  in  power  in 
order  to  retain  the  stations  they  might  hold.  Fidelity  was  a  surer 
guard  than  favor.  Mr.  Van  Buren  expressed  and  seemed  to  feel 
gratitude  for  Mr.  Swann's  attentions.  He  visited  frequently  in  the 
family,  and  continued  to  do  so  from  winter  to  winter  until  the 
last,  when  he  was  elected  Governor  of  New  York.  He  had  held 
this  station  but  a  short  time  when  he  was  appointed  Secretary  of 
State  by  Gen.  Jackson. 

"  Rumor  had  been  busy  in  spreading  the  report  of  an  anticipated 
proscription,  and  Duff  Green  had  announced  the  intention  of  the 
executive  'to  reward  his  friends  and  punish  his  enemies.'  Many 
gentlemen,  friendly  to  the  administration  of  Mr.  Adams,  who  held 
offices  under  the  general  government,  became  alarmed.  Mr.  Swann 
was  of  the  number.  When  Mr.  Van  Buren  came  to  the  seat  of 
government,  Mr.  S.  and  his  son-in-law,  Maj.  Mercer,  called  upon 
him.     He  did  not  reciprocate  this  civility.     His  intentions  were 


OF   SALMON  TORTLAND   CHASE.  179 

unknown.  It  was  thought  and  rumored  that  he  was  against  the 
policy  of  proscription.  It  was  surmised  that  he  intended  to  pursue 
a  generous,  magnanimous,  and  liberal  course,  and  thus  draw  upon 
himself  the  regards  of  all  parties.  The  thing  seemed  feasible  and 
likely,  and  many  expected  that  such  would  be  his  course;  when 
the  sudden  dismissal  of  six  clerks  from  his  office  showed  the 
fallacy  of  all  these  suppositions  and  evinced  his  determination  to 
go  far  as  the  farthest. 

"  A  friend  of  Mr.  Swann,  desirous  to  learn  what  would  be  his 
fate,  now  called  upon  Mr.  Van  Buren.  He  found  [him]  sitting  in 
his  office,  and  entered  into  a  conversation  with  him  upon  general 
topics.  At  length  he  carelessly  asked  :  '  What  is  to  be  done  with 
old  Swann?  We  must  not  let  him  go,  until  at  least  we  have  had 
some  more  of  his  old  Madeira?'  Van  Buren  evaded  the  question, 
but  Hamilton,  who  was  acting  secretary,  and  was  then  writing  at  a 
table  in  the  room,  raised  his  head  from  his  paper,  and  gruffly  re- 
marked :  '  He  must  go  with  the  rest.' 

"  Some  time  after  this,  it  was  ascertained  that  it  was  not  the  in- 
tention of  Gen.  J.  to  remove  Mr.  Swann,  and  Mr.  Van  Buren  had 
no  sooner  ascertained  this  fact  than  he  hastened  to  return  the  calls 
of  Maj.  Mercer  and  Mr.  Swann,  and  appropriate  to  himself,  and  to 
his  kind  interference,  the  whole  merit  of  the  service.  But  the 
artifice  was  too  shallow.  The  contemptible  intriguer  was  detected, 
and  his  renewal  of  civilities  was  looked  upon  with  disgust  and  con- 
tempt. Such  is  the  character  of  Martin  Van  Buren,  cold,  selfish, 
intriguing,  base,  and  faithless.  May  he  never  reach  the  golden 
round  to  which  he  so  ardently  aspires." 

It  is  well  known  that  Mr.  Chase  learned  to  think  more  favor- 
ably of  Martin  Van  Buren  ;  that,  indeed,  in  1848,  he  supported  him 
for  the  Presidency  as  the  candidate  of  the  Free  Soilers,  having  been 
a  member  of  the  convention,  which,  at  Buffalo,  put  him  in  nomina- 
tion. It  is  well,  however,  to  know  what  Van  Buren  seemed  to 
Chase  in  1829,  as  well  as  what  he  seemed  to  him  in  1848.' 

That  diary-entry  of  December  29,  1829,  proceeds  as  follows: 

"  An  acquaintance  of  mine  called  lately  on  Gen.  Jackson  to  re- 
quest public  employment  of  him.  He  said  that  the  General  told 
him  that  his  claims  should  be  considered  whenever  a  vacancy 
occurred,  but  that  he  could  not  remove  anyone  to  make  a  place  foi 
him.  'You  see,'  said  he,  'what  a  fuss  the  people  make  about  the 
removals  which  have  been  made  already.'  " 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  people,  at  that  time,  were  not 
disposed  to  sanction  the  extreme  devotion  of  the  political  partisan. 

Indeed,  Jackson  himself  is  represented  as  rather  seeking  to  reward 
personal  attachment  to  himself  and  to  punish  personal  hostility  to 
himself  than  to  maintain  strict  party  discipline. 

Under  date  Januarv  20,  1830,  we  have  : 
13 


180  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

"  Read  Mr.  Madison's  letters  to  J.  H.  Cabell  on  the  subject  of  the 
tariff.  They  are  characterized  by  his  usual  clearness  and  vigor, 
and  place  the  principle  of  protection  on  impregnable  grounds.  Yet 
the  violent  opposition  of  the  tariff  will  not,  I  think,  be  allayed  by 
it.  It  has  its  source,  not  in  a  sense  of  actual  grievance,  but  in  a 
narrow  sectional  jealousy  and  the  high-reaching  ambition  of  some 
sectional  leaders.  Assertion  will,  I  think,  be  just  as  clamorous  and 
dogmatical  as  before,  and  pride  will  be  as  loud  and  as  obstinate." 

That  our  hero  came  to  be  in  some  sense  a  free  trader  is  well  known. 
But  I  prefer  to  speak  hereafter  of  his  conceptions  of  political 
economy. 

Here  is  an  entry  of  decided  creditableness  to  the  young  citizen  by 
whom  it  was  composed. 

November  16,  1829,  he  said  : 

"I  read,  to-da}%  the  speech  of  Benjamin  Watkins  Leigh  in  the 
convention  of  Virginia.  It  is  an  able  and  ingenious  defense  of  the 
ancient  order  of  things,  covering  nearly  eleven  closely  printed 
columns  of  the  Richmond  Enquirer.  A  portion  of  the  speech  con- 
tained sentiments  in  which  I  heartily  concur — particularly  in  a 
vivid  and  striking  delineation  of  the  degrading  arts  practiced  by 
office-seekers.  To  other  sentiments  expressed  in  it  I  could  by  no 
means  assent.  The  strange  idea  that  the  free  laboring  population 
of  non-slave-holding  States  was  on  the  same  level,  in  the  !  point  of 
intelligence,  and  should  be  on  the  same  level,  in  point  of  political 
privilege,  was  unworthy  of  Mr.  Leigh  and  utterly  abhorrent  to  every 
principle  of  equal  rights." 

Under  date  June  24,  1829,  we  have: 

"  My  uncle  from  Ohio  called.  An  unexpected  pleasure,  as  I  knew 
not  that  he  was  east  of  the  Alleghanies." 

On  examining  the  Reminiscences  of  Bishop  Chase,  to  find  some 
notice  of  this  meeting,  I  failed  to  find  any  notice  of  it.  Then  I 
looked  through  the  whole  work  to  see  if  it,  in  any  place,  showed 
any  thing  like  appreciation  of  its  author's  gifted  nephew.  Does  it 
even  mention  him  at  all  ?  I  think  not ;  but,  perhaps,  I  may  have 
overlooked  some  passage. 

I  repeat,  the  article  of  uncle  distributed  to  our  hero  does  not  seem 
to  me  to  have  been  very  fine.  What  a  contrast  between  the  interest 
taken  by  Philander  Chase  in  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  and  the  interest 
taken  in  the  last-named  worthy  by  his  legal  teacher,  William  Wirt, 
no  relative  at  all? 

1  Sic. 


OF   SALMON    TORTLAND    CHASE.  181 

Under  date  February  22,  1830,  there  is  a  peculiarly  interesting 
entry  in  these  words  : 

"  Judge  Burnett,  of  the  Senate,  is  a  small  man,  of  a  not  implead- 
ing countenance.  The  indications  of  intellect  are  slight,  but  by 
untiring  industry  he  has  acquired  a  high  professional  reputation. 
He  converses  with  some  appearance  of  effort,  and  has  been  as  yet 
a  silent  member  of  the  Senate.  I  had,  this  morning,  some  conver- 
sation with  him,  respecting  Cincinnati.  He  said  that  the  bar  there 
was  crowded  as  it  is  every-where.  That  there  were  many  young 
men  of  fine  talents  and  acquirements  without  business,  tut  that 
this  was  imputable  chiefly  to  their  modesty.1  '  Still,'  he  said, '  Cincinnati 
is  growing  rapidly.  Population  and  wealth  are  increasing.  Living 
is  cheap.  And,  on  the  whole,  it  offers  to  you  stronger  inducements 
than  any  other  place  in  the  West.'  " 

Ere  long  we  shall  go  with  our  hero  to  the  growing  city,  where 
he  is  to  make  his  name  immortal.  But  before  we  bid  adieu  to 
Washington,  let  us  look  at  some  other  entries  of  considerable  interest. 

Here  is  an  entry  extracted  from  the  same  productive  diary,  under 
date  October  9,  1829  : 

"  When  we  arrived  at  our  lodgings,  I  was  pleased  to  find  my 
friend  Smith  awaiting  my  arrival.  With  him  I  had  a  long  con- 
versation on  subjects  of  great  interest  to  me,  and  asked  his  advice, 
and  finally  obeyed  the  suggestion  of  my  own  fancy." 

This  characteristic  anecdote  reminds  one  of  the  anecdote  already 
related,2  about  sending  for  a  physician,  "  who  came  and  prescribed 
medicine  which  "  the  patient  "  did  not  take,  and  gave  "  the  patient 
"  some  advice  which  "  the  patient  "  did  not  follow." 

But  we  must  be  off  to  Cincinnati.  We  shall  look  back,  now  and 
then,  but  now  we  must  go  forward. 


1  I  acknowledge  the  responsibility  for  the  italics. 

2  Ante,  p.  141. 


182  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE   AND    PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER   XII. 

FROM  "WASHINGTON    TO    CINCINNATI. — CINCINNATI   IN    1830. 

UNDER  date  March  1,  1830,  the  diary  so  often  quoted  in  fore- 
going chapters  reads  as  follows  : 

"  March  1,  [1830].  The  few  days  after  my  return  to  "Washington, 
before  I  began  my  journey  to  this  place,  were  employed  in  arranging 
my  affairs  and  biddiug  farewell  to  my  friends  and  acquaintance.  All 
this  was.  at  length,  over,  and  on  Thursday,  the  4th  of  March,  I  finally 
left  Washington,  which  had  been  my  home  for  more  than  three  years, 
and  where  I  had  found  much  kindness  and  man}1-  friends.  It  was  not 
without  regret  that  I  looked,  for  the  last  time,  perhaps,  on  those 
familiar  scenes. 

"  But  we  soon  lost  sight  of  them  all,  and  my  mind  turned  from  the 
contemplation  of  the  past  to  the  consideration  of  the  future.  It  was 
not  with  dismay  or  dread  that  I  looked  forward.  True,  there  was 
little  to  invite  in  the  foreground  of  the  picture.  I  was  fully  aware 
t'hat  I  must  pass  through  a  long  period  of  probation.  That  day  and 
night  must  be  witness  to  the  assiduity  of  my  labors.  That  my  mind 
must  be  disciplined  to  habits  of  deep  reflection  and  patient  toil.  That 
many  obstacles  were  to  be  overcome,  many  difficulties  to  be  sur- 
mounted ere  I  could  hope  to  reach  the  steep  wdiere  Fame's  proud 
temple  shines.  All  this  I  knew.  But  in  the  background  were  de- 
served honor,  eminent  usefulness,  and  a  'crown  of  glory';  and  pain, 
and  toil,  and  labor  vanished  from  the  sight  which  was  directed  over 
and  beyond  them." 

Was  this  man  inordinately  ambitious?  Have  we,  thus  far,  seen 
in  him  the  lust  of  glory,  place,  and  power?  I  think  not.  But  I 
am  proud  of  the  just-quoted  indication,  that  he  was  aspiring  and,  in- 
deed, ambitious. 

He  continues : 

';  I  will  not  describe  our  stage  company  farther  than  to  say  that  it 
consisted  of  a  woman  whose  occupation  I  could  not  divine,  a  young 
Yankee  who  was  wise  in  his  own  eyes,  a  female  convict  just  discharged 
from  the  Penitentiary  of  Virginia,  a  young  gentleman  of  the  name 
of  Brown,  from  Washington,  and  myself." 

Our  hero  was  himself  a  young  Yankee.    We  have  seen  him  kick- 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  183 

ing  hard  the  shins  or  some  softer  parts  of  a  young  Buckeye,  because 
the  latter  called  him  a  Yankee.  What  did  he  mean,  then,  by  writ- 
ing so  about  a  young  Yankee, 

"Wbo  was  wise 
In  his  own  eyes.-' 

The  truth  is,  that,  by  the  time  he  went  "West"  to  live  there,  he 
had  ceased  to  be,  in  any  sense,  provincial.  He  was  then  a  pure 
American  of  the  best  type. 

His  narrative  proceeds  as  follows: 

"  The  roads  were  in  a  miserable  situation.  A  frost  had  juat  hard- 
ened the  surface  enough  to  make  it  difficult  for  the  horses  to  extri- 
cate their  feet,  which  went  through  at  every  step.  The  [stage]  upset 
once,  but  nobody  was  injured.  When  I  pass  this  road  again,  I  hope 
to  travel  on  a  railicay.  Nothing  less  will  tempt  me  on  it  again,  for 
some  time,  at  least." 

He  goes  on  as  follows  : 

"  In  the  course  of  time  we  arrived  at  Hagerstown.  This  is  a  small 
place,  with  a  mixed  pojmlation  of  Germans  and  English,  in  number 
about  3,000.  Our  host  was  a  German,  who,  perceiving  that  an  In- 
dian boy  who  was  with  us,  spoke  English  but  imperfectly,  addressed 
him  in  Dutch,  but,  strange  to  tell,  the  boy  still  remained  silent." 

Have  a  care,  thou  intending  Cincinnatian !  The  city  thou  hast 
chosen  for  thy  future  home  is  very  "  Dutchy."  It  is  quite  like 
Hagerstown  in  having  a  mixed  population,  of  which  a  large  propor- 
tion is  (not  "Dutch,"  indeed,  but)  German,  or  of  German  lineage. 

That  Indian  boy  and  the  German  host  seem  to  me  very  typical. 
The  one  is  the  type  of  the  race  that  is  departing,  and  the  other 
seems  to  me  the  type  of  all  that  is  most  promising,  at  present,  in 
the  population  of  this  country. 

Not  a  drop  of  German  blood,  or  of  blood  derived  from  German 
blood,  is  in  my  veins.  I  say  what  is  here  advanced  about  the  Ger- 
man element  of  our  composite  population,  not  because  I  am  of 
German  blood,  but  because  my  studies  of  our  population  force  me 
to  see  things  which  persons  who  have  not  attended  closely  to  that 
population,  may  not  have  discerned. 

Of  this,  however,  more  must  be  advanced  hereafter.  We  have 
this  farther  record  of  the  rest  at  Hagerstown  : 

"  I  came  very  near  losing  all  my  money  here  by  over-careful ness. 
I  am  in  the  habit  of  leaving  all  the  cash  I  have  with  me  in  my 
pocket  when  I  retire  to  rest.     But,  this  evening,  lest  by  possibility  I 


184  THE    PEIYATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

might  lose  it,  I  took  my  money  and  placed  it,  with  my  watch,  under 
my  pillow.  About  midnight,  we  were  called  to  take  the  stage,  but  my 
friend  Brown  was  too  unwell  to  go  on,  and  it  went  without  us.  Had 
we  then  taken  the  stage,  I  should  infallibly  have  left  my  money.  As 
it  was.  when  I  rose  in  the  morning,  I  took  my  watch  without  once 
think  [iug]  that  there  was  any  thing  else.  But  Brown,  after  I  had 
left  the  room,  looked  under  my  pillow,  saw  it,  and  restored  it  to  me. 
I  remained  here  two  days,  one  of  which  was  Sunday. 

"I  left  Hagerstown  on  Monday  morning,  and,  after  two  [days]  and 
a  half  of  hard  riding,  night  and  day,  arrived  in  Wheeling.  This  is 
a  pleasant  little  place  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  I  visited  their  manu- 
factury  of  cut  glass,  and  was  astonished  and  delighted  by  the  ele- 
gance and  delicacy  of  the  work.  I  remained  in  W.  but  a  single 
day,  when  I  took  the  boat  for  Cincinnati.  She  was,  by  some  mis- 
nomer, called  the  Paragon,  an  appellation  to  which  she  had  good 
claim,  if  parvitude  of  size,  meanness  of  accommodation,  and  slowness 
of  motion  constitute  one. 

"On  board  the  boat  I  became  acquainted  with  Gen.  Tipton,  from 
Indiana.  This  gentleman  was  born,  I  think,  in  Xorth  Carolina  or 
Tennessee.  His  parents  were  indigent,  and  he,  consequently,  did 
not  enjoy  the  advantages  of  a  scholastic  education.  But  he  received 
one  equally  valuable.  The  difficulties  with  which  he  had  to  contend 
were  rough  but  efficient  teachers  to  a  mind  like  his.  Besides,  he 
thought,  and  his  mind  became  stronger  by  exercise.  He  is  remark- 
able for  his  enei'gy,  and  strength,  and  sagacity.  He  now  strives  to 
acquire  knowledge  by  every  means,  and  I  have  heard  him  say  that 
a  consciousness  of  his  want  of  it  has  frequently  forced  tears  from 
his  eyes." 

Perhaps  the  general  exaggerated  somewhat.  But  it  may  be  that 
he  uttered  measured  truth.  The  value  of  methodic  education  is 
beyond  the  reach  of  easy  calculation.  One  may  have  it,  in  some 
circumstances,  without  living  teachers.  Books  may  yield  it,  so  that 
the  great  students  of  antiquity  are  drawn  into  the  service  of  these 
days  as  educators  ;  but  the  living  voice  is  often  better  than  the  mute 
instruction  of  the  noblest  books  could  be. 

The  education  of  our  hero  certainly  was  far  from  perfect.  But  it 
had  a  pretty  good  beginning,  and  it  was  not  suddenly  cut  off.  Its 
greatest  imperfection,  we  shall  find,  was  but  the  imperfection  of  its 
methods. 

Method  is  the  very  soul  of  teaching.  More  and  more  the  miracles 
that  can  be  worked  by  method  manifest  the  value  of  the  schools,  in 
spite  of  their  defects. 

The  theme  is  far  from  irrelevant.  Our  hero  was  for  some  time  a 
teacher  by  profession.  In  a  certain  sense,  indeed,  he  never  ceased  to 
be  a  teacher.  But  of  that  no  more  need  be  suggested  now.  The 
subject  must  come  up  again  hereafter. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE. 


185 


In  the  diary  I  have  already  so  often  quoted,  I  find  also,  as  a 
part  of  a  long  entry,  the  following  memorandum  : 

"On  Saturday  morning  early  \w  arrived  at  the  lauding,  of  which, 
at  some  future  time,  I  may  give  a  description." 

In  the  Cincinnati  American,  he  did,  some  time  afterward,  describe 
the  landing.  Under  the  title,  "Oar  City,"  he,  then  aeting  as  editor 
pro  tempore  of  that  paper,  for  his  friends,  James  F.  Conover  and 
Isaiah  Thomas,  furnished  this  characteristic  article:1 

"  '  Thirty-five  years  ago.  over  all  that  is  now  Ohio,  there  stretched 
one  vast  wilderness,  unbroken,  except  hy  the  small  spots  of  civilized 
culture,  the  one  at  Marietta  and  the  other  at  Cincinnati.  At  these 
little  openings,  hardly  each  a  pin's  point  upon  the  map,  the  arm  of 
the  frontiersman  had  leveled  the  forest  and  let  in  the  sun.' 

•■  These  are  the  words  of  Daniel  Webster  in  his  first  speech  on 
'Foot's  Resolution.'  They  usher  in  a  splendid  description  of  the 
wonderful  transformation  of  the  territory  that  now  constitutes  the 
State  of  Ohio,  from  a  wilderness  in  which  dwelt  savage  men  and  sav- 
age beasts,  into  a  magnificent  abode  of  civilization,  opulence,  taste, 
and  power.  It  has  a  merit,  rare  in  such  gorgeous  paintings.  It  is  a 
perfect  breathing  image  of  what  has  been.  The  description  was 
molded  upon  facts  and  took  their  exact  shape.  Lofty  and  grand 
though  it  be,  it  can  not  be  grander  or  loftier  than  the  scene  it 
pictures. 

"  Thirty-five  }rears  ago  our  city  was,  as  he  said  it  was,  a  little  open- 
ing in  the  midst  of  a  vast,  unbroken  forest.  And  what  is  it  now? 
Let  us  look  around  us.  Let  us  walk  around  Cincinnati  and  take 
note  of  what  we  see.  First,  there  is  the  great  landing,  sloping  down 
from  Front  street  to  the  water's  edge,  a  declivity  of  between  sixty 
and  seventy  feet  in  perpendicular  elevation,  and  reaching  along  the 
river  more  than  two  whole  squares.  The  noble  stream  is  up  now, 
and  a  part  of  this  immense  work  is  hidden  from  view.  Yet  enough 
is  visible  to  show  that  it  would  be  a  difficult  matter  to  find  a  struc- 
ture like  it  anywhere.  If  the  rise  of  water  hides  the  landing  it 
shows  the  steamboats  for  the  use  of  which  the  landing  was  made. 
There  they  are.  of  a  stately  structure,  frtting  the  river  on  whose 
bosom  they  rush  along,  and  the  mighty  territory  whose  productions 
they  carry  to  a  distant  market.  As  if  Providence  had  designed  this 
spot  for  their  use.  the  river,  generally  careering  on  with  a  rapid 
current,  here  sweeps  round  an  eddy,  and  thus  forms  a  natural 
harbor,  as  it  were,  for  them.  The}'  are  discharging  and  receiving 
their  cargoes.  To-morrow  almost  every  one  of  them  will  be  gone, 
and  their  places  will  he  tilled  with  others. 

"As  we  proceed  eastward,  coming  up  into  the  city  a  little,  our  ears 
are  greeted  with  the  sound  of  busy  occupation,  and  our  eyes  with  the 


1  Would  Chase  have  been  successful  as  a  journalist  ? 


186  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

sight  of  the  numerous  factories.  There  are  the  steam  mill,  and  the 
cotton  factories,  and  the  saw  mill  factories,  and  the  engine  factories, 
and  others  that  we  have  not  room  to  enumerate.  Here  is  the  prin- 
cipal source  of  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  our  city.  It  is  labor  that 
gives  value  to  every  thing.  The  raw  material  is  worthless  till  it  is 
wrought.  What  purpose  serves  the  iron  in  the  earth  ?  "What  good 
does  the  cotton  ere  it  be  gathered?  Labor  must  be  applied  before 
value  can  be  created.  Ever  since  the  decree  went  forth, '  In  the  sweat 
of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,'  little  has  been  the  worth  of  the 
earth's  spontaneous  productions,  and  so  will  it  be  ever.  Where  the 
sweat  of  the  face  is,  there  will  be  bread;  and  where  the  laborious 
population  is,  there  will  be  the  prosperous  city  and  the  flourishing 
empire.  We  do  not  mean  to  assert  that  all  our  vigorous  growth  and 
early  maturity  is  due  to  mechanic  labor  alone.  Commerce  has  its 
share,  and  other  causes  have  had  their  share  of  influence  in  operat- 
ing the  grand  result.  We  only  intend  to  say,  that  the  mechanic  has 
been  the  principal,  not  the  sole  agent  of  the  prosperity  of  the  cit}'. 

"We  pass  on  eastward  until  we  come  to  the  waterworks,  and  then 
climb  up  the  hill  that  lies  just  down  upon  the  river,  until  we  attain 
a  commanding  position  for  a  panoramic  view  of  the  valley.  The  first 
thought  that  strikes  us  is,  that  this  spot  must  have  been  marked  out 
for  a  high  destiny  in  the  councils  of  heaven.  That  wide  amphithe- 
ater below  must  surely  have  been  scooped  out  on  purpose  to  be  the 
seat  of  a  great  city.  On  all  sides  it  is  guarded  by  the  everlasting 
hills,  which  seem,  from  this  point,  to  be  arrayed  around  the  whole 
valley,  in  the  form  of  an  ellipsis.  We  see  La  Belle  Riviere  entering 
it  from  the  north-east.  It  sweeps  round  in  a  beautiful  curve,  and  we 
see  it  again  far  off  and  seeming  like  a  zone  of  silver,  binding  nature's 
verdant  apparelling,  gliding  away  tranquilly  toward  the  mighty 
Mississippi.  From  the  north  and  the  south  several  small  streams  are 
seen  pouring  in  their  scanty  tribute.  The  canal  comes  in  from  the 
north,  and  is  covered  with  boats.  We  close  our  eyes  for  a  moment 
and  listen.  We  hear,  from  the  river,  the  roaring  of  the  steam;  from 
the  canal,  the  notes  of  the  bugle;  and  from  the  entire  city,  that  con- 
fused noise  of  the  rattling  of  wheels  and  the  jar  of  machines,  and  the 
clamor  of  voices,  which  always  indicate  the  presence  of  a  multitudin- 
ous population.  We  open  our  eyes  again  and  we  almost  imagine  that 
we  see  the  city  grow.  We  do  see  all  the  symptoms  of  vigorous  growth. 
There  are  factories,  more  than  we  saw  when  in  the  valley,  and  in 
every  part  of  the  city.  There  are  man}'  churches,  some  of  them 
grand  in  their  proportions,  and  splendid  in  their  architecture.  There 
are  the  residences  of  some  of  our  private  citizens  that  show  like 
palaces.  There  are  extending  streets  and  multiplying  erections  of 
every  description,  on  the  two  levels  that,  with  the  connecting 
declivity  between  them,  form  the  area  of  this  vast  amphitheater. 
There  are  the  markets,  not  quite  so  neat  fabrics  as  they  might  be, 
but  filled  to  overflowing  with  the  abundance  of  the  surrounding 
countiy,  and  crowded  by  the  great  multitude  who  live  to  eat,  or  eat 
to  live.  There,  too,  is  not — alas!  that  wre  must  say  so — a  city  hall 
worthy  of  the  greatness  and  opulence  of  our  city. 

"  Having  now  cast  a  general  and  rapid  glance  over  the  scene  be- 
fore us,  we  descend  the  hill,  and  we  meet  with  men  not  yet  past  the 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  187 

prime  of  life,  who  tell  us  that  when  they  were  boys  they  used  to 
gather  grapes  and  hunt  squirrels  and  wild  turkeys  over  the  very 
spot  where  these  thick-crowding  edifices  now  stand. 

"  This  is  a  faithful  outline  of  Cincinnati,  as  she  now  is.  We  in- 
tended, when  we  began,  to  sketch,  in  the  same  brief  way,  her  history, 
and  character,  and  prospects;  to  speak  somewhat  of  the  inducements 
held  out  to  emigrants,  and  to  say  what  classes  of  men  would,  prob- 
ably, find  advantage  in  coming  here,  but  we  have  no  room  to  do  all 
this  now.  Perhaps  we  may  resume  the  subject  in  our  next  or  some 
future  number.  In  the  mean  time,  we  may  observe  that  we  do  not 
expect  to  edify  our  city  friends  with  a  description  of  what  they  see 
every  day,  but  to  gratify  the  natural  curiosity  of  those  who,  living 
at  some  distance  from  us,  have  frequentty  expressed  a  wish  to  know 
something  more  about  Cincinnati  than  they  could  learn  from  geog- 
raphies." 

The  diary  proceeds  as  follows : 

"After  breakfast  we  went  to  the  hotel,  where  I  obtained  a  room 
much  larger  than  I  needed,  indeed,  for  I  am  but  six  feet  by  one  or 
two,  and  the  chamber  was  at  least  ten  by  six." 

At  that  time  he  had  been  able  for  some  time  to  stand  up  straightly. 
No  one  could  have  been  made  to  believe  that  he  had  been,  in  in- 
fancy and  boyhood,  an  ungainly,  awkward  being.  But  I  have  been 
told,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe,  that  at  school  he  was  "  picked 
on/'  and,  at  one  time,  had  to  have  a  champion — at  least  had  one. 

The  diary  proceeds  as  follows  : 

"  After  taking  a  survey  of  the  premises,  I  called  upon  Mr.  Caswell, 
for  whom  I  had  a  letter  from  Mr.  Wirt.  This  gentleman  ranks 
among  the  first  at  the  bar  of  Cincinnati ;  but  as  I  shall  have  occasion 
to  say  more  of  him  hereafter,  I  shall  make  no  farther  mention  of 
him  here." 

April  7th  we  have  this  record  : 

"I  dined  this  day  at  Mr.  Caswell's  with  a  small  company,  consist- 
ing, for  the  most  part,  of  Kentuckians.  The  entertainment  was  not 
in  the  profuse  style  of  Virginia  hospitality,  but,  I  confess,  in  a  style 
much  better  suited  to  my  taste.  It  was  a  little  singular  thai  the 
day  was  warm  enough  to  make  it  expedient  to  ice  tin;  water  and 
wine.  Every  thing  passed  off  pleasantly,  tho',  as  usual  at  our  Amer- 
ican dinners,  there  was  little  conversation  until  we  left  the  table. 
In  the  evening  there  was  a  small  party." 

It  appears  from  the  next  entry  that  our  hero  became  at  once 
acquainted  with  Mr.  Benhatu — whereof  hereafter.  Now  I  wish  to 
look  back  a  little. 


188  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

Under  date  April  2,  1829,  at  Washington,  Chase  wrote : 

"  Mr.  Trist  wished  me  to  call  with  him  at  Mr.  Wirt's  ;  we  did  so, 
but  finding  no  one  at  home,  we  left  our  cards,  and  returned  to  our 
boarding-house.  I  invited  Mr.  T.  into  my  room,  where  we  sat  con- 
versing a  long  time,  principally  upon  the  extent  of  human  knowledge. 
Mr.  T.  has  imbibed  man}'  of  the  notions  of  Wright  and  Owen,  and, 
misled  by  an  ignis  fatuus,  which  he  believes  to  be  a  conductor  to 
rational  freedom,  he  plunges  headlong  into1  bottomless  abyss  of 
infidel  inconsistency.  He  read  many  extracts  from  the  Free  Inquirer, 
with  the  hope  of  convincing  me  of  the  solidity  of  his  opinions  ;  but 
I  was  either  too  strongly  wedded  to  my  own  sentiments  or  too 
thoroughly  persuaded  of  the  fallacy  of  his,  to  be  much  affected  by 
them." 

Next,  attention  is  invited  to  the  following  transcript  of  the  entry 
dated  April  10,  1830,  at  Cincinnati : 

"  On  this  da}-,  I  united  with  the  church  of  the  Eev.  Mr.  Johnston, 
in  commemorating  the  Lord's  passion.  It  was  in  a  small  school- 
room in  the  city  that  the  holy  rite  was  celebrated  ;  for  an  unhappy 
division  has  taken  place  in  the  Episcopal  Church  here,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  communicants  have  withdrawn  from  the  original 
society.  I  trust  I  was  actuated  b}T  proper  motives  in  the  act  of 
participation,  and  that  it  will  be  blessed  to  my  spiritual  welfare. 
By  conviction,  I  am  a  Christian.  My  reason  is  fully  convinced,  and  my 
understanding  perfectly  satisfied.  My  heart,  also,  I  think,  cordially 
and  gratefully  assents  to  [the]  plan  of  salvation  thro'  free  grace  and 
Christ  Jesus.  May  he,  who  endowed  me  with  intellect,  enlighten 
my  understanding.  May  he,  who  has  given  me  affections,  draw 
them  supremely  to  himself." 

Now  let  us  look  forward  a  little.  Under  date  April  30,  1843, 
in  the  same  diary — if  such  it  may  be  called — appear  these  words: 

"  Up  late ;  attended  Sunday  school — few  in  attendance  on  account 
of  bad  weather — contributions  for  missionary  purposes  small;  at- 
tended church  —  more  free  from  wandering  thoughts  than  usual; 
Winthrop — good  sermon  on  'With  the  heart  man  believeth  unto 
righteousness  and  with  the  mouth  confession  is  made  unto  salvation.' 
He  distinguished  faith  working  by  love  and  purifying  the  heart 
from  spurious  faith,  whether  imaginative  or  intellectual  —  insisted 
on  vital  faith  and  open  profession  of  religion.  Coming  home,  read, 
before  and  after  dinner,  Bishop  Chase's  Reminiscences  and  D'Au- 
bigne's  Reformation.  The  bishop  had  more  trials  and  more  pleasures 
in  England  than  I  was  aware.  His  courage,  faith,  and  forbearance 
were  exemplary.  I  exceedingly  admire  the  character  of  Luther.  How 
he  endured  seeing  the  invisible!     He  lived,  almost,  out  of  the  body. 


1  So  in  the  original. 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  189 

To  him,  the  clouds,  the  winds,  the  thunders,  and  the  lightnings 
uttered  voices.  Voices  spoke  to  him  from  the  recesses  of  his  own 
heart.  He  saw  what  no  man  else  saw.  He  heard  what  no  man  else 
heard." 

The  man  who  made  that  record  was  a  born  reformer,  and  he 
could  have  been  a  Luther  ;  but  I  do  not  say  he  was  one. 

That  he  sometimes  manifested  some  thing  very  like  affection  for 
Vanity  Fair,  I  have  not  hidden;  but  neither  that  love  nor  any 
other  weakness  ever  rendered  him  an  irreligious  man.  As  far  as  I 
can  see,  his  deep  religiousness  colored  all  his  agitation  against  slav- 
ery from,  say,  the  year  1845  down  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil 
war,  if  not  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Indeed,  for  a  time, 
the  feelings  which  he  cherished  for  the  cause  of  the  enslaved  ap- 
peared to  border  on  that  half-maniacal  enthusiasm  which  we  often 
see  in  the  zealots  of  religious  faith. 

Here  is  an  extract  from  his  diary,  under  date  Sunday,  February 
22,  1845  : x 

"Rose  in  pretty  good  season — private  devotion  in  bed-room.  I 
feel  so  little  my  sinfulness,  and  so  little  my  obligations  lor  mercies 
received,  that  I  am  disturbed  by  it.  Mr.  Fenton,  a  young  lawyer, 
who  stayed  with  me  last  night,  breakfasted  with  me.  Alice  and  Kate 
in  town  ;  Mr.  Fenton  left  at  half  past  nine.  I  spent  the  morning  in 
reading  on  slavery,  and  in  perusing  Milton's  vindication  of  the  action 
of  Parliament  in  executing  Charles  I.  Dined  alone;  read  Job  and 
other  parts  of  Scripture  ,  my  understanding  of  what  I  read  is  very 
imperfect,  and,  1  fear,  my  spiritual  apprehension  of  the  truth  still 
more  so.  May  God  enlighten  me  by  his  Holy  Spirit.  Took  tea 
alone,  and  wrote  above.  Have  not  attended  church  to-day,  chiefly 
because  of  inconvenience  of  getting  to  town,  having  no  place  there 
for  my  horses  ;  but  parti}-,  also,  because  1  feel  doubtful  as  to  my  duty 
arising  from  the  relation  of  the  church  to  slavery.  On  one  side,  I  can  not 
doubt  that  it  is  wrong  for  the  church  to  maintain  an  indifferent  if  not 
an  hostile  attitude  to  the  cause  of  the  enslaved;  on  the  other,  I  feel 
quite  sure  that  other  members  of  the  church,  who  do  not  feel  as  Ido  in 
reference  to  the  slaves,  are  far  more  zealous  in  other  good  works,  and  live 
much  nearer  to  Christ.  lam  anxious  to  see  the  path  of  duty  in  reference 
to  the  subject  of  church  connection  more  clearly  than  1  do." 

Again  we  must  look  back  a  little.  Under  date  January  7,  1830, 
we  read  : 

"This  day  I  called  at  Mr.  Ingham's  to  see  my  friend .     This 

young  lady  has  the  most  perfect  skill  in  all  the  arts  of  pleasing,  or, 
to  speak  more  truly  of  her,  she  has  from  nature  the  rare  ability  to 

1This  appears  to  me  a  most  important  entry. 


190  THE    PEIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

please  without  art.  Her  face  is  not  one  which  a  sculptor  would 
choose  for  a  model,  yet  it  is  beautiful  in  feature  and  still  more  beau- 
tiful in  expression.  Even  her  looks  of  anger  and  scorn  have  a 
pretty  gracefulness  which  half  disarms  them.  Her  form  is  slight 
and  frail,  but  exquisitely  molded.  Her  motion  is  free  as  the  sum- 
mer breeze,  and,  like  it,  soft  and  gentle,  or  animated  and  unreserved. 
Every  word  and  tone  of  hers  is  a  sweet  music — sweeter,  because, 
like  the  tones  of  the  wind  harp,  they  are  unsubjected  to  the  rules  of 
art." 

Why  turn  back  to  this  entry?  Rather,  why  reserve  it  to  be  used 
in  this  connection?  Does  it  prove  the  depth  of  the  religious  senti- 
ment in  him  who  wrote  it?  Patience,  gentle  reader!  Here  is  the 
conclusion  of  that  entry  : 

"I  was  very  near  falling  in  love  with  this  lady — nay,  I  should 
certainly  have  done  so,  had  not  our  tastes  been,  in  one  particular, 
wholly  dissimilar.  She  is  fond  of  the  gay  world — I  have  no  desire 
to  partake  in  its  vanities.  She  is  disinclined  to  religion  and  its  duties. 
I  value  them  more  than  any  earthly  possession." 

Let  us,  then,  go  forward  with  the  certainty  that  Salmon  Portland 
Chase  was  deeply,  fervently  religious,  when  he  went  to  try  his  for- 
tune or  to  find  his  fate  at  Cincinnati. 

Still  in  April,  1830,  we  have  this  relation  : 

"Walking  in  the  garden  with  E.  P.,  I  remarked  to  her  that  she 
ought  to  give  me  a  bouquet  as  a  reward  for  aiding  her  in  translating 
Flora's  Dictionary.  She  replied :  '  I  will.  I  will  select  such  of 
them  as  have  an  appropriate  meaning.'  '  I  should  prefer  to  be  the 
selector  myself,  Miss  E.  Perhaps  }tou  might  not  choose  such  flow- 
ers as  I  should  wish.  '  Oh,  there  is  no  fear  of  that,'  she  observed, 
smiling.  '  You  would  not  want  any  flowers  which  I  should  not  be 
willing  to  give.'  '  You  must  not  be  too  confident,'  I  answered,  for 
you  may  be  certain  I  shall  choose  the  most  expressive.' 

"  We  left  the  garden  with  our  party,  and  I  escorted  a  part  to  their 
old  residence  in  a  distant  part  of  the  city,  and  in  the  evening  re- 
turned to  Mr.  L's.,  where  E.  was  staying.  She  told  me  that  her 
flowers  had  been  taken  away  by  some  one,  but  she  had  a  Geranium 
left,  which  she  gave  me.  '  I  will  look  for  its  meaning,'  said  I.  It 
was  Preference.  '  I  showed  it  to  her.  '  May  I  have  it  now  ?'  '  Yes,' 
•'May  I  consider  the  gift  as  I  think  proper?  'Yes.'  And  I  took  it 
and  construed  it  as  the  artifice  of  a  beautiful  and  admired  coquette  to 
gain  another  admirer,  and  win  another  heart." 

Was  the  construction  right  ?  We  can  not  know.  Perhaps  some 
lovely  possibilities  were  ruined  by  that  reading. 

In  May,  some  day  earlier  than  the  twelfth,  we  have  this  account : 

"  I  was  one  of  a  party  to  Gen.  Taylor's.    The  mansion  is  pleasantly 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  191 

situated,  and  is  surrounded  by  many  pleasant  appurtenances.  1 
shall  remember  the  garden,  because  1  there  learned  a  secret  which 

surprised  me  not  a  little.     I  was  conversing  with  Miss ,  and  in 

the  course  of  our  dialogue,  I  had  occasion  to  ask,  why  she  smiled. 
'Oh  !  I  was  merely  reflecting  your  good  humor.'  '  I  should  be  must 
happy  if  yon  would  reflect  me  at  all  times,  for  then  you  must  be- 
come the  image  of  me — another  self.'  '  That  I  can  't  do,'  she  said. 
'Let  me  have  the  reason,  if  it  be  not  locked  in  the  chamber  of  your 
secrecy.'  *  "Won  't  you  tell  ?'  'No.'  'Never?'  'Never,  never.'  'To 
no  one  in  the  world?  '  'Well,  then,'  said  she,  pulling  off  her  glove, 
and  exhibiting  her  pretty  white  hand,  and  directing  ni}r  attention 
to  a  ring  upon  one  of  her  delicate  fingers.  'See  there!  The  ring 
you  know  is  binding.'  'Is  there  a  name  upon  it?'  said  I.  cNo.' 
'  May  I  ask  the  name  of  the  favored  one  ?'  '  H.'  'And  what  letters 
of  the  alphabet  compose  the  rest  of  the  precious  word  ?'  And  she 
told  me.  I  was  thunderstruck.  I  could  not  believe  her ;  for  I  had 
heard  her  and  seen  her  expressing  feelings  of  repugnance  toward 
him,  by  word  and  look,  which  I  thought  then,  and  still  think,  had 
too  much  nature  in  them  to  be  feigned;  and,  besides,  there  was  a 
disparity  of  fifteen  or  twenty  3'ears  between  their  ages. 

"  '  Is  it  possible  ?  '  I  exclaimed. 

"  '  Aye,  even  so.' 

"  Just  then,  we  were  called,  for  our  party  was  about  to  return  to 
the  city." 

Does  not  that  read  very  like  a  comedy — or,  rather,  like  a  passage 
of  a  tragi-comedy  ?     But  it  tells  well  for  the  narrator. 

I  suppose,  the  Gen.  Taylor  spoken  of  was  the  great  man  of  New- 
port. 

The  next  entry,  dated  May  12,  has  the  memorandum : 

"  I  received  to-day,  from  E.  P.,  a  promised  bouquet,  consisting  of 
Eose  Geranium,  Periwinkle,  Holly,  White  Eose-bud,  and  a  common 
rose." 

We  have  already  seen  that  he  had  learned  from  Mrs.  Wirt  the 
idiom  of  the  flowers. 

Under  the  same  date  we  have  this  anecdote : 

'"Don't  you  think  that  Mr.  Girmke  and  I  are  somewhat  alike?' 

said   Mr.  G- to  Mr.  C .     'Yes,'  replied  the  latter,   'you  do 

resemble  him  in  the  tone  of  your  voice  and  mode  of  delivery.'  '  Oh  ! 
it  was  not  that  I  alluded  to.  I  referred  to  his  force  of  mind  and 
rapidity  of  thought.  Indeed,  I  think  he  is  the  greatest  man  in  the 
State.'  " 

What  old  Cincinnatian  can  fail  to  fill  up  the  blank  in  the  desig- 
nation of  "Mr.  G?"  No  doubt,  it  was  Mr.  Greene  who  asked  that 
modest  question,  and,  to  the  response,  replied  as  we  have  seen. 


192  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

Here  is  another  anecdote,  recorded  under  the  same  date : 

"  Mr.  B.,  another  of  our  western  lawyers,  was  one  evening  asking 
a  young  lady  to  dance  with  him.     She  declining,  our  hero  fell  upon 

one  knee,  and,  drawing  a  dagger,  exclaimed :  'Dance  with  me,  or '. 

'  Pray,  sir,'  said  she,  '  allow  me  to  conduct  you  to  the  hearth  lest  your 
blood  might  stain  the  floor.'  " 

Immediately  following  the  mention  of  the  Caswell  party  we  have: 

"Mr.  Benham  related  to  me  an  anecdote  of  Col.  Davis,  who  fell  in 
the  battle  of  Tippecanoe. 

"A  poor  woman  in  Kentucky  had  been  robbed  of  two  or  three 
hogs  and  brought  a  civil  action  for  damages  against  the  thief.  Mr. 
Davis  was  employed  for  the  plaintiff,  and  the  cause  came  on  for  trial. 
Mr.  Davis  '  began,  and,  in  a  short  time,  obtained  complete  possession 
of  the  feelings  of  the  jury.  He  described  the  poverty  of  the  plaint- 
iff, and  painted  her  poor  and  miserable  cabin.  He  depicted  her 
struggling  for  existence,  alone  and  unaided,  and  spoke  of  the  base- 
ness and  atrocity  of  that  nature  which  could  steal  from  such  penury. 
When  he  concluded,  the  jury  retired  hastily,  and,  after  a  very  short 
absence,  brought  in  a  verdict  for  500  dollars  damages.  It  was 
thought  unreasonable,  and  a  second  trial  was  granted  in  another 
county.  When  the  day  came,  Davis  traveled  to  the  court  on  foot; 
the  same  scene  was  again  exhibited,  and  he  again  obtained  a  verdict 
for  600  dollars." 

That,  however,  be  it  noticed,  was  not  in  Ohio.  It  was  in  Ken- 
tucky ;  where  the  influence  of  oratory  always  has  been  what  it  never 
could  have  been  in  the  adopted  State  of  Mr.  Chase. 

May  22,  1830,  his  diary  records : 

"I  spoke,  this  day,  in  the  moot  court,  upon  a  case  in  which  I  was 
counsel  for  the  plaintiff,  and  failed  completely.  My  voice  was  affected 
by  a  severe  cold,  and  my  self-possession  neaidy  destroyed  by  the 
presence  of  several  of  the  faculty." 

The  diffidence  of  Chase  was  never  wholly  overcome.  At  times  it 
had  a  very  beautiful  effect.  No  doubt  about  its  genuineness  could 
have  been  entertained  by  any  one.  Nor  could  any  discerning  person 
have  mistaken  it  for  mauvaise  honte.  How  much  it  must  have  cost 
this  man  to  play  the  part  he  so  soon  made  famous ! 

On  page  75  of  the  diary  we  have : 

"  June  — .  I  was  in  the  beginning  of  this  month  admitted  to  the 
courts  of  Ohio  as  a  practitioner  of  law." 

Now  conscience  took  the  form  of  moral  courage.     He  was  ready 


1  Daviess  is  the  true  name. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  193 

now  for  clients;  and  it  became  his  duty  to  acquire  more  self-posses- 
sion.    Under  date  September  1st  we  have: 

"Sept.  1.  [1S30].  Commencing  the  practice  of  the  law  and  assum- 
ing, for  the  first  time,  the  responsible  duties  of  my  profession,  I  feel 
as  1  did  when  I  entered  Washington,  more  than  three  years  ago,  a 
stranger  and  adventurer.  1  entered,  asking  the  favor  and  protection 
of  the  God  of  the  fatherless,  and  that  which  I  desired  was  signally 
bestowed.  1  trust  that  I  l'eel,  now,  the  same  confidence,  and  I  believe 
my  confidence  will  not  be  disappointed." 

Here  are  two  quite  interesting  indications  : 

"  Sept.  5,  [1830].  I  am  in  my  own  office  now.  Let  this  be  the 
commencement  of  a  new  era  in  my  existence — an  era  marked  by 
devoted  application,  strenuous  exertion,  unremitting  industry,  and 
much  thought." 

"Sept.  30,  [1830]..  The  month  is  ended.  Its  days  have  not  gone 
without  leaving  a  mark  behind.  My  business  has  been  very  small, 
yet  exceeded  my  expectations.  I  have  earned  about  fifteen  dollars, 
and  perhaps  shall  be  paid."  » 

In  the  elsewhere  cited  document,  containing  a  biographic  sketch  of 
our  hero  is  the  sentence : 

"Mr.  Chase's  early  professional  life  was  like  that  of  most  young 
lawyers  who  commence  business  without  estate  or  influential  friends 
at  home — a  struggle  for  subsistence  with  ample  opportunity  to 
repine  over  present  neglect  or  indulge  in  visions  of  future  success." 

The  truth  is,  Mr.  Chase  began  with  some  advantages,  which,  but 
for  his  diffidence,  might  soon  have  led  to  what  he  might  have  called 
success.  Yet  he  was  once  quite  tried  for  want  of  money.  Under 
date  August  — ,  1830,  appears  the  entry  : 

"August — ,  [1830].  This  month  passed  without  any  incidents 
worthy  of  notice.  I  was  somewhat  einbarrascd  in  my  pecuniary 
concerns  by  a  failure  of  expected  remittances,  but  was  relieved  by 
the  kindness  of  a  friend,  whose  pecuniary  assistance  can  easily  be 
repaid,  but  whose  prompt  aid  entitles  him  to  the  regard  always  due 
to  tried  friendship." 

The  biographic  document  just  referred  to  shows  that  this  friend 
was  John  Young. 

Under  date  September  30, 1830,  we  have  seen  an  entry  beginning 
as  follows: 

"The  month  is  ended.  Its  days  have  not  gone  without  leaving  a 
mark  behind." 

The  same  entry  contains  the  statement : 


194  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"  I  have  read,  in  law,  about  eight  hundred  pages  in  Starkie's  Evi- 
dence, of  which  the  first  volume  pleases  me  best.  The  second  can 
not,  of  course,  be  so  methodical  as  the  first,  a  different  arrangement 
being  adopted,  but  I  do  think  that  it  is  not  so  methodical  as  it  might 
have  been.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  author,  aware  that  this  division 
of  his  subject  was  not  so  susceptible  of  luminous  arrangement  as  the 
first,  threw  his  matter  carelessly  together,  without  design  of  method 
or  ambition  of  precision.  I  have,  of  course,  read  other  books  upon 
cases  I  have  had." 

Of  kindred  interest  is  the  statement  in  the  same  entry  : 

"  I  have  been  endeavoring  to  get  a  distinct  and  full  knowledge 
of  Aristotle's  life,  character,  and  writing,  and  have  made  some  prog- 
ress, though  the  work  is  not  half  done  yet." 

The  same  memorandum  contains  the  following  statements: 

"  In  history,  I  have  read  Pitkin's  United  States,  a  work  abound- 
ing in  valuable  information  conveyed  in  a  dry  but  perspicuous 
style.  In  the  newspapers,  I  have  read  the  account  of  the  new 
French  Re  volution — the  most  wonderful  event  in  the  political  history 
of  man.  A  great  nation  rending  off  the  fetters  rashly  placed  on  it 
by  its  rulers — overturning  the  old  government  without  confusion, 
though  in  the  midst  of  carnage — depriving  its  governors  of  power 
unworthily  used — establishing  a  new  and  better  rule — and  then 
quietly  returning  to  its  accustomed  employments — and  all  this  in 
one  week — is  a  spectacle  of  moral  sublimity  which  can  not  be  par- 
alleled  

"In  general  literature  I  have  done  little — almost  nothing.  When 
I  say  I  have  read  a  few  pages  of  Lucretius,  in  course,  and  a  few 
pages  in  other  authors  without  order,  I  have  completed  the  account. 

"  In  the  Bible,  I  have  read  almost  the  whole  book  of  Psalms,  find- 
ing new  beauties  and  new  glories  at  every  perusal. 

"In  composition  I  have  done  little  with  regularity.  I  have 
brought  up  my  journal  by  writing  about  fort}'  pages  in  this  book, 
and  have  commenced  several  pieces,  which  are  yet  unfinished,  be- 
sides bringing  up  long  arrears  of  an  extensive  correspondence." 

It  is  often  said  that  Salmon  Portland  Chase  destroyed  himself  by 
hard  work.  That  is  a  hard  thing  to  do.  But  certainly  it  was  not 
done  by  the  hero  of  this  work.  As  already  intimated,  he  was  a  good 
worker,  though  not  even.  Sometimes  he  would  have  a  fearful  fit  of 
work,  and  then  he  would,  indeed,  work  wonders.  But  the  indica- 
tions of  his  diary,  as  well  as  my  own  observation  of  him,  added  to 
his  own  account,  to  me,  in  conversation,  warrant  me  in  saying  that 
he  was  quite  uneven  in  his  application. 

Under  date  July  4,  1830,  we  have  the  words  : 

"  I  went  with  my  friends,  the  Longworths,  to  hear  an  oration 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  195 

from  a  young  gentleman  of  the  Bar  by  the  name  of  Peters.  It  was 
a  sensible  and  well  written  composition,  displaying  very  consider- 
able power  of  mind  and  giving  tokens  of  more  in  reserve." 

This  entry,  even  if  it  stood  alone,  would  suffice  to  prove  that  he 
who  wrote  it  was  in  what  lie  would  himself,  no  doubt,  have  called 
"the  best  society  of  Cincinnati."  He  was  evidently  fond  of  the  so- 
ciety of  fashionable  ladies,  notwithstanding  his  religiousness. 

He  was  always  making  coalitions,  or  endeavoring  to  make  them, 
was  he  not?  Why  not  attempt  to  form  a  coalition  between  faith 
and  fashion? 

Seriously,  much  as  he  liked  the  society  of  fashionable  women,  he 
was  never  frivolous.  All  fashionable  women  are  not  frivolous,  I 
think — nay,  know. 

October  19,  1830,  has  this  mournful  record  : 

"  I  have  this  day  assisted  in  the  mournful  duty  of  paying  the  last 
tribute  to  a  deceased  acquaintance.  His  name  was  Appleton,  a  son 
of  the  late  President  Appleton,  of  Bowdoin  College,  in  Maine.  He 
came  here  a  few  months  ago — in  August — bringing  with  him  an 
enviable  reputation.  His  openness  of  heart  and  gentleness  of  man- 
ner, gained  for  him  the  regard  of  many.  He  commenced  the  study 
of  the  law  in  the  office  of  Messrs.  Fales  &  Pendleton;  but  Provi- 
dence had  decreed  that  his  blooming  hopes  should  be  blighted  even 
in  their  blossom.  His  progress  in  study  was  arrested  by  a  violent 
attack  of  typhus  fever,  which,  in  three  weeks,  brought  him  down 
to  the  grave.  He  is  buried  in  a  strange  land.  There  are  none  to 
weep  over  his  grave.  A  mother's  and  a  sister's  tears  will  be  poured 
out  for  him,  but  they  will  not  water  his  silent  resting-place.  He 
sleeps  in  the  great  valley  of  the  West,  where  he  gladly  hoped  to 
reach  the  fabric  of  his  fame — and  we  trust  that  '  he  sleeps  well.' 

"  This  evening  I  wrote  the  following  verses,  and  when  I  went  to 
tea  presented  them  to  Miss  L.  C.  L.: 

"The  autumn  wind  sings  mournfully, 

The  death  song  of  the  year, 
And,  yielding  to  Time's  stern  decree, 

All  bright  things  disappear. 

''The  pleasant  birds  have  flown  away 

To  sing  in  climes  more  blest, 
Where  fields  and  skies  in  robes  of  May 

Perennially  are  drest. 

"  The  zephyr,  that,  with  perfumed  wing, 

Played  erewhile  round  our  path, 
Hath  flown  away  with  gentle  spring 

From  winter's  waking  wrath. 

14 


196  THE    PRIVATE  EIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

"  The  beautiful  and  fragrant  flowers, 
Fair  nature's  crown  and  pride, 
From  rustic  walks  and  garden  bowers, 
Have  faded  all  and  died. 

"And  I  with  sad  presageful  heart 
Contemplate  the  decay, 
Till,  summoned  in  my  turn  to  part, 
I,  too,  shall  pass  away." 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  197 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE    HERO    AS   LECTURER   AND   ESSAYIST — MISCELLANY. 

6  6  X^  the  spring  of  1830,"  says  the  elsewhere-cited  biographic 
document,  "  the  Cincinnati  Lyceum  was  organized.  Mr.  Chase 
-*-  took  a  prominent,  part  in  drawing  the  public  attention  toward 
the  enterprise  by  newspaper  articles  and  personal  influence.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  committee  to  draft  the  constitution.  The  leading 
exercises  of  the  Lyceum  consisted  of  a  series  of  lectures,  and  of  these, 
four  were  delivered  by  him — one  on  the  '■Life  and  Character  of  Henry 
Brougham,1  which  Avas  published  as  an  article  in  the  North  Ameri- 
can Review,  vol.;1  another  on  the  'Effects  of  Machinery,'  published 
in  the  same  Review,  vol.;2  and  another  on  '■Galileo.'1" 

It  was  not  in  the  spring  but  in  the  autumn  of  1830  that  that 
Lyceum  was  organized.  As  we  have  already  seen,  it  was  not  till 
that  spring  that  our  young  legist  went  to  fix  his  residence  in  the 
Cincinnati  valley.  Moreover,  I  am  able  to  set  forth  a  relevant  doc- 
ument which  bears  the  date  October  28.  That  must  have  been 
October  1830,  because  in  October,  1829,  the  life  we  study  still  had 
its  home  in  Washington,  and  before  October,  1831,  one  of  those 
Lyceum  lectures  had  appeared  as  an  article  in  the  North  American 
Review  for  July,  1831.3 

That,  however  he  may  have  used  the  names  of  others,  and  what- 
ever he  may  have  referred  to  others,  he  himself  proposed  this  institute, 
appears  from  the  following  article,  composed  by  him : 


1 33,  p.  227. 

2  34,  p.  220. 

3 The  document  referred  to  reads  as  follows  : 

"fi@"At  particular  request,  several  gentlemen  met  at  the  private  room  of  Henry 
Starr,  on  Monday  last.  The  establishment  of  a  Lyceum  in  the  city  of  Cincinnati 
became  the  subject  of  conversation;  and  for  the  purpose  of  distinctly  ascertaining 
the  views  and  opinions  of  those  present,  Nathan  Guilford  was  appointed  chairman 
and  Henry  Starr  secretary.  On  motion,  it  was  resolved  that  a  committee  of  three 
be  appointed  to  draft  a  constitution,  to  be  submitted  to  the  citizens  of  Cincinnati  for 
their  consideration. 

"  Messrs.  Chase,  Walker,  and  Guilford  were  appointed  the  committee,  who  will 
report  next  Saturday  evening,  precisely  at  seven  o'clock,  at  the  Council  Chambers 


198  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"For  the  Cincinnati  American. 

"A  LYCEUM. 

"I  proposed,  last  week,  the  establishment  of  a  Lyceum  in  our  city, 
and  presented  an  imperfect  outline  of  its  plan.  I  shall  attempt  to 
fill  up  that  outline  in  this  and  subsequent  communications,  and  trust 
that  the  subject  will  engage  the  attention  and  excite  the  zeal  of 
maturer  minds.  It  is  a  subject  which  belongs  to  every  individual 
among  us ;  for  who  is  not  interested  in  every  scheme  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  public  mind?  Who  is  there,  to  whom  benefit  is 
not  derivable,  from  every  addition  made  to  the  stock  of  public  in- 
formation ?  If  but  one  individual  is  made  more  enlightened  than 
before,  those  who  are  around  him  must  participate  in  the  advantage. 
One  communicates  to  another,  who,  in  turn,  diffuses  what  he  has  re- 
ceived through  the  circle  of  his  association.  Knowledge,  like  light, 
spreads  itself  far  and  wide.  A  beacon's  radiance  reaches  far,  but 
the  illumination  of  a  single  powerful  intellect,  reaches  farther.  But 
here  we  do  not  propose  the  enlightening  of  one  mind,  but  of  manj-, 
and  not  by  the  efforts  of  one  intellect,  but  by  the  united  and  con- 
centrated exertions  of  all  who  are  willing  to  give  their  energies  to 
the  cause.  But  it  is  time  that  I  should  describe  the  means  by  which 
the  results  alluded  to  are  to  be  reached,  or,  in  other  words,  sketch 
the  plan  of  the  institution  intended  to  be  established. 

"In  the  first  place,  then,  a  lecture-room  will  be  necessary,  with 
suitable  accommodations  for  the  lecturer  and  such  an  audience  as 
may  be  expected  to  assemble.  The  room  formerly  used  as  a  chapel 
in  the  College  Edifice,  with  some  slight  alterations,  would  answer  the 
purpose  well.  Here  our  citizens  could  assemble  and  listen  to  plain 
and  perspicuous  exhibitions  of  the  truths  of  science,  accompanied  by 
such  illustrations  as  should  render  them  intelligible  to  every  capac- 
ity. Our  intelligent  mechanics  might  be  here  instructed  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  those  arts  whose  practice  they  already  understand  so  well. 
The  nature  of  the  agents  which  they  employ  might  here  be  fully 
elucidated,  and  the  thousand  accidents  and  losses  which  are  occa- 


It  was   further  resolved,  that   the  proceedings  of  the   meeting  be  published  in  the 
papers  of  the  city. 

"N.  Guilford,  Chairman. 
"  Henry  Starr,  Secretary." 


"LYCEUM  NOTICE. 
"The  committee  appointed  to  draft  the  constitution  of  a  Lyceum,  will  report  on 
Saturday  evening,  at  seven   o'clock,  at  the  Council   Chamber;   at  which  time  and 
place  the  citizens  generally  are  invited  and  requested  to  attend. 

"N.  Guilford, 
"  S.  P.  Chase, 
"J.  Walker,* 

Committee." 
"October  28." 
*  Probably  a  missprint  for  T.  Walker. 


OF    SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  199 

sioned  by  a  want  of  this  knowledge,  might  be  happily  prevented. 
If  th«  nature  of  steam,  for  instance,  and  the  principles  of  its  applica- 
tion to  the  purposes  of  navigation,  were  fully  explained  in  a  course 
of  familial-  lectures,  it  is  probable  that  the  disasters,  resulting  from 
a  mismanagement  of  this  terrible  power,  would  be  far  more  (infre- 
quent. But  it  is  obviously  impossible  to  enumerate  the  various 
instances,  in  which  the  practical  business  of  life  would  be  aided  by 
the  knowledge  thus  communicated;  for  there  is  an  intimate  connec- 
tion between  all  the  varieties  of  human  action,  so  that  no  man  can 
acquire  any  particle  of  information,  which  at  some  period  of  life  will 
not  be  of  service  to  him." 

Here  let  us  dwell  a  little. 

The  composer  of  this  volume  was  connected  with  the  "  river  men  " 
of  Cincinnati  through  his  relatives,  two  of  whom  were  leading  mem- 
bers of  that  class  of  population  and  were  practical  mechanics.  He 
had  much  association  with  machinists,  and  especially  with  engine 
builders.  He  cooperated  with  mechanics  and  others  in  the  not 
inconsiderable  work  of  amelioration  wrought,  for  some  years,  by  the 
Washington  Lyceum.  Before  that  institute  was  organized  the  Cin- 
cinnati Lyceum  had  gone  out  of  being.  So  had  the  Henry  Institute. 
And,  after  a  tolerably  vigorous  existence  of  some  years,  the  Wash- 
ington Lyceum  followed  its  illustrious  predecessors. 

It  was  found  that  such  practical  and  scientific  views  as  those  ex- 
pressed in  the  last  foregoing  extract,  were  less  inviting  to  working 
men  than  the  opportunity  to  debate  theology,  aesthetics,  ethics,  pol- 
itics, and  the  like. 

Mr.  Chase  went  on  as  follows : 

"  Let  it  be  sufficient,  then,  to  sa}r,  in  general,  that  the  Philosophy 
of  Knowledge  (by  which  expression,  I  mean  the  methods  of  study 
and  research  which  such  men  as  Galileo,  and  Bacon,  and  Newton, 
and  La  Place,  have  taught  and  exemplified),  and  the  Theory  or 
Mechanics,  and  the  Principles  of  Political  Science  will  be  prom- 
inent objects  of  investigation,  and  that  a  vast  body  of  historical, 
political,  and  scientific  lore  will,  of  course,  be  connected  with  these 
topics,  in  discussion  and  discourse. 

"  Farther,  a  Philosophical  apparatus  should  be  provided.  The 
necessity  of  this  will  be  apparent  to  him  who  reflects  upon  the  im- 
perfectness  of  the  ideas  which  language  conveys  to  us,  of  physical 
objects  and  mechanical  operations.  No  description,  however  elabo- 
rate and  exact,  will  convey  to  a  hearer  so  exact  an  idea  of  any  object, 
as  he  can  obtain,  in  fifteen  minutes,  from  personal  observation.  Let 
us  recur,  again,  to  the  instance  of  steam,  and  suppose  the  lecturer 
to  be  describing  the  parts  and  the  action  of  a  steam-engine,  without 
the  help  of  any  apparatus  whatever.  The  notions  of  bis  audience 
must  be  confused  and  perplexed,  and  no  two  will  be  likely  to  under- 


200  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

stand  him  alike.  Attention  will  be  wearied  and  patience  will  be 
exhausted.  But  put  into  his  hands  a  small  engine,  which  can  be 
had  for  a  trifling  sum  (though  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  some 
of  our  public  spirited  manufacturers  will  give  one  to  the  institution, 
and  every  difficulty  will  vanish),  his  explanations  will  be  easy 
and  intelligible,  and  his  audience  will  depart  instructed  and  pleased. 
It  is  unnecessary,  however,  that  an  extensive  apparatus  should  be 
procured  to  begin  with.  An  electrical  machine,  an  air  pump,  and 
a  few  optical  instruments,  would,  perhaps,  suffice. 

"We  propose,  then,  that  a  Lyceum  be  established  in  this  city; 
that  lectures  be  delivered  in  it  on  the  various  topics  of  science  and 
literature  ;  that  its  members  consist  of  all  mechanics,  manufactu- 
rers, merchants,  and  professional  men,  who  may  be  willing  to  com- 
municate, or  desirous  to  acquire  useful  knowledge ;  that  there  be 
procured  for  the  use  of  the  institution,  a  lecture-room  (to  be  used 
also  as  a  forum),  a  philosophical  apparatus,  a  library,  and  a  cabinet ; 
and  that  the  north  wing  of  the  College  Edifice  be  devoted  to  the 
purposes  of  the  institution. 

"  It  is  obvious  that  this  plan  comprehends  the  present  Mechanics' 
Institute,  though  it  would  enlarge  its  design  and  establish  it  upon 
a  sure  basis.  The  public-spirited  founders  of  that  useful  institution 
would  not  be  unwilling,  it  is  believed,  to  have  it  merged  in  the 
one  proposed. 

"  The  usefulness  of  Lyceums  has  already  been  tested  in  Germany, 
in  England  (the  one  in  Liverpool  has  a  library  of  Twenty-five 
thousand  volumes),  and  in  the  Eastern  States.  Shall  not  Cincin- 
nati BE  THE  FIRST  TO  ESTABLISH  A  LYCEUM  IN  THE  WEST?  C." 

It  appears  to  me  that  Chief  Justice  Chase  was  at  fault  in  recol- 
lection when  he  wrote  as  follows  to  Rev.  Mr.  Blanchard,  in  1868  : 

"  It  is  curious  how  men  best  acquainted  with  each  other  mistake 
as  to  matters  of  personal  history.  .  .  And  you,  too,  are  mistaken 
in  your  facts.  No  mob  ever  rifled  my  sister's  house.  Mob  violence 
was  threatened,  and  she  took  refuge  in  my  father-in-law's  house 
one  night.  No  injury  was  done  to  her  dwelling.  It  was  not  for 
any  thing  to  her  that  I  brought  suit  against  some  leaders  of  another, 
or  perhaps  the  same  mob— my  memory  does  not  serve  me.  It  was 
for  injuries  to  the  office  of  the  Philanthropist.  I  would,  of  course, 
have  brought  the  same  suit  for  an  injury  to  a  Chinaman  or  a  China- 
woman ;  but  my  heart's  sympathies  were  with  the  persecuted 
printers  of  the  Philanthropist,  as  they  would  have  been  with  any 
other  persecuted  people.  I  was  not  an  abolitionist,  it  is  true,  and 
perhaps  never  was  in  the  technical  sense,  but  I  had  pretty  strong 
leanings  that  way,  and  pretty  strong  sympathies  with  them  under 
injuries.  I  was  not  a  life-long  Whig  ;  but  a  sort  of  independent 
Whig  with  Democratic  ideas,  from  1830  say  to  1841.  Sometimes  I 
voted  for  a  Democrat,  but  more  generally  for  Whigs.  Judge  Burnet, 
Groesbeck  &  Co.,  never  cut  me.  Judge  Burnet  was  a  very  kind, 
personal  friend;  though  neither  he  nor  Mr.  G.  approved,  I  dare  say, 
of  my  anti-slavery  views,  and  I  should,  no  doubt,  have  been  better 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  201 

received  in  society  had  I  better  suited  the  prevailing  Cincinnati 
tone." 

I  think,  the  state  of  society  at  Cincinnati  in  1831  was  by  no 
means  favorable  to  the  reception  of  a  lecture,  offering  to  the  consid- 
eration of  a  public  audience,  what  was  said  against  slavery  by  Mr. 
Chase  in  his  lecture  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  Henry  Brougham.1 

Did  the  man  who  first  used  those  words  in  a  lyceum  lecture  at 
Cincinnati,  and  then  had  them  printed  in  the  North  American  Re- 
view, expect  to  be  brilliantly  successful  at  the  West?  Already  had 
"  King  Cotton  "  flourished  his  dark  sceptre,  his  domain  extending 
even  beyond  the  "  river  beautiful,"  which  formed  in  the  Cincinnati 
valley  the  dividing  line  between  the  legal  territory  of  his  dread 
"  peculiar  institution  "  and  the  institutions  of  free  territory. 


1  "  In  1810,  in  consequence  of  the  attempts  to  evade  the  prohibition  of  the  Aboli- 
tion Acts,  he  moved  in  the  House  of  Commons,  'That  this  House  will,  early  in  the 
next  session  of  Parliament,  take  into  consideration  such  measures  as  may  tend 
effectually  to  prevent  such  daring  violations  of  the  law.'  In  the  course  of  the 
debate  on  this  motion,  he  pledged  himself  to  bring  in  a  bill  for  punishing  slave- 
trading  as  felony.  The  motion  was  carried  unanimously,  and  in  the  next  session, 
he  did  introduce  a  bill,  declaring  '  all  dealing  in  slaves  by  British  subjects,  or  per- 
sons within  the  British  dominions,  a  felony,  punishable  by  transportation,  or  im- 
prisonment and  hard  labor,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court  which  tries  the  offense.' 
This  bill  passed  into  a  law,  and  has  the  high  merit  of  being  the  earliest  public 
recognition  of  the  principle  that  the  traffickers  in  human  flesh  are  pirates,  and 
ought  to  be  treated  as  such.  Mr.  Brougham  subsequently  turned  his  attention  to 
the  condition  of  the  slaves  in  the  West  Indies.  His  humane  exertions  in  behalf  of 
that  friendless  and  unfortunate  race  of  men  are  above  all  praise.  But  a  few  months 
have  gone  by  since  he  moved,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  '  That  this  House  do  resolve, 
at  the  earliest  practicable  period  of  the  next  session,  to  take  into  serious  considera- 
tion the  state  of  the  slaves  in  the  Colonies  of  Great  Britain,  in  order  to  the  mitiga- 
tion and  final  abolition  of  their  slavery,  and  more  especially  to  the  amendment  of 
the  administration  of  justice  within  the  same.'  In  his  speech  in  support  of  this 
motion,  he  placed  the  question  on  higher  ground  than  that  of  simple  expediency. 
He  went  to  the  bottom  of  the  merits  of  the  case,  and  denied  utterly  the  fundamental 
principle  of  slavery,  that  man  may  be  the  subject  of  property.  '  There  is,'  he  ex- 
claimed, 'a  law  above  all  the  enactments  of  human  codes;  the  same  throughout  the 
world,  the  same  in  all  times ;  such  as  it  was  before  the  daring  genius  of  Columbus 
pierced  the  night  of  ages,  and  opened  to  one  world  the  sources  of  power,  wealth,  and 
knowledge,  to  another,  all  unutterable  woes;  such  itis  this  day;  it  is  the  law  writ- 
ten by  the  finger  of  God  on  the  heart  of  man  ;  and  by  that  law,  unchangeable  and 
eternal,  while  men  despise  fraud,  and  loathe  rapine,  and  abhor  blood,  they  shall 
reject,  with  indignation,  the  wild  and  guilty  fantasy  that  man  can  hold  property  in 
man  ! '  This  motion  however,  was  negatived  ;  and  here  the  subject  rests  for  the 
present;  but  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  public  opinion  will  fiually  force 
Parliament  to  adopt  the  measures  which  it  contemplated." 


•  202  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Salmon  Portland  Chase  was  willing  to  be  unsuccessful,  as  men 
say,  in  order  to  be  thoroughly  devoted  to  great  causes;  but  I  think 
I  do  but  justice  to  his  memory  in  intimating  that  he  sometimes 
acted  as  if  he  believed  that  great  success  could  be  commanded  by 
desert,  in  spite  of  public  ignorance  and  studiedly  disseminated  pre- 
judices. 

Indications  of  his  early  errors  on  that  subject  are  very  frequent 
in  that  lecture-article  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  Henry  Brougham. 
The  Introduction  to  the  present  work  gave  one  of  them  in  the 
words : 

"  It  often  happens  that  one  man,  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  or  by 
the  resistless  energy  of  his  own  spirit,  is  placed  or  places  himself  in  a  situ- 
ation to  control,  like  an  earthly  God,  the  destinies  of  whole  nations." 

In  the  article  thus  quoted  for  the  second  time  we  have  these 
words  also  : 

"  While  thus  engaged  in  laying  deep  and  strong  the  foundations 
of  his  fame  in  a  broad  and  comprehensive  knowledge  of  men  and 
things  and  their  infinitely  diversified  relations,  he  did  not  neglect 
the  more  dry  and  abstruse  investigations  through  which  lies  the 
road,  and  the  only  road,  to  legal  distinction.  He  had  chosen  the 
profession  of  the  law,  and  to  choose  a  profession,  and  to  determine 
to  be  among  the  most  distinguished  of  its  members,  were  to  him 
one  and  the  same  thing.  He  set  about  giving  effect  to  this  deter- 
mination with  all  that  energy  of  will  and  perseverance  of  effort, 
which  he  had  already  displayed  so  conspicuously  in  other  pur- 
suits." 

These  words,  portraying  Brougham,  almost  make  a  likeness  of 
their  author.  They  betray,  however,  that  the  remarkably  successful 
and  not  less  remarkably  unsuccessful  man  who  wrote  them  was  once 
in  danger  of  falling  into  fixed  error  on  the  subject  of  success  and 
failure;  that  for  a  time,  at  least,  in  his  early  manhood,  he  had  not 
sounded  the  depths  of  the  true  philosophy  respecting  aspiration  and 
ambition,  of  achievement  and  of  triumph. 

That  philosophy,  in  my  opinion,  does  not  allow  us  to  ascribe  so 
much  to  simple  merit  in  relation  to  success.  It  is  not  true,  in  point 
of  fact,  that  the  only  road  to  legal  distinction,  for  example,  lies 
through  "the  more  dry  and  abstruse  investigations"  just  alluded 
to. 

The  truth  is,  Chase  set  out,  as  a  young  man,  with  very  false  ideas 
on  the  subject  of  the  influence  which  a  single  individual  of  great 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  203 

abilities  may  exercise  over  vast  numbers  of  his  fellow-men.     In  that 
same  lecture-article  on  Brougham  stand  the  words  : 

••  We  "vrould  not  be  thought  to  have  forgotten  the  maxim  that 
none  but  the  dead  can  be  accounted  happy.  We  are  aware  that  the 
judgment  of  the  dead  was  not,  and  is  not  peculiar  to  Egypt.  Nor 
is  that  judgment  to  be  held  in  light  esteem.  Posterity  will,  no 
doubt,  pronounce  more  impartially  upon  the  doings  of  a  man.  but, 
perhaps  not,  therefore,  more  unerringly  than  his  contemporaries. 
The  mists  of  prejudice  may  be  dissipated — may  be,  but  are  not 
always:  yet  much  will  be  forgotten  that  is  essential  to  a  just  decis- 
ion ;  and  ignorance  darkens  judgment  as  much  as  prejudice  mis- 
leads it.  There  are  important  purposes  to  be  answered  by  a  con- 
temporary trial  of  the  living  man.  If  he  have  done  well,  the 
applause  of  the  world  will  encourage  him  to  do  better;  if  ill,  the 
censure  of  the  world  will  deter  him  from  a  repetition  of  the  evil. 
Public  opinion,  nowadays,  takes  cognizance  of  every  man'sthouglits 
and  conduct,  and  binds  him  over  to  good  behavior.  It  is  well  that 
it  is  so.  It  is  well  for  mankind,  that  public  opinion  cheers  the 
laborer  in  a  good  cause  onward,  while  it  rebukes  the  evil-doer  in 
tones  of  authority  that  must  be  felt  and  can  not  be  disregarded.'' 

That  is  a  picture  of  ideal  rather  than  of  real  life.  It  were,  indeed, 
well  for  mankind  were  public  opinion  so  apt  to  cheer  the  laborer  in 
a  good  cause  onward.  It  were  well,  indeed,  happy  for  the  world 
were  public  opinion  so  apt  to  rebuke  the  evil-doer  in  tones  of  author- 
ity that  must  be  felt  and  can  not  be  disregarded.  But  it  is  not  so 
in  real  life. 

I  next  invite  attention  to  an  extract  from  the  lecture-article  on 
the  Effects  of  Machinery,  which  the  Chief  Justice  told  me  he  pre- 
ferred to  the  piece  devoted  to  the  appreciation  of  the  Life  and  Char- 
mater  of  Brougham.     We  read  : 

"  It  has  not  been  the  fact  .  .  .  that  men  have  applied  them- 
selves to  the  study  of  their  own  times  with  as  much  earnestness  as 
to  the  investigation  of  the  records  of  the  past.  It  has  always  been 
extremely  difficult  to  obtain  contemporary  information  of  events. 
Intelligence  has  been  transmitted  from  point  to  point  very  slowly. 
And  when  it  has  finally  reached  its  destination,  it  has  come  in  so 
questionable  a  shape,  that  its  authenticity  could  by  no  means  be 
relied  on.  The  consequence  has  been  that  men  of  learning  and 
study  have  turned  away  from  so  unpromising  a  Held  of  research. 
Almost  all  writers,  except  those  whose  business  was  polities,  have 
occupied  themselves  in  other  tasks.  It  was  a  natural  consequence 
that  science  became  speculative  rather  than  practical.  The  ohject 
of  study  was  rather  to  gratify  the  instinctive  desire  of  knowledge, 
than  to  strikeout  a  light  to  guide  the  conduct,  or  to  discover  tin' 
means  of  improving  the  condition  of  man.  And  thus  men.  instead 
of  believing  that  they  were  intrusted  by  Providence  with  the  care 


204  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

of  their  own  fate,  have  been  accustomed  to  think  of  themselves  as 
embarked,  without  a  rudder,  without  a  sail,  without  an  oar,  upon 
the  stream  of  destiny,  hurried  on,  they  know  not  how,  and  destined 
to  arrive,  they  know  not  whither." 

Is  it  true  that  men  are  intrusted  by  Providence  with  the  care  of 
their  own  fates  ?  Is  it  truly  strange  that  even  the  most  practical  of 
men  should  become,  at  last,  accustomed  to  think  of  himself  as 
embarked,  without  a  rudder,  without  a  sail,  without  an  oar,  upon  the 
stream  of  destiny,  hurried  on,  he  knows  not  how,  and  destined  to 
arrive,  he  knows  not  where? 

The  article  just  quoted  goes  on  to  say  : 

"But  there  is  a  better  philosophy  than  this — a  philosophy  that 
attributes  more  to  man  and  less  to  circumstance." 

The  subject  seems  to  me  of  very  great  concern  to  this  whole  work 
I  therefore  ask  attention  to  another  extract  from  the  sketcli  of  the 
Life  and  Character  of  Brougham.  In  the  words  about  to  be  pre- 
sented we  shall  see  the  same  error  as  to  failure  and  success,  and,  of 
course,  in  respect  to  the  force  of  the  one  in  relation  to  the  many 
They  are  of  this  purport,  referring  to  their  hero,  Brougham  : 

"  His  character  has  powerfully  influenced  the  age.  His  example 
of  earnest,  devoted,  persevering  labor  to  accomplish  noble  ends  by 
noble  means,  has  been  long  before  the  world.  If  we  were  called 
upon  to  name  the  man,  who,  in  our  opinion  has  done  more  for  the 
human  race,  we  confess  we  should  not  know  where  to  look. 
Franklin  alone,  in  modern  times,  may  be  compared  to  him  as  an 
instance  of  what  one  man,  animated  by  a  noble  and  enlarged 
philanthropy,  may  accomplish  for  his  fellow-men ;  and  in  his  great 
efforts  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  he  seems,  constantly,  to  have 
held  the  example  of  Franklin  in  full  view. 

"From  his  youth  up,  he  has  shunned  no  toil,  however  severe. 
His  whole  life  has  been  a  life  of  intense  labor,  a  series  of  great 
exertions.  He  has  evinced  on  all  occasions  a  large  and  compre- 
hensive benevolence;  a  sound  and  practical  judgment;  united 
with  a  genius  of  the  loftiest  and  most  universal  character.  We 
do  not  know  that  a  single  one  of  the  numerous  schemes  of  moment- 
ous importance,  which  he  has  originated,  can  be  said  to  have  finally 
failed." 

We  have  seen  that  when  he  wrote  the  article  just  quoted,  Mr. 
Chase  was  only  three-and-twenty  years  of  age.  Afterward  he 
learned  more  thoroughly  the  truth  relating  to  success  and 
failure. 


OF    SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE. 


205 


Afterward,  indeed,  he  learned,  in  bitterness  of  spirit,  the  true  re- 
lations of  the  one  to  the  many,  the  many  to  the  one.1 

Under  date  March  1,  1831,  appears  the  entry  of  which  this  is  a 
transcript. 

'March  1,  [1831.]  To-day.  I  resume  my  long-neglected  journal,  not 
because  1  had  nothing  to  record,  but  because  I  thought  1  could  not 
spare  the  time  required.  I  have  again  renewed  my  former  practice, 
because  I  think  it  so  useful  as  to  warrant  the  abstraction  of  a  lew- 
moments  from  other  occupations,  to  be  devoted  to  this.  This  day 
has  not  been  a  remarkable  one.  1  have  jogged  on  in  my  old  path. 
In  the  morning,  I  read  the  second  case  in  the  Ohio  .Reports.  The 
principles  involved  were  obvious  and  the  merits  of  the  case  clear. 
In  the  afternoon  and  evening,  besides  writing  a  column,  I  read  two 
books  of  Akenside's  Pleasures  of  the  Imagination.  I  once  admired 
this  poem,  but  I  now  begin  to  lose  my  relish  for  it.  It  is  stiff  and 
artificial.    It  wants  life  and  feeling.    In  the  evening  Mr.  Peters  called, 

and  I  went  with  him  to  Mr.  L 's,  where  we  found  Miss  C.  L 

and  Miss  M— — s  just  starting  to  go  to  the  lecture.     We  joined  the 

party.     I  offered  my  arm   to   Miss  C.   L ;  Peters,  his  to  Miss 

M s.     The  walk  was  pleasant,  and   the  lecture  very  good,   but 

somewhat  tiresome.  When  we  came  out,  I  had  forgotten  my  over- 
coat,  and  returned  to   obtain   it,    Miss   C.   L having   said   she 

would  await  my  return  in  the  hall,  with  Mr.  Peters ;  when  I  came 
out  I  found  them  gone.  I  followed  in  the  way  I  supposed  the}*  had 
taken  ;  but  not  finding  [them]  after  walking  half  a  square,  I  gave 
up  the  pursuit  and  returned  to  my  office." 

The  distinctively  judicial  mind,  rather  than  the  mind  of  one 
formed  to  shine  as  an  advocate,  seems  indicated  in  that  part  of  the 
foregoing  extract  which  relates  to  legal  reading.  What  of  the  re- 
mainder of  the  extract?  Does  it  indicate  the  beau,  the  dangler,  the 
ambitious  gallant?  I  think  not.  Yet  it  shows  a  pretty  marked 
delight  in  the  society  of  fashionable  folk,  and  rich. 

This  man  might,  possibly,  have  married  a  poor  woman.  Had  he 
married  a  poor  woman,  he  would  have  been  a  fond  husband.  He 
was  born,  indeed,  to  be  uxorious,  if  uxorious  does  not  mean  exactly 
what  the  dictionaries  indicate.  According  to  the  dictionaries,  uxori- 
ousness  means  fond  submission  to  a  wife.  I  think  it  means  just 
fond  husbandhood,  if  that  expression  may  be  suffered,  for  the  nonce, 
to  serve  the  purpose  that  I  have  in  view.  Now,  fondness,  in  the 
feeling  of  devotion  to  a  wife  may  be  of  the  submissive  stamp,  or  of 
the  domineering  type.     One  can  not  study  life  without  observing  in- 


1  See  letter  to  Miss  Nettie  Chase  in  1864. 


206  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

dications  of  this  truth,  which,  indeed,  is  constantly  receiving  illus- 
tration all  around  us. 

Chase  could  never  have  been  a  submissive  husband.  He  was 
born  to  be  a  fond,  devoted  husband;  but  he  could  be  that  without 
ceasing  to  be  imperious. 

Had  he  married  a  poor  woman  of  refined  tastes  and  polished  man- 
ners, he  would,  probably,  have  been  more  aided  in  the  proper 
popularization  of  his  character,  his  aspiration,  his  ambition.  But, 
in  social  life,  he  seems  to  have  preferred  the  rich  to  the  poor.  He 
was  not,  I  have  said,  and  I  maintain,  a  snob ;  but  he  was  almost  a 
snob.  He  was  almost  what  may  be  called  a  Christian  snob,  when  he 
was  associating,  as  we  have  just  seen,  with  the  Longworths  and 
their  friends  at  Cincinnati,  in  1830  and  1831.  But  such  a  man 
could  never  have  been  long  a  snob  or  much  a  snob  in  any 
circumstances. 

Here  is  the  language  of  a  most  suggestive  entry,  under  date 
March  2,  1831. 

"  March  2,  [1831.]  I  was  a  tardy  riser  this  morning.  Tiie  sun  an- 
ticipated me  by  more  than  an  hour.  When  up,  I  read  the  Scriptures, 
finished  Akenside's  poem,  perused  an  article  in  the  Edinburgh  Review 
on  the  Effects  of  Machinery,  and1  accumulation,  and  about  fifty  pages 
of  the  Wealth  of  Nations,  and  about  a  dozen  pages  of  Say." 

In  the  Introduction  allusion  has  been  made  to  a  discredit- 
able characterization  of  our  hero,  drawn  by  a  contributor  to 
the  very  periodical  that,  almost  four-and-forty  years  ago,  pub- 
lished Salmon  Portland  Chase's  article  on  the  Effects  of  3fa- 
chinery.  Discreditable,  indeed,  appears  to  me  that  rash  char- 
acterization. 

I  would  say  that  that  man,  whoever  he  may  be,  who  represents  the 
hero  of  this  work  as  having  shown  himself  financially  a  fool, 
judicially  a  trickster,  may  succeed  in  establishing  his  own  unwor- 
thiness;  he  must  most  ignominiously  fail  in  his  endeavor  to  defame 
the  memory  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase.2 


*  Sic. 

2  This,  I  need  hardly  say,  is  not  a  bid  for  favorable  criticism.  Have  I  not  already 
indicated  my  conviction  that  this  life,  at  best,  is  but  a  battle  with  delightful 
truces  ? 

From  the  first  I  anticipated  that  lively,  if  not  terrific,  would  be  the  conflict  of 
this  work  with  certain  partialities  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  certain  prejudices  on 
the  other.     Have  I  not  already  learned  how  rational  was  that  anticipation? 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  207 

Here  is  a  sample  of  the  precious  article  in  question : 

"We  have  commented  at  length  upon  Mr.  Chase's  public  career 
for  the  purpose  of  illustrating  the  ignorance,  audacity,  and  reckless 
levity,  with  which,  in  this  country,  affairs  of  the  greatesl    moment 

are  often  conducted.  There  seems,  in  some  directions,  to  be  not  only  no 
Statesmanship,  but  no  capacity  to  learn  and  apply  some  of  the  simplest 
truths  in  political  economy." 

That  last  sentence  may  be  very  true.  I  think  it  is  quite  true. 
The  very  article  on  which  I  am  commenting  seems  to  me  itself 
abundant  illustration  of  that  truth,  so  far  from  creditable  to  the  age 
and  to  the  country.  But  if  there  be  talk  concerning  "  ignorance, 
audacity,  and  reckless  levity,"  whither  shall  one  go  for  choicer  speci- 
mens of  them  than  in  that  self-same  article,  so  full  of  sound,  so  little 
marked  by  sense? 

March  2,  1831,  appears,  after  record  of  reading,  this  minute : 

"I  went  with  Miss  L.  L ,  to  hear  Mr.  Durbin,  but  was  disap- 
pointed.     Returning,  walked  with  Miss  E.  L ,  the  other   lady 

having  taken  the  arm  of  her  cousin.  Mr.  Young  called  and  conversed 
half  an  hour.     Neither  of  us  in  very  good  spirits." 

There  was  cause,  no  doubt,  for  depression  at  that  time.  Here  is 
a  suggestive  statement  relating  to  our  young  lawyer : 

"His  first  client  paid  him  half  a  dollar  for  drawing  a  deed  ;  his 
second,  after  having  availed  himself  of  his  services  and  borrowed  of 
him  half  a  dollar,  never  to  be  seen  by  him  again." 


After  all,  however,  it  is  easier  to  defend  our  hero  against  all  prejudices  what- 
ever than  against  certain  partialities. 

As  for  the  North  American  Review,  I  was,  beyond  expression,  pained  to  find  in  its 
pages  the  article  in  question.  I  had  not  forgotten — I  do  not  forget — that,  noticing  a 
predecessor  of  this  work,  that  same  Review  expressed  itself  as  follows: 

"Judge  Warden  manifests,  throughout  the  volume,  the  attributes  of  aclear  thinker, 
an  independent  reasoner,  and  a  vigorous  writer.  While  he  is  guiltless  of  any  start- 
ling heresy  or  innovation,  his  work  is,  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  original;  many 
of  the  opinions  to  which  it  gives  voice  bearing  the  impress  of  a  first  coinage,  while 
those  that  are  old  are  evidently  new-cast  and  freshly  stamped." 

That  is  high  praise.  I  must  forever  show  my  gratitude  therefor.  But,  if  I  must 
be  grateful  to  the  author  of  the  words  just  quoted,  must  I  not  be  grateful,  also,  to  the 
man  who  so  trusted  and  so  honored  me  in  making  me  his  preferred  biographer  ? 

I  trust  I  do  not  suffer  gratitude  to  make  me  undiscriminating  in  this  work.  On 
the  other  hand,  I  do  not  infer  the  unworthiness  of  the  North  American  Review  because 
it  suffered  a  contributor,  assuming  the  tone  of  an  oracle,  to  pronounce  such  words  as 
those  quoted  in  the  text,  respecting  Salmon  Portland  Chase. 


208  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

That  statement  is  in  the  biographic  document  referred  to  in 
another  place.     No  doubt,  it  is  correct. 

But  the  true  stuff  was  in  this  man.  Here  is  the  record  of  a 
vitally  important  resolution  : 

"  I  made  this  resolution  to-day :  I  "will  try  to  excel  in  all  things, 
yet  if  I  am  excelled  without  fault  of  mine,  I  will  not  be  mortified. 
I  will  not  withhold  from  any  one  the  praise  which  I  think  his  due, 
nor  will  I  allow  myself  to  envy  another's  praise,  or  to  feel  jealousy 
when  I  hear  him  praised.     May  God  help  me  to  keep  it !  " 

It  was  in  the  diary,  to  which  we  have  been  thus  far  so  much 
indebted,  that,  under  the  date  April  29,  1831,  the  hero  of  this  work 
recorded  that  characteristic  vow  and  prayer. 

It  appears  to  me  that  prayer  was  answered.  Far  from  faultless 
— very  far  from  blameless — marked  with  many,  yea,  with  various 
as  well  as  many  errors,  as  was  the  career  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase, 
he  who  ran  that  course  endeavored  to  excel  in  all  things;  yet,  if 
he  found  himself  excelled  without  fault  of  his,  he  was  not  mortified. 
He  withheld  from  no  one  the  praise  which  he  considered  due  ;  nor 
did  he  allow  himself  to  envy  another's  praise,  or  to  feel  jealousy 
when  he  heard  another  praised.  It  would  seem,  indeed,  that  God 
did  help  him  to  keep  that  noble  resolution. 

Under  date  July,  1831,  we  have  an  entry  relating  to  Mr.  Dane 
and  the  Ordinance  of  '87  : 

"This  subject,"  he  says,  "has  acquired  much  interest  in  conse- 
quence of  having  been  introduced  into  the  debate  in  the  Senate 
between  Messrs.  Webster  and  Hayne.  In  an  Appendix  to  his 
Digest  of  American  Law,  Mr.  Dane  has  taken  the  trouble  to  put  the 
merits  of  the  case  in  a  clear  point  of  view.  He  states  that  the  ordi- 
nance was  not  copied  from  the  resolve  of  Mr.  Jefferson  as  Mr.  Benton 
asserted,  etc." 

We  have  seen  that  it  was  in  July,  1831,  that  Mr.  Chase  could 
read  in  print  his  lecture-essay  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  Henry 
Brougham.  We  have  also  seen,  in  the  course  of  the  present  chapter, 
that  it  was  on  the  second  of  March,  of  the  same  year  that  he  read 
an  article  in  the  Edinburgh  Revieic  on  the  Effects  of  Machinery, 
together  with  about  fifty  pages  of  Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations,  and 
about  a  dozen  pages  of  Say.  It  is  proper  now  to  say  that  on  the 
first  of  January,  1832,  appeared  in  the  North  American  Review  his 
lecture-essay  on  the  Effects  of  Machinery.  That  piece  contains  these 
words : 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  209 

"We  look  upon  the  knowledge  of  the  present  circumstances  of 
society,  of  the  transactions  of  our  own  age  and  country,  of  modern 
science  and  modern  art,  as  more  important  than  an}'  other.  Yet  it 
is  precisely  the  sort  of  knowledge,  of  which,  until  very  recently,  we 
have  had  least.  We  would  not  be  understood  to  undervalue  any 
species  of  knowledge.  Every  kind  of  information  is  precious.  AVe 
would  only  say.  that  that  which  instructs  us  where  we  are,  what  we 
are,  and  how  we  are.  has  peculiar  value.  It  is  true  that  to  know 
the  present,  we  must  be,  in  some  degree,  acquainted  with  the  past. 
To  understand  the  result,  we  must  have  knowledge  of  the  cause.  To 
foresee  consequeuces,  it  is  necessary  to  know  how  consequences 
have  been  heretofore  produced.  What  we  complain  of  is,  not  that 
we  know  too  much  of  what  has  been,  but  that  we  do  not  know 
enough  of  what  is  ; — not  that  we  are  too  familiar  with  the  past, 
but  that  we  are  not  familiar  enough  with  the  present.  And  we 
would  go  so  far  as  to  say,  that,  if  any  part  of  knowledge  were  to 
be  given  up,  it  would  be  better  to  let  alone  the  study  of  what  hap- 
pened before  we  were  born,  and  the  conjecture  of  what  is  to  happen 
alter  we  are  dead,  and  confine  our  view  within  the  horizon  of  our 
present  existence.  It  was  demanded  of  the  Spartan  King,  '  What 
stud}-  is  fittest  for  the  boy  ?  '  His  answer  was,  '  That  of  the  science 
most  useful  to  the  man.'  Utility  measures  the  value  of  knowledge, 
as  of  every  thing  else  ;  and,  surely,  on  the  scale  of  utility,  the  knowl- 
edge of  what  is  all  around  us,  affecting  us,  physically,  intellectually, 
and  morally,  in  countless  ways,  ranks  far  higher  than  the  knowledge 
of  the  circumstances  of  preceding  generations." 

These  utilitarian  views  were  certainly  not  of  the  selfish  order. 
They  were  taken  by  a  mind  which,  if  not  made  for  poetry,  was  at 
least  poetic.  But  of  that  I  do  not  wish  to  discourse  at  present.  Let 
us  now  attend  to  other  thoughts. 

The  article  just  quoted  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  essay  on  the 
Life  and  Character  of  Brougham.  In  that  piece,  a  young  legist 
of  the  literary  order  tells  his  readers,  as  he  had  before  told  a  Cin- 
cinnati audience,  that  biography  helps  us  to  a  better  understanding 
of  the  way  in  which  the  great  machine  of  society  works,  the  prime 
forces  that  act  upon  it  being  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  individual 
men,  and  it  often  happening  that  one  man,  by  the  force  of  circum- 
stances or  by  the  resistless  energy  of  his  own  spirit,  is  placed  or 
places  himself  in  a  situation  to  control,  like  an  earthly  god,  the  des- 
tinies of  whole  nations,  or,  still  oftener,  originates  some  new  thought, 
or  makes  some  new  discovery  or  invention,  destined  in  its  conse- 
quences to  change  the  whole  aspect  of  society.  Here  we  see  the 
author's  conception  of  the  practical  philosophy  taught  by  example 
in  biography.  The  holder  of  that  conception  may  well  maintain 
that  the  knowledge  of  the  present  circumstances  of  society,  of  the 
transactions  of  our  own  age  and  country,  of  modern  science  and 


210  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

modern  art, — that  that  which  instructs  us  where  we  are,  what  we 
are,  and  how  we  are, — must  be  deemed  more  important  than  any- 
other  kind  of  knowledge.  That  biography  and  history  are  of  that 
most  precious  kind  of  knowledge,  or  at  least  directly  tend  to  multi- 
ply its  cognitions,  ought  to  be  allowed  without  discussion. 

But  the  question  how  much  is  to  be  credited  to  the  individual  and 
how  much  to  the  multitude  may  long  provoke  discussion.  That 
discussion  never  can  be  very  profitable  till  we  learn  to  pay  due 
regard  to  the  real  laws  that  govern  failure  and  success.  Until  that 
time  we  shall  not  accurately  measure  either  the  force  of  the  many  or 
the  force  of  the  few  in  art  and  science,  in  religion,  and  in  govern- 
ment. 

I  have  elsewhere  intimated  my  opinion  on  that  subject.  It  is  not 
my  purpose,  here  to  add  a  word  relating  to  that  topic.  But  it  seems 
to  me  a  subject,  thoughts  of  which  may  well  accompany  our  entire 
progress  through  this  work. 

Returning  to  the  article  on  the  Effects  of  Machinery,  I  engage  to 
speak  hereafter,  as  becomingly  as  possible,  of  what  appear  to  me  its 
indications,  touching  its  composer's  views  of  public  economics. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  hero's  professional  life.  An  entry  dated 
April  10,  1832,  reads  as  follows: 

"I  this  day  formed  a  law  partnership  with  Gen.  E.  King  and  T. 
Walker.  We  are  to  divide  the  proceeds  of  the  business  equally.  I 
am  to  be  cashier.  Walker  and  I  are  to  purchase  what  additional 
books  are  wanted  and  to  pay  the  expense  of  rent,  fuel,  light,  and 
servants." 

June  9th  of  the  same  year  furnishes  this  note: 

"  Gen.  King  went  to  Columbus  to-day,  and  left  me  in  charge  of 
our  whole  business." 

June  12th,  this  : 

"  Wrote  to  King  communicating  the  substance  of  a  letter  on  busi- 
ness from  R.  Biddle,  of  Pittsburg." 

And  June  16th,  this  : 

"Received  our  new  book-cases  to-day,  and  made  quite  a  change  in 
our  office.  Feel  now  rather  more  at  my  ease  than  for  some  months 
past." 

We  have  already  l  seen  some  indications  that  in  the  sense  thus 
indicated,  our  hero  loved  to  be  at  his  ease. 

1  Ante,  p.  160. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  211 

The  next  entry  to  which  I  desire  to  call  attention  is  dated  Novem- 
ber 1,  1832.     It  reads  as  follows: 

"Dissolved  partnership  with  King  &  Walker  and  formed  a  new 
oue  with  D.  J.  Caswell.  I  am  to  give  a  bonus  of*  81475  in  a  note 
payable  in  90  days,  and  to  share  equally  in  all  business,  including 
that  of  the  agency  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  for  which  Caswell 
is  solicitor." 

The  Walker  of  the  dissolved  partnership  was  destined  to  become 
deservedly  famous  as  the  author  of  an  admirable  Introduction  to 
American  Laic.  It  is  with  proud  gratitude  that  I  remember  what 
he  did,  or  tried  to  do,  for  me  as  one  of  my  preceptors  in  the  law. 
The  Gen.  King  of  the  dissolved  partnership  was  considered  one  of 
the  very  ablest  members  of  the  Ohio  bar.  Mr.  Caswell  had  less 
reputation  and  not  very  great  ability. 

Under  date  February  14,  we  have  : 

"A  few  days  ago  the  Ohio  began  to  rise  rapidly.  After  reaching 
its  ordinary  height,  when  reckoned  at  full  flood,  the  noble  stream, 
as  if  satisfied  with  that  display  of  strength,  flowed  steadily  on  for  a 
while,  without  increase  or  abatement.  After  a  few  hours,  however, 
it  began  to  subside,  and  continued  slowly  falling  for  some  time.  It 
then  rose  again,  and  higher  than  before.  Merchants,  whose  ware- 
houses fronted  on  the  river,  began  to  remove  their  goods  from  the 
lower  story  to  the  level  of  the  bank.  The  river,  like  an  animal  eager 
in  pursuit  as  its  antagonist  retires,  pressed  closely  on,  and  forced 
them  to  remove  their  stores  still  farther,  to  the  second  stoiy.  This 
morning  1  went  down  to  look  at  the  stream.  As  I  passed  down 
Broadway,  across  Columbia  Street,  I  looked  toward  the  eastern  term- 
ination of  the  latter.  It  was  covered  with  water.  At  the  foot  of 
Broadway,  the  river  had  filled  the  space  between  the  two  hotels,  and 
covered  the  floor  of  the  western  store  in  Cassily's  buildings.  I 
stepped  from  the  pavement  (sidewalk)  on  board  a  woodboat,  from 
which  I  passed  to  a  steamboat  of  the  largest  class,  which  lay  so  that 
its  side  was  parallel  with  the  western  front  of  Cassily's  buildings.  I 
mounted  the  hurricane  deck,  and  walked  to  the  stern  of  the  vessel. 
My  position  afforded  me  a  commanding  view.  1  saw  the  water  pour- 
ing into  the  fourth  story  of  the  steam-mill,  reckoning  from  the  top. 
Newport  and  Covington  were  both,  in  a  measure,  flooded,  a  great 
part  of  the  former  being  under  water.  The  Ohio  now  swelled  to  an 
immense  flood,  more  than  a  mile  from  shore  to  shore,  and  seventy 
feet  in  depth,  rushed  on  almost  without  a  ripple.  It  was  sublime. 
It  was  power,  mighty,  terrible,  yet  unostentatious.  It  was  simple 
grandeur  ;  a  calm  putting  forth  of  gigantic  energy.  I  looked  to  the 
west.  The  whole  quay,  lately  so  dry,  was  now  covered  with  steamers 
riding  majestically  on  the  bosom  of  the  water,  crowded  together  in 
close  neighborhood.  One  was  just  about  to  start,  and  her  engine 
was  working  and  throwing  out  vast  volumes  of  steam.  I  returned 
15 


212  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 

to  the  sidewalk  and  went  on  board  another  boat,  from  which  I  had 
a  complete  view  of  the  land  side  of  the  scene.  The  boats  were  re- 
ceiving and  discharging  their  cargo  directly  on  the  sidewalk,  being 
lashed,  for  the  first  time,  I  suppose,  to  the  trees  which  had  been 
planted  to  shade  it.  The  space  between  the  steamboats  and  the 
range  of  buildings  was  crowded  with  busy  men.  I  have  seen  the 
busiest  streets  of  New  York,  but  never  have  I  beheld  a  scene  of  such 
activity.  The  water  was  at  the  curbstone,  and  at  the  foot  of  Syca- 
more and  Broadway  over  the  curbstone.  On  Commercial  Row  the 
water  was  six  inches  deep  in  Owen's  store,  and  the  same,  nearly,  at 
Broadwell's,  corner  of  Sycamore  and  Front.  I  went  to  my  office,  but, 
after  a  while,  determined  to  visit  the  west  end  of  the  town  to  see 
what  had  been  done  there.  I  passed  along  Fourth  Street  to  its 
termination.  The  whole  western  part  of  the  city,  except  a  ridge  of 
land  immediately  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  was  inundated.  Of  one 
house  I  could  only  see  the  roof,  while  others  were  visible  from  the 
second  story  upward.  I  went  down  Elm  Street  until  my  progress 
was  stopped  by  the  water.  I  then  hired  a  waterman,  with  whom  I 
embarked.  The  boat,  under  the  impulse  of  a  strong  and  skillful  arm. 
shot  swiftly  down  Elm  until  we  reached  Columbia  Street.  We  con- 
tinued our  course  along  Columbia  Street  to  Western  Eow  ;  down 
Western  Row  to  Front  Street,  along  Front  to  Elm,  up  Elm  to  Colum- 
bia, along  Columbia  to  Vine,  on  which  street,  at  the  distance  of 
about  a  square  from  Columbia,  we  were  landed,  after  sailing  in  deep 
water  in  the  midst  of  the  most  populous  part  of  the  city  for  nearly 
an  hour.  On  Columbia  Street,  from  Yine  to  its  western  termination, 
the  water  was  from  four  to  six  feet  deep.  The  depth  on  Front 
Street,  between  the  same  limits,  was  from  two  and  a  half  to  six  feet. 
Every  thing  that  could  float  and  sustain  a  man  was  pressed  into 
service.  And  multitudes  were  busied  in  saving  the  wreck  of  their 
furniture.  Many  of  the  houses  which  we  passed  had  been  abandoned. 
In  others,  the  inhabitants  still  remained,  but  had  retreated  to  the 
second  stoiy.  As  I  passed  the  dwelling  of  a  friend,  between  Elm 
and  Plum  Streets  on  Front,  I  recognized  some  of  the  young  ladies 
of  the  family  at  a  window  in  the  second  story.  I  ordered  the  boat- 
man to  stop,  and  conversed  a  few  moments  with  them  from  the 
street.  The  door  was  open  into  the  hall,  the  floor  of  which,  with 
that  of  the  parlors,  was  deeply  submerged.  On  Columbia  Street, 
lumber  was  floating  away  in  vast  quantities,  and,  in  one  instance,  a 
small  dwelling-house  had  been  uplifted  from  its  foundations. 

■  At   the  moment  when  I  write,  the  water  yet  prevails,  and  is 
rising  !" 

Saturday,  the  18th,  yields  this  addition  : 

"  The  water,  after  rising  for  more  than  a  week,  began  to  subside 
to-day.  The  flood  has  been  unprecedented.  The  whole  of  the  city 
south  of  Lower  Market  Street  has  been  completely  inundated.  With 
several  friends,  I  took  a  boat  for  the  purpose  of  observing  the  scene. 
We  embarked  on  Main  Street,  a  little  below  Lower  Market,  and 
proceeded  through  Columbia  Street,  through  the  whole  length  of 
which   a  strong  current   was  running,  to  Broadway.     Passing  the 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  213 

theater,  we  observed  that  the  water  was  upon  the  platform  of  the 
steps.  We  sailed  down  Broadway  into  the  current  of  the  Ohio  on 
the  outside  of  the  steamboats.  The  water  covered  the  first  pane  in 
the  windows  of  the  second  story  belonging  to  Oassily's  buildings. 
As  we  passed  along  down  the  Ohio,  we  observed  that  the  doors  of 
the  buildings  at  the  corner  of  Water  Street  and  the  quay  were 
hardly  visible.  We  entered  the  city  again  at  Plum  Street.  As  our 
boat  turned  round,  I  had  a  full  view  of  the  magnificent  stream.  It 
was  a  rushing  ocean.  The  water  at  the  corner  of  Front  and  Elm 
was  nearly  at  the  tops  of  the  doors.  Many  frame  buildings  in  this 
quarter  were  removed  from  their  foundations,  and  some  of  them 
descended  the  river.  Others  still  remained,  blocking  up  the  streets, 
or  lying  close  to  where  they  formerly  stood.  On  Walnut  Street, 
the  water  approached  within  a  few  feet  of  Pearl  Street  houses,  and 
on  Vine  within  a  few  feet  of  Third  Street.  Almost  the  entire  popu- 
lation of  the  inundated  part  of  the  town  abandoned  their  habitations. 
The  consequent  distress  among  the  poor  is  very  great,  though  the 
citizens,  with  their  usual  prompt  humanity,  are  exerting  themselves 
to  relieve  it  as  far  as  possible.  Our  party  landed  at  Main  Street  ; 
and  I,  probably,  shall  never  again  pass  in  the  same  manner  over  the 
same  ground,  At  all  events,  I  hope  no  similar  deluge  will  ever 
again  present  an  occasion  for  a  like  excursion." 


214  TKE   PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

LAW   AND   LOVE. — MISS   GARNISS. — PROGRESS. 

THAT  Salmon  Portland  Chase  was  never  a  secessionist  was  ad- 
vanced in  the  first  chapter.  Sometimes  I  have  looked  upon 
him  as  the  Calhoun  of  free  territory.  He  was  never  that.  But  he 
admired  Calhoun  and  liked  him. 

Under  date  April  10,  1830,  Mr.  Chase's  diary  contains  this 
entry  : 

"This  distinguished  statesman  is  an  unfortunate  politician,  yet 
a  very  great  man.  Few  men  in  our  country  are  gifted  with  more 
splendid  abilities.  He  thinks  with  rapidity,  yet  with  correctness. 
The  powerful  impulse  under  which  his  intellect  acts  seldom  forces 
it  out  of  the  right  line  of  reason.  All  that  he  does,  and  utters,  and 
imagines  is  marked  by  his  grand,  characteristic,  impetuous  energy. 
It  is  said  that  he  Avas  desirous  of  supporting  the  administration 
of  Mr.  Adams, but  was  overruled  in  his  native  State.  'He  proposed,' 
a  gentleman  who  had  ample  means  of  knowing  the  truth1  recently 
remarked  to  me,  '  to  support  the  administration,  in  a  caucus  of 
South  Carolinians.'  The  proposition  was  received  with  disgust, 
and  Gov.  Taylor  rose  and  exclaimed:  ' Crucify  him?  So  decided  dis- 
approbation alarmed  and  discouraged  him.  He  fell  in  with  the 
prevailing  sentiment,  and  went  for  Jackson,  yet  Jackson  still  re- 
members his  original  preference,  and  there  is  no  love  between  them. 
Calhoun  afterwards  composed  the  celebrated  protest  of  the  South 
Carolina  Legislature  against  the  Tariff. 

"  It  may  be  said  of  him,  not  ^inappropriately, 

"  On  each  glance  of  thought 
Decision  follows  as  the  thunderbolt 
Pursues  the  flash." 

We  must  pay  not  a  little  farther  attention  to  the  sentiments 
of  William  Wirt,  the  legal  teacher  of  the  man  that  wrote  the 
words  just  quoted.  Evidence  that  Wirt  and  Wirt's  wife  and  child- 
ren were  very  near  and  dear  to  Chase,  and  that  the  head  of  the 
Wirt  family  had  a  very  high  place  in  the  affection,  admiration,  and 


Was  it  E.  S.  Thomas  ? 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  215 

esteem  of  his  most  distinguished  pupil  in  the  law,  has  been  presented. 
Well,  Wirt  also  had  a  great  opinion  of  Calhoun.  But  it  does  not 
follow  that  the  former  ever  approved  the  latter's  doctrines  on  the 
subject  of  nullification. 

In  a  letter  to  Judge  Carr,  dated  January  6,  1833,  the  man  who, 
a  few  years  before,  had  been  Chase's  legal  teacher,  said  : 

"  As  to  the  right  of  a  State  to  secede  from  the  Union,  I  do  not 
recollect  to  have  heard  it  made  a  subject  of  discussion  in  the  high 
times  of  '98-9  and  1800,  and  consequently,  never  heard  the  denial 
of  the  right  to  secede  treated  as  a  high  federal  doctrine.  I  can  not, 
however,  distinguish  between  the  right  of  secession  and  the  right 
of  revolution." 

Wirt,  who  was,  in  my  judgment,  a  much  greater  legist  than  he 
seems  to  some  admirers,  was,  in  my  opinion,  right  in  intimating,  as 
we  have  just  seen,  that  no  distinction  can  be  soundly  taken  between 
the  right  of  secession  and  the  right  of  revolution.  But  it  does  not 
follow  that  John  Caldwell  Calhoun  was  either  a  fool,  a  madman,  or 
a  knave,  because  he  did  not  agree  with  William  Wirt  in  that  respect. 

"  A  man  of  the  right  stamp,"  says  our  always  interesting,  but  so 
often  superficial  Parton,  "lives  better  than  he  writes;  a  man  of  the 
wrong  stamp  writes  better  than  he  lives."1  These  words,  referring 
to  the  writings  of  Calhoun,  are  calculated,  like,  perhaps,  most  of 
Parton's  philosophizings,  to  mislead.  I  have  elsewhere  shown  that 
a  good  book  is  necessarily  much  better  than  its  author,  even  if  the 
author  be  the  best  of  men.  However  that  may  be,  I  almost  agree 
with  Parton  where  he  says  : 

"The  writings  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  voluminous,  argumentative, 
difficult  to  read,  seem  to  reveal  to  us  an  honest,  earnest  nature." 

I  go  farther.  I  declare  that,  though  the  writings  of  Calhoun 
are  better  than  their  author,  they  are  very  clearly  the  expressions,  at 
least  for  much  the  most  part,  of  an  honest,  earnest  nature.  There 
should  be  no  question  about  that,  in  spite  of  the  great  odium  that 
has  attached  itself  to  the  name  of  Calhoun. 

A  number  of  eventful  years — years  marked  by  darkest  sorrow, 
deepest  suffering  to  so  many  of  us — have  passed  since  I  first  studied 
the  great  work  of  the  great  Nullifier  on  Government,  comparing  it 
with  passages  in    the  not   less  interesting  work  of  James   Balmes, 


1  Life  of  Jackson,  III,  447-447. 


216  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE   AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

Protestantism  and  Catholicity  compared  in  their  effects  on  the  Civili- 
zation of  Europe.  Now,  I  find  myself  comparing  it  with  Buckle's 
so-called  History  of  Civilization  in  England,  with  that  book  of 
Balmes,  with  the  works  of  Jefferson,  and  with  the  works  of  Chase. 

The  latter  seem  to  me  the  nearest  of  them  all  to  accuracy.  Balmes 
is  not  free  enough  ;  he  loves  authority  too  much.  Calhoun  mistakes 
the  very  nature  of  authority  in  States.  The  mentioned  work  of 
Buckle  seems  to  me  hardly  less  morbid  than  suggestive — an  unwhole- 
some argument  in  favor  of  a  noxious  kind  of  skepticism.  Jefferson, 
I  think,  remarkably  confounds  important  governmental  principles 
with  fallacies  of  the  most  perilous  description.  Chase,  it  seems  to 
me,  was  wrong,  at  times,  and  erred  on  more  than  one  occasion,  very 
dangerously.  On  the  whole,  however,  his  so  very  various  contri- 
butions to  State  Science  are,  in  my  opinion,  of  more  value  than  is  to 
be  found  in  any  other  contributions  of  the  sort  in  American  political 
letters,  not  excepting  even  those  of  his  illustrious  judicial  predecessor, 
Marshall. 

That  the  Cincinnati  American  had  for  editors  Messrs.  Conover 
and  Thomas  has  been  stated.  Chase,  however,  was  at  one  time  edi- 
tor pro  tempore  of  that  very  interesting  paper,  and  it  is  evident  that, 
at  other  times,  he  furnished  some  of  its  editorial  matter.  Here  is 
an  article  he  cut  out  of  it  and  pasted  in  his  scrap-book,  which  he  so 
long  afterward  placed  in  my  possession  while  redeeming  his  engage- 
ment, meutioned  in  the  Introductory.  It  is  evidently  his  own 
work : 

"It  is  high  time  for  Mr.  Calhoun,  if  he  wishes  to  retain  the  confi- 
dence of  his  western  friends  (and  Ave  believe  that  a  large  portion  of 
the  Jackson  party,  so-called,  in  the  West  are  his  friends),  to  come 
out  with  a  clear  disavowal  of  the  odious  doctrines  of  Nullification. 
Does  Mr.  Calhoun  wish  to  be  king  of  South  Carolina?  Does  he  de- 
sire to  be  president  of  a  southern  republic,  to  be  bounded  on  the 
north  by  the  Potomac,  and  on  the  west  by  the  Alleghanies  ?  We  can 
assure  him  that  he  has  not  the  slightest  chance  of  any  thing  else,  so 
long  as  he  is  thought  to  be  a  Nullifier.  He  may  rely  upon  it,  that 
he  has  no  more  prospect  of  being  president,  entertaining  nullifica 
tory  opinions,  than  he  has  of  being  king  of  the  moon.  That  impu- 
tation, if  just,  will  be  a  millstone  about  his  neck  and  a  mountain 
upon  his  head.  Let  him  be  strong  as  Enceladus — still  he  can  not 
rid  himself  of  it.     It  will  infallibly  pull  him  down  and  crush  him. 

"If  Mr.  Calhoun  be  not  a  Nullifier,  let  him  come  out  and  say  so. 
Let  him  proclaim  his  real  opinions — be  they  what  they  may — in 
clear,  decided  language — in  terms  that  can  not  bo  mistaken  or  mis- 
construed.    The  people  have  a  right  to  demand  this  of  him.     They 


OF  SALMON  POKTLAND  CHASE.  217 

do  demand  it.  We  can  tell  Mr.  Calhoun,  that  the  imputation  we 
have  referred  to,  makes  his  friends  cold,  and  palsies  their  efforts. 
It  puts  into  the  mouth  of  his  enemies  a  sword  with  resistless  edge. 
And  we  can  toll  him,  too,  that  Mr.  MeDuffie's  speech  at  Charleston 
has  done  him  no  good.  Mr.  McDuffie  is  thought  to  he  his  intimate, 
confidential  friend.  They  are  thought  to  have  'one  mind,  one  soul, 
one  spirit,  and  two  bodies.'  If  Mr.  MeDuffie's  sentiments  are  his — 
why,  then — 'farewell  to  all  his  glory.'  If  not,  Mr.  Calhoun  owes  it 
to  the  country,  to  himself — to  his  own  reputation  for  frankness  and 
sincerity — to  come  forward  and  disavow  these  doctrines. 

""We  have  made  these  remarks  in  no  unfriendly  spirit  to  Mr.  Cal- 
houn. We  have  ever  admired  his  splendid  talents  and  noble  char- 
acter. We  would  infinitely  prefer  him  for  President  to  Jackson  or 
Yan  Buren,  but  not  to  CLAY.  On  this  matter  the  preference  of  this 
paper  is  known  and  is  decided. 

"We  think  that  Mv.  Calhoun  has  been  misled.  Perhaps  the  glare 
— the  false  glare — of  ambition  misled  him.  Perhaps  it  wTas  the  evil 
influence  of  friends,  highly  excited  themselves,  and  communicating 
their  excitement  to  him.  Whatever  it  may  have  been,  one  thing  is 
certain  :     Ever  since 

"  '  He  narrowed  his  mind, 
And  to  party  gave  up  what  was  meant  for  mankind,' 

his  fortune  and  his  reputation  have  been  declining  together.  Ever 
since  he  turned  oif  from  the  high  path  he  first  chose  to  walk  in,  and, 
instead  of  continuing  as  he  began,  national  in  his  policy  and  national 
in  his  feelings— contracted  his  strong  intellect  and  noble  heart  into 
cramped  sectional  dogmas  and  sentiments — his  star  has  been  sinking. 
Most  earnestly  have  we  deplored  it — most  earnestly  do  we  now  de- 
plore it;  but  not  more  earnestly,  we  are  well  convinced,  than  many 
who  stand  in  higher  places  and  have  a  far  greater  influence. 

'•Mr.  Calhoun  has  now  an  opportunity  to  retrace  his  steps,  and 
retrieve  his  reputation.  We  do  hope  that  the  opportunity  will  not 
be  lost.     It  may  never  again  occur." 

The  date  of  that  utterance  was  some  time  in  . 


In  another  article  of  a  little  later  date  we  have  this  explanation  : 

"Mr.  McDuffie  rejects  the  doctrine  of  Nullification,  as  a  constitu- 
tional remedy  for  State  grievances,  but  he  asserts  the  right  of  a  sov- 
ereign State  to  right  her  own  wrongs,  by  the  exertion  of  her  sover- 
eign authority,  in  cases  of  intolerable  oppression,  and  he  recom- 
mends this  remedy  to  the  people  of  South  Carolina.  In  other 
words,  he  advocates  disunion,  without  disguise;  and  maintains  that 
the  sovereignty  of  the  State  would  protect  its  citizens,  engaged  in 
resisting  the  General  Government,  from  the  punishment  of  treason. 

"  These  pernicious  doctrines  can  obtaiu  no  currency.  They  are 
too  revolting  to  the  great  majority  of  the  American  people.  And  it 
is  with  the  profoundest  regret  that  we  behold  a  man  so  highly  gifted 
as  Mr.  McDuffie,  so  honest,  and  disinterested,  and  honorable  as 
he  has  uniformly  shown  himself  to  be,  led  away,  we  know  not  by 
what  delusion,  into  such  fatal  errors  of  doctrine." 


218  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

But  it  may  be  said  :  Here  is  not  argument;  here  is  but  an  ap- 
peal to  preconception,  prejudice,  blind  patriotic  sentiment. 

The  mind  of  Chase  was  never  subtle.  It  delighted  not  in  meta- 
physics, and  it  took  no  pleasure  in  political  abstractions.  It  was 
always  eminently  practical  in  the  best  sense  of  that  expression. 

In  the  doctrine  of  the  Xullifiers  he  found  subtlety  and  sophistry. 
He  did  not  then  consider  that  a  serious  treatment  of  it  in  the  way 
of  argument  would  be  necessary  in  addressing  Cincinnatians.  Per- 
haps, in  that  particular,  he  erred.  But  the  reasoning  he  used  in 
Texas  vs.  White,1  certainly  affords  clear  evidence  and  perfect  proof 
that  he  could  have  reasoned  ably  against  the  doctrine  of  nullifica- 
tion, when  he  was  a  young  man,  had  he  felt  that  reasoning  against 
it  was  required. 

Iu  the  summer  of  1831,  it  seems,  Mr.  Chase,  furnished  with  let- 
ters to  Webster  and  other  notables  of  Boston,  visited  New  England. 
Of  this  "visit  I  can  give  no  particular  account.  The  biographic  doc- 
ument furnished  me,  as  already  stated,  relates  that  Mr.  Chase's  art- 
icle on  Brougham,  aided  by  the  marked  attentions  of  Mr.  Webster, 
insured  him  a  very  favorable  reception,  for  so  young  a  man,  among 
the  prominent  circles  of  Boston  and  Cambridge. 

That  our  hero  was  decidedly  what  I  have  called  a  literary  lawyer, 
has  been  clearly  shown.  There  are  some  yet  unnoticed  indications 
of  that  fact  in  his  diary.  Among  these  is  one  under  date  June  18, 
1832,  as  follows : 

"Wrote  to  J.  Longworth,  at  New  Haven,  and  sent  a  prospectus 
of  the  Review;  asked  his  exertion  for  it;  congratulated  him  on  his 
college  honors,  etc." 

June  25,  a  letter  to  Timothy  Walker,  was  thus  noted  : 

"  Letter. — Regretted  that  he  did  not  see  the  Wirts  ;  made  some 
remarks  on  Concession  and  nullification  ;  told  him  of  the  failure  of 
the  late  attempt  to  unite  the  daymen  and  Anti-Masons  ;  of  the  re- 
cent tariff  meeting;  of  the  cholera;  urged  him  to  exertion  for  the 
Review;  foretold  its  success,  etc." 

Under  date  July  3,  a  letter  to  Judge  Hall  was  thus  minuted : 

"Agreed  to  superintend  the  publication  of  the  Qu.  M.  M.,  and  do 
what  I  can  for  the  work.  Mentioned  that  Tannehill  had  been  re- 
quested to  come  here,  and  expressed  a  hope  that  the  Judge  would  not 
give  up  the  idea  of  editing  the  Quarterly." 


1  Post.     See  7  Wallace,  700. 


OF    SALMON    TORTLAND    CHASE.  219 

There  is  a  memorandum  of  another  sort,  under  date  August  24th. 
Two  names  are  obliterated  in  the  places  indicated  by  blanks  in  the 
following  transcripts: 

"As  I  went  to  dinner  to-day,  I  saw  ,  'pouring  his  leprous 

distillation  '  into  the  ear  of  a  'workie,'  whom  he  was  probably  en- 
lightening as  to  his  superior  fitness  as  a  candidate  for  Congress  to 

_— _  " 

The  next  paragraph  reads  as  follows,  under  the  title,  Description — 
Eulogy : 

"His  face,  sir,  is  an  assault  and  battery  upon  physiognomy.  He 
was  educated  in  a  college  where  ignorance  was  taught  as  a  science, 
and  he  took  the  first  honors  as  a  proficient  when  he  was  graduated." 

Earlier  was  given  the  following  extract  from  a  Xew  Orleans 
paper : 

""When  you  have   found  me  a  woman  who  prefers   eloquence  to 

youth,  beauty,  and  pomp,  place  me  on marbled  steep.    There, 

swan-like,  let  me  sing  and  die,  and  my  last  notes  shall  be  a  poem  in 
her  praise!  But,  before  you  do  find  me  such  a  woman,  you  will 
have  assembled  the  unicorn,  the  salamander,  and  the  phoenix,  in  one 
cage,  to  which  let  me  recommend  you  to  add  your  lady  who  prefers 
eloquence  to  youth,  beauty,  and  pomp,  and  what  a  menagerie  will 
you  have." 

Here  is  the  language  of  an  entry,  dated  June  12th  : 

"Wrote  to  Dr.  Lindsly  to-day,  inclosing  the  name  of  a  subscriber 
to  his  projected  periodical,  and  expressing  my  regret  that  more  could 
not  be  obtained." 

Here  is  a  memorandum  of  a  letter  written  to  W.  F.  Chase,  and 
reads  as  follows : 

"Letter — declined  loaning  him  money — urged  him  to  exertion  and 
self-reliance  under  Providence.  The  truth  is,  I  am  much  in  need  of 
money  myself;  business  is  dull,  and  I  hardly  know  which  way 
to  look." 

Under  a  subsequent  date,  July  3,  is  the  following  memorandum 
of  a  letter  to  Mr.  Hamilton  Smith  : 

"Eequested  him  to  pa}-  what  is  due  me — about  $40.48 — to  Dryden  & 
Hunt.  Advised  him  to  leave  his  school,  and  commence  the  jn-actice 
of  the  law." 

At  a  later  period,  Mr.  Smith  often  lent  his  credit,  or  his  money, 
to  our  hero.     They  appear  to  have  been  near  and  dear  friends. 


220  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

A  letter,  under  date  June  25th,  to  E.  Parker,  is  thus  minuted : 

"Letter — acceded  to  his  proposition  that  I  should  become  the 
guardian  to  Helen  ;  requested  the  immediate  remittance  of  her  por- 
tion of  mother's  property,  and  of  what  is  due  her  from  the  estate; 
requested  general  information  as  to  the  condition  of  the  estate,  etc." 

The  first  entry  for  1833  is  under  date  January  18th,  as  follows  : 

"On  Tuesday,  the  18th  ultimo,  I  was  attacked  by  a  violent  head- 
ache, which  proved  to  be  a  rheumatic  affection.  I  had  exposed  my- 
self much  to  the  weather  the  Saturday  and  Sunday  previous  ;  and, 
on  the  evening  of  Sunday  felt  the  approaches  of  the  disease.  Think- 
ing I  was  suffering  from  ordinary  headache,  I  paid  little  attention  to 
my  symptoms,  until  the  neglected  disease  so  increased  in  violence 
that  I  was  forced  to  my  bed  on  the  day  first  mentioned.  For  two  or 
three  days  the  disease  made  little  progress,  and  I  felt  hopes  of  a 
speedy  recovery.  These  hopes,  however,  were  not  to  be  realized. 
One  morning,  after  an  unquiet  night,  the  disease  had  left  me  free 
from  pain.  Dr.  Colby  had  left  the  house,  thinking  that  I  was  doing 
well,  and  required  but  little  care.  But,  before  noon,  a  fever  super- 
vened. 1  felt  myself  rapidly  becoming  worse;  and  when  the  doctor 
returned  in  the  evening,  I  described  to  him  my  symptoms.  He 
seemed  somewhat  alarmed — bled  me,  and  remained  with  me  to  a  late 
hour  that  night." 

I  have  laid  a  special  stress  on  the  words  bled  me.  We  shall  find 
Dr.  Colby  vainly  protesting  against  bleeding  in  a  case  of  almost 
tragical  concern  to  this  whole  work. 

The  narrative  of  Chase  proceeds  as  follows  : 

"  The  next  day  I  was  very  sick.  My  strength  declined  rapidly, 
and,  in  a  short  time,  I  could,  with  difficulty,  support  myself.  The 
medicines  I  took  had  no  effect." 

How  did  he  know  that  ?  But  so  most  of  us  reason  as  to  medi- 
cine. There  was  nothing  in  the  world,  except  medicine,  as  to  which 
Chase  would  so  have  inferred.    He  adds  : 

"Finally,  a  consultation  of  physicians  was  called,  and  a  different 
plan  of  treatment  was  determined  on.  From  that  time,  I  began  to 
recover,  and,  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  was  able  to  leave  my  bed. 
During  this  illness,  I  was  seriously  alarmed,  as  were  also  my  friends, 
lest  I  should  never  recover.  I  was  led  by  this  circumstance  to  re- 
view my  life;  and  in  how  different  a  light  did  many  things  appear 
to  me  from  that  in  which  1  had  once  regarded  them.  Some  things 
which  1  had  thought  almost  venial,  now  appeared  exceedingly  sinful. 
Yet  I  trust  I  was  willing  to  depart  in  the  hope  that  I  should  be  with 
Christ.  I  felt  a  confidence,  that,  though  my  transgressions  were 
multiplied  and  aggravated,  yet  the  blood  of  Christ  was  sufficient  to 
wash  away  all  sin.  And  I  resolved,  if  I  should  recover,  to  try  to 
do  more  for  God  than  I  had  before  done;  to  live  a  more  godly  life, 
and  to  be  more  instant  in  prayer,  and  more  abundant  in  good  works." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  221 

From  that  time  on,  for  many  years,  the  tone  of  religiousness  in 
our  hero  grew  gradually  far  from  amiable.  Now  and  then,  indeed, 
it  showed  some  of  the  sunshine  of  the  truly  lovely  in  the  Godward ; 
but,  for  the  most  part,  it  darkened  his  mind  and  made  him  far  from 
happy. 

Writing,  as  T  am,  as  already  intimated,  in  the  house  in  which  the 
light  of  Lincoln's  life  went  out,  how  natural  it  is  that  I  should  often 
find  myself  comparing  Chase  with  Lincoln?  I  compare  them  now 
in  point  of  piety — in  other  words,  as  to  religiousness. 

Dr.  Holland,  Lincoln's  best  biographer,  thus  far,  insists  that,  not- 
withstanding Lincoln's  habit  of  relating  stories  of  a  certain  stamp, 
he  was  essentially  religious.  I  agree  that  he  was,  at  least,  not  irre- 
ligious.    No  such  man  could  have  been  irreligious. 

But  the  type  of  the  religious  sentiment  which  we  discern  in  Lin- 
coln is  quite  different  from  the  religious  type  which  is  to  be  dis- 
cerned in  Chase. 

In  neither  Chase  nor  Lincoln  is  to  be  discerned  complete  consist- 
ency in  matters  of  religion.  Let  me  say  at  once,  however,  that  if 
the  reader  of  these  paragraphs  has  never  studied  the  phenomena  of 
moral  and  religious  inconsistency  and  contradiction,  he  or  she  is  ill- 
prepared  to  read  the  revelations  of  this  work. 

The  last-quoted  entry  concludes  as  follows : 

'•  During  my  illness  I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Fairbanks  at 
Columbus,  informing  me  that  the  Senate  had  subscribed  for  two 
hundred  copies  of  our  proposed  new  edition  of  the  Statutes,  and  that 
the  House  of  Eepresentatives  would  probably  concur.  The  resolu- 
tion, however,  failed  in  the  House  by  one  or  two  votes,  and  was 
amended  afterward  by  reducing  the  number  to  one  hundred,  and  then 
passed." 

The  work  so  referred  to  is  a  splendid  monument  of  Chase's  talents, 
tastes,  and  toils.  I  do  not  speak  of  it  in  terms  of  eulogy.  I  have 
often,  at  the  bar  or  on  the  bench,  had  occasion  to  examine  it  criti- 
cally.    It  is  unsurpassed  in  its  department. 

It  presents,  moreover,  a  preliminary  sketch  of  the  History  of 
Ohio — a  sketch  fitly  foreshadowing  the  fine  argument  in  the  Van- 
zandt  case,  in  relation  to  the  Ordinance  of  1787. 

The  entry  of  January  21,  1833,  is  one  of  the  most  suggestive  in 
the  diary.     It  reads  as  follows: 

"Hose  this  morning  without  any  strong  consciousness  of  the  pres- 
ence and  government  of  God — dressed  and  breakfasted — after  break- 


222  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AXD  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

fast  retired  to  my  chamber;  read  the  Scriptures  and  prayed.  Went 
to  ray  office.  Several  friends  called  to  congratulate  rae  on  my  recov- 
ery, and  Mr.  Horton,  a  young  member  of  the  bar,  well  informed,  of 
fine  natural  endowments,  and  of  prepossessing  appearance  and  man- 
ners, who  has  left  a  good  practice  in  the  smoky  city  of  Pittsburg,  to 
come  and  settle  among  us,  returned  a  call  I  made  on  him  some  days 
since. 

"  I  read  Judge  Ware's  opinion  on  assignment,  lately  pronounced 
in  the  District  Court  of  Maine.  The  Courts  seem  to  be  setting  their 
faces  against  preferences  effected  through  assignments  ;  but  will  it 
avail  any  thing  to  cut  off  one  head  of  the  Hydra  ?  Partially  ar- 
ranged our  library  ;  returned  homeward.  The  acquaintances  I  met 
on  the  streets  seemed  glad  to  see  me  once  more  abroad  ;  on  my  way 
home,  called  on  Mrs.  King,  and  thanked  her  for  the  kindness  she 
showed  me  during  sickness;  dined  and  returned  to  ray  office.  Com- 
pleted the  arrangement  of  our  library,  a  tedious  and  laborious  busi- 
ness. Mr.  Cope  called  and  conversed  a  good  while.  Eead  article  in 
the  American  Jurist  on  the  mistakes  of  the  Westminster  Review ;  re- 
turned home,  took  tea;  heard  Helen's  lesson  in  French;  studied  the 
history  of  the  Federal  Convention,  preparatory  to  a  lecture  on  that 
subject;  commenced  an  examination  of  the  Ohio  Reports,  with  a 
view  to  a  new  edition  of  the  Statutes  of  the  State,  which  I  am  to 
edit;  studied  the  New  Testament  half  an  hour;  reviewed  the  oc- 
currences of  the  day — found  a  lamentable  forgetfulness  of  God's 
presence,  goodness,  and  providence,  and  shall  now,  after  prayer,  re- 
tire to  bed.     11  P.  M." 

On  the  22d  of  the  same  month,  Mr.  Chase  received  notification 
of  membership  in  the  Hamilton  County1  Agricultural  Society,  the 
meetings  of  which  were  held  on  the  first  Saturdays  of  March,  June, 
September,  and  December.  Doubtless,  he  who  wrote  that  article  on 
the  Effects  of  Machinery — so  important  to  the  cultivation  as  well  as 
to  fabrication — and  who  had  taken  part  of  his  own  various  culture 
as  a  farmer's  boy — took  lively  interest  in  thought,  at  least,  in 
agriculture. 

Here  is  an  entry  of  quite  different  interest : 

"  April  27.  I  heard,  to-day,  that  I  had  had  a  violent  quarrel  with  a 
gentleman  of  my  acquaintance.  There  was  not  a  word  of  truth  in 
the  story;  but  it  had  been  sent  into  circulation  by  some  forger  of 
slanders,  and  had,  by  this  time,  I  know  not  how  many  indorsers.  I 
mentioned  the  thing  to  the  gentleman  concerned,  who  was  amused 
by  the  tale,  though  displeased  by  its  circulation. 

"In  the  evening,  heard  Rev.  Mr.  Peabody  lecture  at  the  Mechanics' 
Institute — lecture  extempore,  without  much  preparation.  The  In- 
stitute has  done,  and  is  doing,  much  good.  More  than  a  hundred 
scholars   are  receiving   instruction    in  various   branches  of   useful 


1  The  county  in  which  lies  Cincinnati. 


OF    SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  223 

knowledge.  They  pay  three  dollars  a  year,  which  money  goes  to 
increase  the  funds  of  the  Institution.  The  best  teachers  in  the  city 
render  gratuitous  services  in  instructing,  every  evening,  all  who 
will  come. 

"After  the  lectm-e,  I  called  on  Mr.  Townsend,  and  had  a  long  talk, 
principally  interesting  to  myself  alone. 

"In    the  afternoon,   Mr.  G invited  me  to  join  his  party  in 

riding.  Declined  the  invitation  and  rode  with  Longworth  and  Mr. 
Young.     Met  Mr.  G 's  party  while  out." 

This  Mr.  G was,  doubtless,  Mr.  Garniss,  father  of  Catherine 

Jane  Garniss,  destined  to  be  the  first  wife  of  our  hero. 
The  next  entry  reads  as  follows : 

"Attended  Dr.  Beecher's  church — sermon  by  Dr.  Beecher  on  the 
Christian  Character.  Text,  'Except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as 
little  children,  ye  shall,  in  no  case,  enter  the  kingdom  of  Heaven.' 
The  Christian  sustains  a  filial  relation  to  God,  and  must  discharge 
the  duties  and  possess  the  feelings  belonging  to  that  relation.  The 
child  has  no  separate  interest  from  its  pai*ents — is  careful  of  their 
honor;  resents  aspersions  on  their  characters  ;  reposes  implicit  trust 
in  their  wisdom;  obeys,  unhesitatingly,  their  commands;  regards 
them  with  affectionate  love,  and  resorts  to  them  with  confidence  in 
every  difficulty.     So  feels,  so  acts,  a  Christian  toward  his  God. 

"  to-day,  I  have  been  at  Dr.  Colby's  and  Mrs.  Foote's.  Mr.  Young 
came  in  before  church. 

"  I  have  read  an  Essay  on  the  Progress  of  Society." 

Then  follows  the  account  of  the  essay. 
April  28  is  marked  by  this  memorandum : 

"Called  to  see  J.  Longworth  in  the  evening — spent  an  hour  and 
a  half  in  chat— then  went  to  the  fair — spent  about  five  dollars — 
attended  Helen  to  Mrs.  Foster's — come  home." 

The  29th  by  this  : 

"Ptose  at  six  o'clock — read  newspapers — attended  to  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  Statutes  till  dinner — wrote  to  Judge  Turner  requesting 
information  as  to  the  history  of  the  territory  etc.— prepared  case 
for  Supreme  Court — called  on  Longworth — coming  away  called  back 

by  E. C. came  to  the  door — retired — returned,  brought 

me  glass  of  water — conversed  awhile — good  night — went  to  see 
Helen— gave  her  money — called  on  Miss  G. — returned  home — went 
to  bed  unwell." 

The  interest  deepens  ;  that  Miss  G.  was  Catherine  Jane  Garniss. 
April  30,  with  May  1,  furnishes  this  record  : 

"  After  breakfast,  said  to  Mr.  G.,  that  if  Miss  G.  would  like  to  at- 


224  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

tend  the  May  Day  exhibition  of  Miss  Hentz's  pupils,  I  should  be 
happy  to  attend  her.  She  assented,  and  we  went  on  horseback. 
The  exhibition  took  place  on  a  dusty  side-hill,  over  which  a 
few  bushes  were  sparsely  scattered.  An  arbor  was  provided  to  screen 
the  throne  from  the  ardor  of  the  blazing  sun.  Thither  the  elected 
queen  was  conducted,  and  crowned.  Several  addresses  was  then  de- 
livered— some  good — some  bad,  and  some  indifferent.  We  came 
home  under  a  broiling  sun,  and  agreed  upon  a  ride  in  the  evening 
by  moonlight. 

"  In  the  meantime,  I  was  busy  professionally.  At  six  we  started — 
ten  in  company — four  ladies  and  six  gentlemen.  I  abominate  large 
'parties.  The  dust  was  intolerable,  and  the  sultry  air  was  almost 
suffocating.  The  party  generally,  however,  was  in  fine  spirits.  For 
myself,  I  felt  languid  and  unwell,  and  said  little,  nor  said  that  little 
well.  I  was  reproached  for  my  dullness,  but  reproaches  had  no 
effect  on  me.  Having  at  length  arrived  at  home,  I  took  tea  at  Mr. 
Garniss's  rooms." 

That  was  at  the  Pearl  Street  House,  the  hotel  of  the  bon  ton  at 
that  time,  where  our  hero  had  his  domicile. 
The  diary  continues : 

"  Thence  proceeded  to  Mr.  Edmunds'  wedding.  Found  bride  and 
groom  walking  on  the  pavement.  Joined  them,  and  chatted 
awhile — Went  into  the  house — chatted  awhile— Came  home,  and 
went  to  bed.     Must  think  more  and  eat  less  to-morrow. 

May  2  has  this  entry  : 

"  Meant  to  call  on  Edmunds  and  Miss  Elliott  this  morning,  but 
did  not — Went  to  Clerk's  office  and  examined  docket — Spent  some 

time,  after  return,  upon  the  new  edition  of  the  Statutes — Mr.  

called.  In  the  afternoon,  read  a  few  pages  of  Reports,  and  took 
notes — Read  a  little  miscellaneously — Called  on  J.  Longworth — 
talked  half  an  hour,  principally  on  the  effect  of  the  affections  on  the 
happiness  and  true  glory  of  human  life.  Saw  the  young  ladies  but  a 
moment  at  the  gate.  E.  Miller  and  his  sister  were  conversing  with 
them — Called  on  Miss  Cassilly,  spent  an  hour — Came  home,  and 
now,  after  having  read  something  in  the  Word,  and  having  com- 
mended myself  to  the  keeping  of  my  Greatest  and  best  and  only 
true  friend,  I  shall  lay  down  to  sleep." 

The  next  day  is  thus  accounted  for : 

"  Rose  rather  late — Attended  to  making  a  report  of  bank  business 
— Was  engaged  for  awhile  on  the  Statutes — Went  to  Court  in  the 
afternoon — Judges  Lane  and  Wright.     Called  to  see  Longworth — 

found  him  almost   well — Saw   Miss   E. .     Miss   C.  indisposed. 

Called  on  the  Judges — Spent  an  hour  and  a  half  very  agreeably. 
Called  at  Mr.  G's.  room — heard,  as  usual,  a  little  slander.  Came 
home." 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND   CHASE.  225 

May  4  affords  the  following : 

"  Made  out  and  presented  Report  to  Bank  United  States.  Wrote 
to  Mr.  Peters  asking  his  kind  offices  in  reference  to  an  arrangement 
proposed  with  the  Bank — Wrote  to  Mr.  Swann,  to  inquire  whether 
any  law  of  the  territory  has  probably  been  lost — In  the  afternoon, 
wrote  to  Judge  Pease  [and]  to  Mr.  James,  of  Urbana — Bought  some 
Psalms  and  Hymns  of  Corey  &  Fairbank — After  tea  called  at  Mr. 
Foote's." 

The  next  day  has  this  self-reproachful  record  : 

"  I  have  this  day  deviated  very  far  from  the  paths  in  which  a 
Christian  should  walk  on  the  Sabbath.  In  the  morning,  after  my 
usual  devotional  exercises,  and  the  cursory  perusal  of  a  chapter  in 
the  Bible,  I  went  to  breakfast.  The  morning  of  the  day  of  rest  had 
awakened  no  fitting  sentiments  of  grateful  love  in  my  bosom,  nor 
did  the  bounties  which  spread  the  board  have  that  effect.  After 
breakfast,  I  read  a  Review  of  Chatham's  Letters  and  a  sermon  by 
Doctor  Beecher.  The  first  Avas  badly  chosen  employment  for  a  holy 
da}r.  The  second  was  good,  and,  I  hope,  did  me  good.  After  this,  I 
went  to  church  with  my  sister.  Mr.  Root  preached,  but  I  listened 
so  negligently  that  I  do  not  even  remember  the  subject  of  his  sermon. 

"  After  this,  I  went  to  dine  with  Mr.  Cope.  No  other  person  was 
invited,  and,  as  I  have  no  other  than  a  boarding-house,  I  did  not  scruple 
to  accept  the  invitation,  but,  instead  of  directing  the  conversation 
to  suitable  topics,  I  suffered  myself  to  fall  into  worldly  and  frivol- 
ous talk,  without  bearing  on  an}^  thing  good.  After  dinner,  I  went 
to  church.  Dr.  Beecher  preached  on  the  unreasonableness  of  unbe- 
lief. After  the  sermon,  the  communion  was  administered.  I  did 
not  participate,  having  never  communed  in  a  Presbyterian  church. 

"  After  church,  I  accompanied  Judge  Lane  to  his  room  where, 
after  some  thing  said  on  matters  connected  with  religion,  the  con- 
versation took  a  literary  and  political  turn.  From  the  Judge's 
room  I  went  to  tea — thence  to  my  brother-in-law's,  and  thence  to 
my  room,  having  spent  a  Sabbath  as  unprofitably  and  as  sinfully  as 
I  have  done  for  years.  May  the  Lord  pardon  me,  and  arm  [me] 
with  sufficient  resolution  to  avoid  such  conduct  in  future." 

Is  not  that  a  strange  self-accusation  ?  One  would  think  that  day 
well  spent. 

May  7  has  this  record  : 

"  This  morning  I  arose  with  very  serious  reflections  and  earnest 
determination  to  act  with  more  system  and  consistency  than  have 
marked  my  conduct  of  late.  After  breakfast  I  walked  to  the 
Court-house,  where  I  remained  about  an  hour.  I  then  came  home, 
and  furnished  some  copy  to  the  printer,  and  spent  a  little  time  on 
the  book.  I  then  went  to  dinner.  After  dinner  I  worked  awhile ; 
then  called  on  Mr.  Jenks;  thence  went  to  Mr.  G's.  room,  where  I 
was  cheated  of  time  till  sundown.  After  tea,  I  called  at  Mr.  Long- 
worth's,  whence  I  have  just  returned." 


226  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

The  entry  under  date  of  May  11  has  this  purport : 

"  Aroused  this  morning  by  an  alarm  of  fire — Rose  and  went  to  the 
window — It  was  raining,  but  a  broad,  red  glare  was  spread  over  the 
north-west  quarter  of  the  city.  Not  belonging  to  any  fire  company, 
I  returned  to  my  bed,  and  remained  there  for  an  hour;  then  rose, 
dressed,  walked,  and  bathed.  After  breakfast,  read  a  book  of  Mil- 
ton— P.  L.,  a  chapter  in  the  N.  T ,  then  called  on  Judge  Lane, 

and  invited  him  to  accompany  me  to  church.  He  declined,  and 
I  went  alone. 

"  Dr.  Beecher  preached  a  plain  and  very  powerful  sermon.  His 
object  was  to  show  that  no  man  who  will  not  noiv  repent  and  be  con- 
verted has  the  slightest  reason  to  hope  that  he  ever  will.  He  en- 
forced this  topic  by  arguments  drawn  from  experience  and  Scripture 
with  great  earnestness  and  force." 

Whoever  heard  Lyman  Beecher  as  often  as  I  heard  him  can 
appreciate  that  tribute.  Full  of  errors,  this  father  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  the  Beecher  name,  did  not  a  little  mischief  in  his 
day.  His  Plea  for  the  West  was  full  of  patriotic  bias  and  religious 
bigotry.  But  he  was  truly  a  great  man  and  as  good,  at  heart,  as 
he  was  great.  I  heard  him  often,  and  I  always  felt  that  I  was 
listening  to  one  of  the  most  earnest  spirits  that  ever  uttered 
a  sermon.     Chase  continues  : 

"  He  said  he  did  not  wish  his  hearers  to  resolve  that  hereafter 
they  would  become  Christians.  He  wanted  to  sever  that  strongest 
of  the  cords  of  sin.  He  wanted  to  show  that  neither  the  promises 
of  God,  nor  the  analysis  of  moral  government,  nor  the  experience 
of  men,  justified  any  reliance  upon  resolutions  of  future  obedience. 
While  men  delay,  habit  strengthens  and  ties  multiply,  and,  by  and 
by,  the  sinner  will  struggle,  but  he  can't  get  loose.  I  listened  to 
the  greater  part  of  the  sermon  with  much  attention,  and  hope  it 
will  be  blessed  to  my  soul." 

On  the  18th,  he  recorded  only  that  he  "  sent  precipe  for  sundry 
executions  in  favor  of  B.  U.  S.  to  Columbus." 
As  brief  is  the  record  of  the  20th.     It  runs  : 

"  Wet  and  covered  with  mud  on  a  ride." 

The  next  day  he  recorded  as  follows  : 

"Was  much  amused  by  the  following  passage  from  the  '  Ma  Jade 
Imayinaire''  of  Moliere :  'Mais  sur  toute  chose,  ce  qui  me  plait  en 
lui,  et  en  quoi  il  suit  mon  exemple,  c'est  qu'il  s'attache  aveugle- 
ment1  aux  opinions  de  nos  anciens,  et  que  jamais  il  n'a  voulu  com- 


1  So  in  the  original. 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  227 

prendre,  ni  ecouter  les  raisons  et  les  experiences  des  pretendues 
decouvertes  de  notre  su'cle,1  touchant  la  circulation  du  sang,  ei 
autres  opinions  de  la  mC-ine  facine."  2 

In  my  eyes,  this  piece  of  pleasantry  assumes  a  melancholy — nay, 
a  mournful  interest,  when  I  consider  it  as  foreshadowing  some  pas- 
sages in  the  same  diary,  showing  how,  according  to  the  hero  of  this 
work,  the  healing  art  fearfully  blundered  in  bleeding  to  death — but 
let  us  not  anticipate  that  horror. 

There  is  a  business  memorandum,  under  date  May  22.  The  next 
entry,  dated  August  2,  reads  as  follows : 

"  The  following  shows  the  mortality  in  Cincinnati  from  the  first 

of up  to  this  time,  from  cholera  and  other  diseases  :  1st  week, 

June,  24;  2d  week,  June,  48;  3d  week,  June,  43;  4th  week,  June, 
40.  1st  week,  July,  42  ;  2d  week,  July,  — ;  3d  week,  Julv,  — ;  week 
ending  July  23,  99  ;  week  ending  July  30,  122." 

The  next  entry,  dated  August  7,  is  a  memorandum  of  a  letter  to 
Hamilton  Smith,  as  follows  : 

"  Reply  to  his  of  July  25th  or  thereabouts — Xew  edition  of  Statutes 
— Loan  of  money — Advice  and  promises  as  to  settlement  in  Cincin- 
nati— Cholera — Drs.  Smith  and  Staughton  victims — Remembrances, 
etc." 

The  next  is  a  memorandum  of  a  letter  to  W.  F.  Chase  and  Nathan 
Guilford,  as  follows : 

"  To  W.  F.  C,  stating  causes  why  Helen  did  not  come  to  Lock- 
port  ;  and  giving  general  counsel.  To  N.  G.,  inclosing  notes  for 
several  friends  at  the  Yellow  Springs — State  of  health  improving 
in  town,  etc." 

The  next,  dated  August  8,  is  a  memorandum  of  a  letter  to  T. 
Swann,  as  follows : 

"  Letter — Introduction  of  Mr.  Thai — Foreigners — Cholera  in  the 
West — Inquiries  for  Miss  Cabell — Reminiscences — Mr.  Wirt's  fam- 


1  So  accented  in  the  original. 

2  So  in  the  original.  Perhaps  it  may  be  well,  with  reference  to  some  readers  to 
English,  these  words.  I  give  this  off-hand  version:  "But,  above  every  thing,  that 
which  pleases  me  in  him,  and  in  which  he  follows  my  example,  is  that  he  attaches 
himself  blindly  to  the  opinions  of  our  ancients,  and  that  he  has  never  been  willing 
to  comprehend  or  even  to  hear  the  reasons  and  the  experiences  of  the  pretended 
discoveries  of  our  age,  touching  the  circulation  of  the  blood  and  other  opinions  of 
the  same  fashion." 

16 


228  THE    PBIVATE    EIFE  AND    PUBLIC    SEEVICES 

ily — Mr.  Swann's  family— Miss  Maxey  and  Collins  Lee — Rectifica- 
tion of  mistake  about  answer  of  letter  from  Fredericksburg." 

Omitting  several  entries  of  no  interest  I  next  offer  the  follow- 
ing: 

"  Nov.  20.  To  rise  at  half  past  six — Not  done — Breakfast  moder- 
ately— Ful'd1 — Read  newspapers — Ful'd — Finish  brief  B.  &  R.  ads. 
B.  C.  &  W. — Get  letter-book  and  judgment-book  from  C.  &  F. — 
Dine  sparingly — Look  over  docket  and  arrange  cases — Tea — Hear 
Bishop  Mcllvaine — Wrote  Agricultural  Address — Read — Bed." 

Next  we  have : 

"  Dec.  3.  Did  not  leave  the  house  till  after  breakfast ;  then  went 
to  the  office,  and,  before  I  had  occasion  to  leave  it,  Smith  came.  I 
walked  with  him  toward  the  court-house.  He  left  me,  and  I  went 
alone.  After  remaining  a  few  moments  at  the  C.  H,  I  returned, 
and  was  encountered  by  several  Dutchmen,  by  whose  business  I 
was  obliged  to  return  to  the  C.  H.  After  spending  some  time  in 
examining  papers  in  the  clerk's  office,  I  returned  to  my  office,  and 
was  closely  occupied  till  dark.  In  the  course  of  this  day  I  lost  my 
specs.  I  am  confident  I  had  them  in  the  morning.  I  went  no- 
where in  the  morning  before  seeing  Smith,  except  to  the  post- 
office.  When  I  went  to  the  C.  H.,  I  think  I  did  not  have  them. 
They  must  have  been  mislaid,  then,  either  at  the  office  or  at  home 
before  I  left  the  house. 

The  next  entry  is  a  memorandum  of  a  letter  to  Hamilton  Smith 
showing  borrowing  of  that  gentleman's  credit  on  commercial  paper, 
and  referring  to  the  proposed  taking  of  a  debtor,  on  capias,  in 
Indiana. 

The  next  entry  must  close  this  chapter.  It  is  long,  but  it  is  full 
of  interest  to  this  whole  volume.     It  is  of  this  tenor : 

"Februarys,  1834.  I  awoke  this  morning,  and  remembered  that 
the  day  belonged  to  God,  and  gratefully  acknowledged  the  benev- 
olence which  provided  a  special  season  for  thought  on  eternal  things. 
I  felt  resolved  that  the  day  should  be  more  appropriately  employed 
than  my  Sundays  have  lately  been. 

"At  about  seven  I  rose,  and  dressed  and  breakfasted  sparingly. 
After  breakfast  I  returned  to  my  room  and  read,  but  with  little  at- 
tention, a  chapter  in  Romans.  I  then  offered  m}T  thanksgivings  for 
past  mercies,  and  supplications  for  needed  aids  and  blessings,  to  the 
great  All-Giver.  I  then  put  my  Bible  in  my  pocket,  and  went  to 
my  office.  An  accidental  reference  had  determined  me  to  read  the 
book  of  Deuteronomy,  and  I  occupied  the  hours  till  church  time  in 


1  Fulfilled,  no  doubt. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  229 

reading  the  first  chapters.  I  was  much  affected  by  what  I  read,  and, 
I  hope,  instructed.  The  perversity  and  punishment  of  the  Israelites, 
their  peculiar  privileges,  their  singular  institutions,  the  earnesl 
prayer  of  Moses  that  he  might  be  permitted  to  enter  the  promised 
land,  and  his  final  exclusion,  affected  and  interested  me.  I  thought  I 
would  look  into  Milman's  History  of  the  Jews,  to  see  how  he  treats 
these  matters,  and,  to  procure  the  book,  went  up  to  Mr.  Perkins' 
office. 

"While  there,  I  conversed  principally  on  secular  topics. 

"At  length  I  went  to  church.  When  near  Dr.  Beecher's,  I  met  Mr. 
G .  and  went  with  him  to  hear  Mr.  Lynde.  The  sermon  was  in- 
different. The  style  was  low,  the  ideas,  sometimes,  ludicrous,  and 
seldom  impressive.  On  the  whole,  it  was  far  below  Mr.  L's  average. 
Leaving  the  church,  I  walked  home  with  Mr.  G.  In  conversation 
with  him,  and  afterwards,  I  fell  into  the  common  fault  of  dwelling 
chiefly  upon  the  defects  of  the  sermon  without  adverting  at  all  to  the 
instructive  thoughts  thrown  out  in  it. 

"At  Mr.  G.'s,  I  found  Mr.  H.  sitting  with  Mrs.  G.  She  had  Bulwer's 
England  and  the  English  in  her  hand.  We  conversed  on  ordinary 
topics.  Miss  G.  remarked  on  the  eccentricity  of  Mr.  H.,  and  men- 
tioned a  striking  instance.  She  also  told  me  that  she  had  dreamed 
of  me  last  night;  that  we  were  together  at  Mr.  Longworth's;  that  I 
perceived  a  drop  of  water  on  her  cheek,  and,  attempting  to  wipe  it 
off.  discovered  that  she  was  rouged;  that  I  upbraided  her  with  de- 
ception; that  she  declared  it  was  the  first  time  that  she  had  ever  used 
paint,  but  that  I  would  [not]  believe  her;  that,  finally,  after  endeavor- 
ing in  vain  to  restrain  her  feelings,  she  burst  into  tears,  and  actually 
sobbed  so  violently  that  her  mother  heard  her,  and  came  into  the 
room  and  awakened  her,  when  they  both  laughed  heartily  at  the 
incident. 

■  After  sitting  about  half  an  hour,  I  declined  an  invitation  to  dine, 
and  went  over  to  Mr.  Longworth's.  Here  I  was  kindly  and  cordially 
greeted.  Miss  B.,  who  had  been  sick  for  the  past  week,  came  into  the 
room.  After  we  were  seated  at  the  dinner-table,  Mr.  Jones  came  in, 
and  introduced  Gen.  Clarke.  This  gentleman  resides  far  up  the 
Missouri,  between  the  State  of  that  name  and  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
He  was  attired  in  a  brown  hunting  shirt,  which  opened  a  little  upon 
the  breast.  It  was  furnished  with  a  small  cape  which  was  copiously 
fringed.  A  quantity  of  fringe  also  lined  the  back  of  the  sleeve,  from 
the  shoulder  to  the  wrist.  The  skirts  were  also  fringed.  The  whole 
was  confined  to  the  body  by  a  crimson  sash,  which  was  tied  at  one 
side,  and  the  ends  hung  down  to  the  thigh.  The  whole  dress  was 
extremely  picturesque,  and  the  whole  expression  of  the  old  veteran 
highly  interesting. 

He  was  asked  if  there  was  a  post-office  in  his  neighborhood,  and 
answered,  with  perfect  naivete  that  there  was  one  about  a  hundred 
miles  off,  to  which  he  sent  twice  a  month.  He  described  several  pe- 
culiar plants  and  flowers,  and  proved  as  interesting  in  conversation 
as  he  was  in  appearance. 

"After  dinner,  I  went  to  church.  Dr.  Beecher  preached.  His 
subject  was  the  urgent  necessity  and  the  best  adapted  means  of 
moral  and  religious  culture.     He  dwelt  with  great  force  upon  the 


230  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

inadequacy  of  mere  intelligence  to  the  salvation  of  the  nation.  En- 
lightened Greece  had  gone  down.  Eome,  who  borrowed  her  light, 
had  perished.  America,  too,  must  perish  unless  she  improved  upon 
their  example.  He  adverted  to  the  various  devices  of  corrupting  in- 
fluence— the  influence  of  infidel  publications  and  organized  infidel 
exertion  ;  the  struggles  of  papacy  to  establish  an  influence  in  the 
West;  the  tide  of  European  emigration,  augmented  by  existing  agi- 
tations, and  the  theatre  and  other  amusements  of  the  same  class. 
He  then  adverted  to  the  change  of  condition  in  the  country  from 
the  time  when  every  thing  was  regulated  in  law,  to  the  time  when 
every  thing  must  be  accomplished  by  associated  effort,  and  declared 
himself  glad  of  the  change.  He  then  spoke  of  the  means  of  renova- 
tion of  infant  schools,  Sunday  schools,  Bible  societies,  etc ;  declared 
them  to  be  ample,  if  rightly  managed,  and  concluding  by  urging 
upon  his  hearers  the  duty  of  active  personal  effort. 

"After  the  sermon,  I  went  to  my  brother-in  law's,  where  I  took 
tea.  Thence  I  returned  to  my  office,  read  Eobert  Hall  on  the  Excel- 
lency of  the  Christian  Dispensation,  and  wrote  these  lines." 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  231 


CHAPTER    XV. 

RETROSPECT  —  COMPARISON     OF     CHASE     AND     WIRT WIRT'S     DEATH  — 

chase's  FIRST  MARRIAGE. 

NO  mention  has  yet  been  made  of  a  letter,  written  on  the  11th 
of  November,  1831,  by  William  Wirt  to  Mr.  Chase.  The 
whole  letter  I  have  never  seen.  That  only  extracts  from  it  are  given 
in  Kennedy's  Life  of  Wirt  l  is,  at  least  so  far  as  the  present  work  is 
concerned,  to  be  regretted.     It  appears  to  have  been  a  long  letter. 

Kennedy  suppressed  Wirt  in  more  than  one  instance  where  sup- 
pression seems  to  have  been  at  least  of  doubtful  propriety.  For 
example,  referring  to  a  fragment  of  autobiography,  running  over 
the  first  ten  years  of  Wirt's  childhood,  the  fastidious  biographer 
remarks : 

"I  shall  select  from  these  reminiscences  what  I  find  useful  to  my 
present  purpose,  without  venturing  to  submit  the  whole  to  the  e}Te 
of  the  public.  They  dwell  upon  incidents  which,  however  grateful 
in  the  telling  to  that  affectionate  circle  to  whom  the  memoir  was 
addressed,  and  who  could  find  in  it  a  thousand  memories  of  family 
endearment,  would,  I  am  fearful,  be  considered  as  too  trivial  to  excite 
the  interest  of  those  who  are  strangers  to  the  genial  spirit  and  house- 
hold mirthfulness  of  the  writer.  Even  for  the  extracts  which  I  may 
submit.  I  must  deprecate,  on  this  score,  the  too  rigid  criticism  or 
fastidious  comment  of  my  reader — asking  him  to  remember  that  a 
father,  discoursing  to  his  children  assembled  around  their  own 
hearth,  on  topics  which  derive  their  agreeable  savor  from  their  love 
to  him.  may  claim  a  dramatic  privilege  from  the  critic,  to  have  his 
performance  judged  by  its  adaptation  to  the  scene,  the  time,  the 
place,  and  the  persons."2 

Taking  into  consideration  the  position  of  Mr.  Chase,  in  1849, 
when  that  work  was  published,  every  line  of  the  letter  written  to 
him,  as  we  have  seen,  would  have  had,  in  addition  to  its  interest 
as  relating  to  Mr.  Wirt,  a  special  interest  in  its  relation  to  the  person 
to  whom  it  was  addressed.  Is  there  not  reason  to  suspect  that  Mr. 
Kennedy's  feelings   as  a   partisan   had   something   to   do   with   his 

lVoL  II,  311.  2Vol.  I,  p.  17.  , 


232  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

giving  only  extracts  from  that  letter  ?  Perhaps  not.  He  seems  to 
have  had  a  most  imperfect  notion  of  the  clue  minuteness  of  biogra- 
phy. The  Wirt  he  has  portrayed  was  not  exactly  the  true  one, 
though  in  spite  of  his  suppressions,  one  can  form  at  least  a  pretty 
fair  conception  of  the  character  in  question.  Here  a  very  different 
policy  has  been  pursued,  throughout. 

The  letter  referred  to  was  in  relation  to  the  presidential  candi 
dature  of  the-man  from  whose  pen  it  emanated.    Of  that  candidature 
it  is  difficult  to  speak  without  offense  either  to  Masons  or  to  anti- 
Masons.     It  was  as  an  anti-Mason  that  William  Wirt  was  a  candi- 
date for  the  Presidency. 

Writing  to  Rev.  Mr.  Blanchard,  on  the  18th  of  November,  1868, 
an  already-quoted  letter,  Chief  Justice  Chase  expressed  himself  as 
follows : 

"  I  am  neither  Mason  nor  anti-Mason.  My  father  was  a  Mason, 
and  I  always  supposed  the  order  did  a  great  deal  of  good  in  their 
way.     I  have  never  studied  the  subject." 

I  can  not  say  that  I  have  never  studied  the  subject;  but  I  can 
say  I  always  supposed  the  Free  Masons  did  a  great  deal  of  good  in 
their  way. 

On  the  11th  of  November,  1831,  then,  Mr.  Wirt  wrote  to  Mr. 
Chase,  then  a  young  Cincinnati  lawyer,  a  letter  which  contained 
these  words,  with  others: 

"I  am  perfectly  aware,  with  you,  that  I  have  none  of  the  captiva- 
ting arts  and  manners  of  professional  seekers  of  popularity.  I  do 
not  desire  them.  I  shall  not  change  my  manners ;  thejT  are  a  part  of 
my  nature.  If  the  people  choose  to  take  me  as  I  am — well.  If  not, 
they  will  only  leave  me  where  I  have  always  preferred  to  be,  enjoy- 
ing the  independence  of  private  life.  They  may  make  some  rents  in 
my  garments  in  the  meantime,  but  they  will  make  none,  I  hope,  in 
my  peace  of  mind." 

How  highly  he  who  wrote  those  words  appreciated  the  esteem  of 
the  young  man  to  whom  he  wrote,  appears  in  the  following  para- 
graph of  the  same  letter: 

"  You  have  now  the  whole  case  before  you,  and  I  thought  it  due 
to  the  friendship  you  have  always  professed  for  me,  to  state  it  at 
large.  I  will  not  embarrass  you  with  the  question,  whether  you 
approve  my  course  or  not.  It  is  enough  for  me,  that  nry  own  con- 
science approves  it,  and  that  I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  condemned 
in  heaven." 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  233 

That  Chase  was  not  induced  to  follow  "Wirt,  in  this  respect,  is  not 
surprising.  His  own  father,  we  have  already  seen,  had  been  a 
Mason.  And  the  country  generally  seems  to  have  considered,  that 
the  party  of  the  anti-Masons  was  not  called  for  by  the  welfare  of  the 
people.  "We  have  seen  that  such  men  as  Greeley  and  Seward  may  be 
named  among  the  anti-Masons  of  that  day j  but  we  have  also  seen 
that  the  only  vote  carried  for  Wirt  was  Vermont. 

To  Chase,  in  the  letter  already  quoted,  "Wirt  explained  that,  con- 
sidering the  strength  of  the  anti-Masons  and  the  rapidity  with  which 
their  party  was  increasing,  he  saw  that  unless  their  nomination  could 
be  secured  for  Mr.  Clay,  he,  Clay,  could  not  be  elected.  Wirt  pro- 
ceeded to  say  ; 

"  Mr.  Clay  was  the  choice  of  my  district,  and  I  had  been  deputed 
by  it  as  a  delegate  to  the  National  Kepublican  Convention,  whose 
object  I  understood  to  be  to  confer  on  the  selection  of  a  suitable 
candidate,  giving  the  preference  to  Mr.  Clay,  if  found  that  he  would 
be  strong  enough  to  displace  General  Jackson  ;  and  if  not,  to  prefer 
any  one  else  who  could  secure  to  us  that  result." 

"When  Mr.  Wirt  so  wrote  to  Mr.  Chase  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  there  was  an  understanding  between  the  writer  and  the  re- 
ceiver of  that  letter  that  the  life  of  Wirt  should  be  written  by  the 
already  practiced  pen  of  Chase.1  I  have  already  offered  part  of  that 
evidence ;  I  now  present  another  part.  A  letter-book  of  our  hero 
contains  this  memorandum  : 

"  Cincinnati,  February  27,  1836. 

"  A  letter  of  friendship — general  remarks — Congratulation  to  Wil- 
liam on  his  planter  life — Henry  and  Dabney  fitting  for  college — 
Miss  Cabell  and  Mr.  Daniel — Difficulties  in  the  way  of  my  writing  biog- 
raphy  of  Mr.  Wirt — Suggest  Mr.  Kennedy — Affectionate  remembrances 
— Suggest  ideas  as  to  publication  of  Mr.  W'fi  works — 2  vols.,  oct., 
not  quite — Opinions,  arguments,  and  speeches  to  be  included — Old 
works  also  and  letters  chronologically  arranged,  etc.,  etc. 

"  To  C.  G.  Wirt,  Wirtland,  Florida." 

Among  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  Mr.  Chase  were  some  which 
he  may  or  may  not  have  recognized,  but  which  he  would  hardly  have 
felt  free  to  state  fully  in  that  letter. 

I  congratulate  my  readers  and  myself  that  the  author  of  this  work 
was  never  so  intimate  with  its  hero  as  the  latter  was  with  William 
Wirt.     I  congratulate  the  readers  of  this  work  that  it  is  not  written 


Ante,  Introduction. 


234  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

by  a  person  who  was  ever  intimate  with  the  surviving  relatives  of 
its  hero  as  was  Salmon  Portland  Chase  with  the  surviving  relatives 
of  William  Wirt.  I  have,  indeed,  no  doubt  that  the  surviving  rel- 
atives of  Wirt  would  have  been  entirely  well  disposed  toward  the 
work  of  Chase  had  he  gone  forward,  as  he  purposed.  All  they  would 
have  consciously  desired,  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  would  have 
been  a  faithful  narrative  and  a  true  portraiture.  But  whoever  has 
read  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  on  the  subject  of  likenesses  must  remem- 
ber what  that  writer  so  well  says  about  the  perils  of  the  painter  that 
allows  himself  to  take  suggestions  from  the  near  relatives  and  friends 
of  the  sitter.  I  admire  and  love  the  Wirts,  although  I  have  spoken 
with  but  one  survivor  of  the  family.  I  seem  to  have  known  them, 
to  have  lived  beneath  their  roof,  to  have  heard  the  ringing  laugh 
of  the  father,  to  have  learned  the  language  of  the  flowers  from  the 
mother;  to  have  assisted  at  their  family  concerts;  surely,  then, 
what  I  am  saying  here  is  not  intended  to  disparage  them  or  any  of 
them.  Yet  I  have  no  doubt  that  Chase  would  have  been,  and  that 
Mr.  Kennedy  actually  was,  greatly  embarrassed  by  intimacy  with 
the  members  of  that  household. 

Perhaps,  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Chase,  in  abandoning 
the  design  of  writing  Wirt's  life,  was  influenced  by  the  consideration, 
that  he  had  been  so  intimate  with  Wirt  and  his  household.  Yet  it 
seems  to  me  at  least  that  that  consideration  must  have  come  to 
trouble  him  had  he  made  progress  in  the  work  referred  to. 

How  could  he  have  painted  Wirt  as  the  latter  was  in  his  days 
of  free  drinking?  How  could  he  have  done  justice  to  the  first  love 
and  first  marriage  of  his  hero?  There  is,  indeed,  perfect  proof  that 
the  second  wife  of  William  Wirt  was  tenderly,  devotedly  beloved 
by  her  genial  husband  ;  that  she  was  to  him  an  object  of  esteem  as 
well  as  affection  ;  that  his  admiration  of  her  was,  indeed,  unbounded. 
How  he  loved  the  children  that  she  bore  him  it  would  be  impossi- 
ble to  intimate.  And  yet  the  love  and  admiration  that  he  had  for 
her,  his  love  and  admiration  of  her  and  his  children,  could  not 
annihilate  the  fact  that  his  first  love  was  not  she — that  his  first  wife 
was  not  named  Elizabeth  but  Mildred.  How  could  Salmon  Port- 
land Chase  have  done  justice  to  that  fact  ? 

Examination  of  the  manner  in  which  Mildred's  memory  was  dis- 
posed of  by  the  pen  of  Mr.  Kennedy,  though  the  latter  never  had 
been  intimate  as  Chase  had  been  with  the  Wirt  family,  may  at  least 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  235 

aid  discerning  readers  to  work  out  the  proper  answer  to  the  question 
just  suggested. 

But  the  theme  is  painful.  Let  me  proceed  at  once  to  the  state- 
ment that  a  year  and  a  few  days  had  already  passed  since  the  death 
of  him  who  made  the  name  of  Wirt  illustrious.  Mr.  Chase,  an 
actively  employed  young  lawyer,  lived  at  Cincinnati,  far  from  the 
surviving  relatives  of  his  deceased  friend  and  preceptor.  That  he 
had  begun  to  gather  materials  for  the  contemplated  biographic  work, 
is  probable.  An  entry,  dated  June  17,  1834,  shows  that,  on  that 
day  he  wrote  to  Fielding  Lucas,  of  Baltimore,  for  "  Wirt's  Speeches, 
etc. ;"  but  it  is  also  probable  that  the  assemblage  of  materials  at  Cin- 
cinnati proved  to  be  almost  impossible. 

The  work  which  he  gave  up  was  finally  done,  as  he  suggested  that 
it  should  be,  by  John  P.  Kennedy,  who  was,  like  himself  and  like 
the  subject  of  the  work,  a  so-called  "  literary  lawyer."  But  I  have 
found  in  Tuckerman's  Life  of  Kennedy  this  extract  from  a  diary  of 
Mr.  K. : 

"  December  24,  1843.  Some  time  ago  Mrs.  Wirt  deposited  a  large 
number  of  papers  containing  the  correspondence,  etc.,  of  her  late 
husband,  Win.  Wirt,  with  Mr.  J.  Q.  Adams,  who  had  undertaken  to 
write  a  biography  and  edit  these  papers.  After  retaining  the  collec- 
tion for  some  time,  Mr.  Adams  was  obliged,  very  reluctantl}',  as  he 
told  me,  to  decline  the  enterprise.  The  family  have  since  committed 
it  to  me,  and  I  have  accepted.  The  papers  are  all  in  my  possession, 
and  I  have  just  begun  to  review  them.  I  hope  to  make  some 
volumes  of  good  stuff.  Mr.  Wirt  was  a  very  kind  and  intimate 
friend  of  mine,  which  alone  would  prompt  me  to  this  duty.  But  he 
Avas  a  man  of  a  very  rich  character,  of  various  interesting  qualities, 
and  passed  a  life  of  attractive  incident,  out  of  which  a  most  engag- 
ing biography  may  be  made. 

"My  plan  is  not  yet  adjusted,  but  if  the  correspondence  and  other 
remains  will  enable  me  to  present  a  narrative  in  which  these  may 
be  interwoven,  I  shall  prefer  that  form.  Some  few  hours  labor  a 
day  ought  to  enable  me  to  get  this  work  before  the  public  in  the 
course  of  the  year.     I  shall  try." 

No  doubt,  he  did  try.  But  his  health  was  bad,  and  his  appre- 
ciation of  his  task  remarkably  imperfect.  In  point  of  fact,  the 
biography,  already  so  inexcusably  delayed,  did  not  appear  till  1849, 
about  fifteen  years  after  the  death  of  Wirt.  The  truth  is,  Kennedy 
was  a  fine  writer,  and  a  good  citizen  ;  but  certainly  he  was  a  bad 
biographer. 

Of  this,  however,  I  have  thought  fit  to  speak  farther  in  the  chap- 


236  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

ter  noticing  the  qualifications  of  our  hero  as  a  judge,  as  affected  by 
his  indebtedness  to  Wirt  as  his  legal 

"Guide,  philosopher,  and  friend."1 

I  now  invite  farther  attention  to  the  obligations  of  this  volume  to 
one  of  the  most  interesting  documents  furnished  me  by  Chief  Justice 
Chase."  I  mean  his  letter-book,  beginning  with  November  19,  1833, 
The  first  copy  of  a  letter  is  signed  C.  &  C,  and  is  in  the  handwriting 
of  Mr.  Chase,  as,  indeed,  is  most  of  the  matter  in  the  book.  Noth- 
ing can  be  happier  than  the  style  and  diction  of  these  letters,  viewed 
as  business  papers. 

Here  is  a  letter  of  special  interest,  dated  November  30,  1833,  ad- 
dressed to  Booz  M.  Atherton,  New  Philadelphia : 

"Cincinnati,  November  30,  1833. 

"Dear  Sir: — Some  time  since  I  received  a  letter  from  my  uncle, 
Bishop  Chase,  informing  me  that  he  had  directed  you  to  commence 
suit  against  the  Trustees  of  Kenyon  College  for  one  thousand  dollars, 
given  by  him  on  condition  that  it  should  be  expended  in  the  erection 
of  a  house  for  his  accommodation  and  under  his  direction,  and  re- 
questing me  to  aid  you  in  the  management  of  the  cause  before  the 
C.  C.  U.  S.  Please  let  me  know  what  you  have  done  in  this  and  the 
other  business  of  the  bishop.  I  shall  attend  the  C.  C.  at  the  ensuing 
term,  and  shall  be  at  Columbus  in  two  weeks.  I  shall  be  glad  to 
hear  from  you  before  I  go  or  while  there. 

"Yours,  etc., 

"S.  P.  C." 

Several  of  the  other  business  letters  contain  such  words  as  these : 

"  You  may  rely  upon  our  attention  to  your  interests.  You  will 
confer  a  favor  on  us  by  making  the  circular  on  the  third  page  known 
to  as  many  of  your  friends  as  convenient.  We  shall  always  be 
happy  to  receive  any  orders  from  them  or  yourselves  in  the  way  of 
our  ju'ofession,  and  remain,  etc."2 

Here  is  the  memorandum  of  another  letter,  indicating  proper  at- 
tention by  our  hero  to  his  own  advancement : 


JPost.  Chapter  LI. 

Solicitation  of  professional  employment  is  not  always  direct.  It  is  often  indirect. 
It  is  not  always  at  once  bold  and  modest;  it  is  often  sneaking  and  apparently 
almost  too  humble  to  make  its  wishes  known.  There  was  no  cant,  no  sham,  no  flam, 
about  our  hero.  AVhat  he  was  he  seemed,  and  what  he  seemed  he  was.  What  he 
desired  he  plainly  showed  that  he  desired. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  237 

"  Cincinnati,  January  27,  1834. 

"This  was  a  letter  requesting  him  [Hon.  Sam.  F.  Vinton,  M.  C. 
Washington  Cit}*]  to  use  his  influence  to  procure  for  me  the  ap- 
pointment of  visitor  to  West  Point  at  the  next  examination,  and 
thanking  him  for  his  favorable  opinion  of  my  historical  sketch." 

This  was  the  already  mentioned  historical  sketch,  prefixed  to 
Chase's  Revision  of  the  Ohio  Statutes. 

A  letter,  dated  January  31, 1834,  addressed  to  Rev.  M.  T.  C.  Wing, 
related  to  the  claim  of  Bishop  Chase  on  Keuyon  College.  It  cou- 
I  tided : 

•■  AVill  you  have  the  goodness  to  submit  the  whole  matter,  together 
with  this  letter,  to  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  to  whom  I  beg  you  to  present 
my  assurances  of  high  veneration  and  regard." 

The  next  is  to  Bishop  Chase  himself,  and  refers  to  the  Wing  letter. 

Now  we  come  to  the  most  delicate  and  difficult  undertaking  of 
this  work.  It  is  now  necessary  to  speak  of  the  first  marriage  of  the 
hero. 

The  diary  from  which  I  have  drawn  so  often  is  less  particular  in 
its  account  of  Miss  Garniss  than  is  another  document,  furnished  me 
by  the  Chief  Justice. 

One  of  the  most  touching  things  I  know  about  hiin  is  the  tender 
care  with  which  he  preserved  memorials  of  his  first  love  and  his  first 
marriage  and  of  the  death  of  his  first  wife.  Of  the  second  wife  also 
there  are  very  interesting  notices  in  my  possession;  but  it  was  of 
the  first  wife  only  that  he  put  at  my  disposal  separate  memorials. 

Let  no  rash  inference  be  drawn  from  that.  For  my  part,  I  draw 
none  whatever,  in  this  work  or  elsewhere,  without  taking  into  con- 
sideration that  any  inference  of  that  description  may  be  very  false. 
I  never  even  thought  of  trying,  here,  to  measure  how  much  love  the 
hero  gave  to  this  wife  or  to  that.  No  such  measurement  is  possible. 
But  it  seems  quite  safe  to  say  that  the  death  of  the  first  wife  was  so 
peculiar — in  a  sense,  so  tragical — that  the  sorrow  for  it  colored  all 
the  days  of  the  after-life  of  him  whose  griefs  and  joys  engage  our 
thoughts  throughout  this  work. 

Among  the  most  precious  of  the  documents  confided  to  me  is  one 
entirely  distinct  from  the  register  so  often  quoted.  I  found  it  tied  up 
with  other  memorials  of  the  first  love  and  the  first  marriage  of  our 
hero.  It  is  in  appearance  a  mere  memorandum-book,  leather  cov- 
ered.    The  entries  are  partly  in  penciling  and  partly  in  ink. 


238  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Here  is  one  of  them : 

"  The  first  time  I  ever  saw  Miss  Garniss  was  at  the  house  of  M. 
P.  Cassilly.  I  had  just  returned  from  the  Eastern  States,  whither  I 
had  been  on  a  visit  to  my  friends  und  relatives.  It  was,  I  think,  in 
the  month  of  November,  1831.  I  was  paying  a  morning  visit  to 
Miss  Mary  Cassilly  when  Miss  Garniss  came  in.  Her  appear- 
ance did  not  please  me.  I  thought  her  features  large  and  her  face 
plain.  I  had  little  conversation  with  her,  and  have  no  recollection 
of  that  little." 

Let  me  introduce,  just  here,  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  tc 
me  in  the  interest  of  this  work,  by  my  distinguished  friend,  General 
Thomas  Kilby  Smith,  one  of  the  most  meritorious  of  our  citizen- 
soldiers,  during  the  civil  war.     That  letter  contains  these  words : 

"  His  first  wife,  Miss  Garniss,  I  retain  a  vivid  recollection  of.  She 
was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  beautiful  women  of  the  West.  Her 
carriage  and  bearing  were  superb,  at  the  period  of  their  marriage, 
while  he  was  awkward  and  ungainly  in  person.  It  was  some  years 
after  that  his  person  filled  out,  and  gave  him  the  august  presence 
and  dignity  of  bearing  so  admirable.  His  hands  were  delicate,  and 
soft  as  a  woman's." 

Chase  himself  continues: 

"Not  long  after  this,  I  was  invited  to  a  party,  on  Front  Street,  at 
Mr.  Heni*y  Emerson's,  whose  niece,  Miss  Mary  Smith,  had  recently 
arrived  in  the  city  from  New  England.  I  asked  the  favor  of  being 
permitted  to  escort  Miss  Cassilly,  and  it  was  arranged  that  a  party 
should  go  from  her  house.  At  the  appointed  hour,  Miss  Garniss, 
with  her  father  and  one  or  two  young  gentlemen,  came  in,  and  we 
all  went  together. 

"  Shortly  after,  or  perhaps  before  this,  I  called  on  Miss  Garniss,  at 
Mr.  Hamilton's,  with  Mr.  Young.  She  received  us  very  politely.  I 
conversed  a  little  with  her.  I  can  not  recollect  the  subjects  of  con- 
versation, but  I  believe  we  talked  a  little  about  books.  I  remember 
that  Miss  Garniss  sat  almost  in  front  of  the  door  into  the  hall,  about 
one-third  of  the  distance  from  the  door  to  the  fire-place.  The  im- 
pressions then  made  upon  me  were  favorable. 

"  I  had,  at  this  time,  I  know  not  how,  taken  up  an  impression  that 
the  Garniss  family  were  pretenders  to  style,  and  were  ambitious  to 
lead  the  fashions  here.  M}~  idea  of  Miss  Garniss  was  that  she  was  an 
affected  and  shallow  girl — with  little  real  delicacy  or  refinement  of 
character.  Oh!  how  mistaken  was  I  in  this  estimate!  How  vastly 
did  I  underrate  her!  What  genuine  delicacy  and  depth  of  feeling, 
what  devoteduess  and  self-sacrifice,  did  she  afterward  evince  ! 

"I  do  not  remember — yes  I  do — I  did  see  her  again  that  win- 
ter. It  was  on  New  Tear's  Day.  I  was  coming  out  of  a  house  on 
Broadway — I  think  Mr.  Lawler's  or  Mrs.  Wood's.  A  large  sleigh, 
drawn  by  four  fine  horses,  stopped  at  the  door,  and  a  half  dozen 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  239 

laughing,  merry  girls  came  dancing  into  the  house.  Among  them, 
and  most  conspicuous,  was  Miss  Garniss.  She  looked  beautiful. 
Her  countenance  was  full  of  animation,  and  she  moved  along  with 
light  and  elastic  tread.  I  merely  bowed  to  her  as  she  passed  me  ; 
but  I  frequently  saw  that  party  of  sleigh-riders  in  the  streets  that 
day,  and  never  without  a  feeling  of  half  regret  that  I  was  not 
among  them. 

"  I  do  not  remember  that  I  saw  her  again  that  winter.  She  went 
to  New  Orleans  in  February,  where  she  reigned  as  a  belle,  for  a  sea- 
son, and  then  returned  to  Cincinnati.  The  family,  on  their  return, 
took  lodgings  at  the  Broadway  House.  I  do  not  remember  seeing 
her  during  the  spring.  Early  in  the  summer  she  went  to  the  White 
Sulphur  Springs,  of  Virginia,  whither  I  also  had  a  strong  inclina- 
tion to  go,  and  talked  of  so  doing  with  Mr.  Armstrong.  I  did  not, 
however,  go.  When  Miss  Garniss  returned  from  the  Springs,  her 
family  took  lodgings  at  the  Cincinnati  Hotel.  Here  also,  for  a  short 
time,  lodged  Mr.  and  Mrs.  and  Miss  Carlton,  of  New  Orleans.  I 
called  on  Miss  Carlton  several  times — never  on  Miss  Garniss.  Miss 
Carlton,  at  this  time,  was  the  affianced  bride  of  my  friend,  Thomas 
Swann. 

"In  the  fall  of  1832,  while  Miss  Carlton  was  in  Cincinnati,  Miss 
Kuhamah  Pike  was  married  to  Mr.  Kenner,  of  New  Orleans.  I 
was  at  the  wedding  party,  and  so  was  Miss  Garniss.  I  merely  re- 
member speaking  to  her.  I  have  a  vague  idea  of  her  personal  ap- 
pearance then,  but  it  floats  in  my  mind  like  mist.  Nothing  is  dis- 
tinct. Miss  Carlton  was  at  this  party,  and  I  paid  much  attention  to 
her.  She  gave  me  a  bouquet  of  flowers,  of  which  I  was  silly  enough 
to  be  vain. 

God  bless  him  for  that  silliness!  Our  hero  was  a  right  lover, 
was  he  not  ?     He  adds  : 

"  In  December,  1832,  I  was  attacked  by  a  violent  disease,  which 
nearly  terminated  my  existence.  Shortly  after  my  recovery,  Dr. 
Colby  was  taken  ill,  and  my  cousin  Dunbar  and  myself,  who  then 
boarded  together  at  Dr.  Colby's,  were  compelled  to  seek  new  lodgings. 
Dunbar  went  to  Mrs.  Eaton's.  I  went  to  the  Pearl  Street  House — 
sometime  late  in  January  or  early  in  February — a  new  establish- 
ment which  had  been  opened  the  preceding  spring,  and  was  then 
kept  by  Dexter  &  Alexander.  Dexter  afterward  died  of  cholera,  as 
did  also  one  of  his  daughters,  soon  after  child-birth.  Mr.  Garniss 
and  his  family  also,  at  this  time,  boarded  at  the  Pearl  Street  House; 
and  I  had  not  been  there  long  before  I  called  at  his  rooms.  I  found 
Kitty  and  her  mother  seated  at  the  the  table,  and  Kitty  was  en- 
gaged in  animated  conversation  with  a  Mr.  Warfield.  I  was  much 
pleased  with  her  this  evening,  and  repeated  my  visits  frequently. 
One  evening,  when  we  were  sitting  at  the  table  together,  talking  of 
I  know  not  what — but  trifles  surely — I  wrote  on  the  blank  side  of  a 
card  these  lines : 

'"Young  love  presided  o'er  thy  birth 

And  named  thee,  then,  the  Queen  of  Mirth; 


240  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

While  on  thy  head  the  smiling  Hours 

Placed,  fittest  crown,  a  wreath  of  flowers. 

And  oft  Love  would  implore  to  be 

A  dweller  in  those  eyes  of  thine, 

And  oft  he  promised,  nay,  he  swore, 

Wouldst  thou  but  list  to  his  request, 

That  he  would  be  a  harmless  guest. — But." 

"  These  lines  were  slightly  altered  from  some  which  I  had  written, 
three  or  four  years  before,  for  and  of  a  young  friend  of  mine,  one 
of  the  daugthers  of  Mr.  Wirt.  Since  the  death  of  my  dear  Kitty 
I  have  found  the  card  on  which  these  lines  were  written.  She  pre- 
served it  from  that  time.  In  giving  it  to  her  I  intended  nothing  more 
than  a  piece  of  gallantry,  the  import  of  which  I  purposely  left 
doubtful." 

A  philosopher  in  love  is  apt  to  be  a  little  diplomatic;  but,  for  all 
that,  Mr.  Salmon  Portland  Chase  was  thoroughly  in  love  when  he 
performed  that  "  piece  of  gallantry,"  the  import  of  which  he  pur- 
posely left  doubtful. 

"  While  I  boarded  at  this  place,  Mr.  Drake  and  Mr.  Bullitt,  of 
Louisville,  visited  Cincinnati,  and  a  few  friends  were  invited  to  Mr. 
G-.'s  rooms,  to  meet  them.  I  was  charmed  this  evening  by  the  grace 
with  which  she  received  her  visitors.  But  I  was  most  interested  by 
observing  her  when  standing  perfectly  quiet,  with  her  fine  counte- 
nance in  repose.  Her  face  then  assumed  a  pensive  and  almost  melan- 
choly expression,  which,  to  me,  was  extremel}'  interesting.  The 
singing  was  delightful,  and  the  evening  passed  pleasantly  away. 
There  was  a  settee,  cushioned,  on  the  west  side  of  the  room,  and  I 
have  a  vague  remembrance  of  sitting  there  with  my  Kitty  and  having 
some  very  pleasant  conversation;  but  it  is  extremely  indistinct. 

"At  this  time,  we  used  to  assemble  frequently  in  the  parlor  of  the 
hotel  after  tea,  and  spend  some  time  in  conversation.  Miss  Town- 
send  used  to  play  and  sing,  sometimes. 

"  I  used  to  sit  near  Kitty,  at  table.  On  one  occasion,  she  gave  me 
one-half  of  a  double  Almond  as  a  Phillipina.1  and  having,  at  our  next 
meeting,  anticipated  me  in  the  utterance  of  the  magic  wTord,  I  gave 
her  a  book.  It  was  the  Percy  Anecdotes,  and,  on  a  blank  leaf,  was 
written:  'Phillip  to  Phillipina.2  Some  time  after  this,  I  gave  her 
half  of  a  double  Almond  in  the  same  way,  and  brought  her  in  my 
debt.  I  looked  with  considerable  anxiety  for  the  result,  hoping  that, 
from  the  nature  of  her  present,  I  could  gather  some  idea  of  the  state 
of  her  feelings  toward  me.  I  hoped  that  her  present  would  indi- 
cate preference.  I  was  disappointed  ;  for,  with  the  maidenly  delicacy 
and  propriety  which  characterized  every  action  of  her  life,  she  gave 
me  a  blank  album.  I  turned  its  leaves,  hoping  to  find  something 
written  there.     There  was  nothing. 


1  So  in  the  original. 

2  Sic.     The  authorities  give  Philopena,  or  Fillipeen. 


OF    SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  241 

• 

"About  this  time,  my  friends  began  to  rally  me  upon  my  atten- 
tions to  -Miss  tr.,  and  rumors  began  to  be  circulated  of  our  approach- 
ing wedding  at  the  Pearl  Street  House.  I  had  not,  however,  at  this 
time,  any  fixed  purpose  of  addressing  her,  nor  do  1   think   that  she 

had   learned  to  regard  me  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  a  friend, 
and.  perhaps,  that  word  is  too  strong. 

••Some  time  about  the  middle  of  April,  I  remember  riding  out 
with  my  dear  Kitty,  her  father,  and  Mrs.  Lawler.  I  rode  with 
Kitty;  Mr.  CI.  rode  with  Mrs.  L.  "We  went  down  the  river,  and  re- 
turned over  the  hill  below  Mill  Creek.  "We  rode  several  miles,  and, 
as  we  were  returning,  my  fair  companion  and  I  trotted  on  rapidly 
before  the  rest  of  our  company,  until  we  were  induced  to  diminish 
our  speed  by  the  repeated  calls  of  her  father,  who  now  came  up,  quite 
heated.  He  was  very  severe  in  the  reproof  of  his  daughter,  and  un- 
civil in  his  language  to  me.  I  took  no  notice  of  it,  however,  at  the 
time,  nor  afterward,  but  I  felt  it  deeply ;  and,  but  for  my  par- 
tiality to  Miss  Of.,  my  visits  to  his  family  would  then  probably  have 
ceased." 

I  can  see  Mr.  Garniss,  "in  my  mind's  eye,"  as  he  thus  misbe- 
haved. He  was,  at  times,  a  man  of  far  from  even  temper,  far  from 
pleasing  manners;  nor  did  lie,  at  any  time,  I  think,  inspire  profound 
respect.     Yet  he  was,  in  effect,  a  worthy  member  of  society. 

It  was  on  the  4th  of  March,  1834,  that,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  John  P. 
Garniss,  Salmon  Portland  Chase  and  Catherine  Jane  Garniss  were 
married  by  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher. 

Mr.  Garniss  then  lived  at  the  south-east  corner  of  Broadway  and 
Fourth  street,  Cincinnati. 

A  fanciful  biographer  would  make  up,  here,  a  wedding-piece;  a 
pen-picture  of  great  beauty.  Marriage  is  the  very  top  of  bliss  for 
the  young  husband.  Erskine  has,  however,  said  all  that  can  be 
said  of  that  felicity.  The  speech  in  which  he  paints  the  rapture  of 
complete  and  innocent  possession  is  hardly  surpassed  in  any  set  of 
words  in  the  English  language. 

It  was  not  a  little  thing  to  have  a  husband  such  as  Salmon 
Portland  Chase  assuredly  was,  on  the  4th  of  March,  1834.  It  was 
surely  no  little  thing  to  have  such  a  wife  as  she  who  on  that 
happy  day  bestowed  her  hand,  with  her  heart  in  it,  on  our  hero. 

My  attention  has  been  called  to  this  paragraph,  cut  from  a  pub- 
lic print : 

"  A  correspondent  of  the  Courier-Journal,  who  knew  intimately 
Catherine  Garniss,  the  first  wife  of  Chief  Justice  Chase,  sends  this 
incident,  apropos  of  the  recent  prominence  which  has  been  given  to 
that  lady's  name.  I  knew  from  her  own  lips  how  difficult  it  was  for 
her  to  decide  to  marry  Mr.  Chase,  and  shall  never  forget  her  apology 


242  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

for  not  bringing  him  to  see  me  on  one  occasion  :  'He  is  so  uncouth, 
and  has  such  an  unmanageable  mouth  !  Wait  until  I  polish  him  up 
a  little — then  I  will  bring  him  to  you  and  show  him  off."  These  were 
ber  laughing  words.  They  were  just  married  then,  and  he  was 
scarcely  the  sort  of  person  to  submit  to  a  polishing  process.  Eighteen 
months  later,  she  was  dead." 

The  facts  stated  in  that  paragraph  can  easily  be  reconciled  with 
the  extract  already  made  from  Gen.  Smith's  letter,1  and  they  are 
quite  in  harmomy  with  what  we  have  found  our  hero  saying,  in  the 
Trowbridge  letters,  about  himself.  What  is  the  proper  inference 
from  them?  Is  it,  that  Catherine  Jane  Chase,  of  that  name  the 
first,  did  not  admire  as  well  as  love  her  devoted  husband  ?  Is  it 
that  this  woman  did  not  see  the  treasure  God  had  given  her  in  such 
a  husband?  Surely,  no  such  inference  is  warranted.  And  we  shall 
clearly  see,  as  we  proceed,  that  this  wife  and  this  husband  very  dearly 
loved  each  other. 

Well !  he  was  not  rich  in  gold  and  gear.  He  had  not  then  the 
charm  of  person,  port,  and  presence.  To  a  friend  his  wife  could 
jestingly  speak  of  him  as  we  have  seen,  without,  indeed,  expecting 
that  her  words  should  go  before  the  public,  long  after  her  depart- 
ure, as  an  indication  that  she  did  not  appreciate  her  great  husband's 
heart  and  brain;  but -who  doubts  that,  when  she  so  jested,  she  knew 
well  the  jewel  she  would  polish  ?  On  the  other  hand,  her  husband 
suw  in  her  a  very  belle.  Was  he  not  proud  of  her  attachment  to  the 
man  he  felt  himself  to  be,  in  spite  of  his  then  ungainly  look  and 
bearing  ? 

Gen.  Smith  farther  says  of  our  hero  : 

"  He  had  a  terrific  temper,  though  under  almost  perfect  control. 

"I  knew  him  once  alight  from  his  carriage  and  give  a  burly  team- 
ster a  most  severe  thrashing  for  unprovoked  insult  and  outrage. 
Upon  another  occasion,  I  saw  him  kick  a  powerful  man  out  of  his 
office  and  down  stairs  because  of  some  (what  he  considered)  base 
proposal." 

What  did  Uncle  Toby's  angel  do  with  that  offense  of  our  hero? 
Ah !  this  man  was  very  human,  after  all. 

"He  was,"  continues  Gen.  Smith,  "intensely  satirical,  and  of 
ready  wit  as  a  young  man." 

Perhaps,  a  little   exaggeration    marks   that  sentence.     But  who 
1  Ante,  p.  238. 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  243 

knows  bettor  than  the  writer  of  that  letter?  When  I  first  became 
acquainted  with  the  man  whose  character  1  here  endeavor  to  portray, 
the  seal  of  sorrow  had  been  fixed  forever  on  his  face.  I  did  not 
know  his  manners  before  the  death  of  his  first  wife. 

But  we  must  now  change  the  theme.  On  the  25th  of  March, 
1835,  Mr.  Chase  wrote,  in  substance,  as  follows,  to  his  brother, 
Edward  Ithamar,  then  at  Lockport,  New  York  : 

"My  Pear  Brother: — Why  have  you  not  written  to  me?  Wil- 
liam proposes  to  go  to  St.  Louis — Will  go  with  Mr.  Wiggins,  a  man 
of  property,  who  will  introduce  him — Hope  he  will  get  Mr.  W.'s  bu>i- 
ne>s — needs  nothing  but  care  and  industry  to  succeed — Has  improved 
much.  His  debt  will  am't  to  $750 — too  much  to  owe.  I  propose  to 
remit  8125  each  ;  to  get  his  note  to  Dr.  Colby,  indorsed  by  the  Dr. 
and  myself,  discounted  for  the  balance.  You  must  guarantee  the 
Dr.  Alice  will  come  shortly;  her  visit  has  been  unpleasant — sorry, 
but  could  not  help  it.  Hear  nothing  from  Helen.  Love  to  all. 
"  Yours,  most  affectionately, 

"S.  P.  CHASE." 

To  his  father-in-law,  Mr.  J.  P.  Garniss,  he  wrote,  March  25, 
1835,  a  letter,  which  he  registers  as  follows: 

••  My  Dear  Sir  : — Your  letter  this  morning  received — answer  im- 
mediately to  meet  you  in  Philadelphia.  Ferryboat  does  well.  City 
elections  coming  on — several  candidates  for  Mayor.  Business  reviv- 
ing.    Xo  opposition  in  bank  election.     All  well,  etc.  etc." 

On  the  3rd  of  April,  of  the  same  year,  he  wrote  to  Richard 
Peters,  Esq.,  at  Philadelphia,  a  letter,  of  which  his  letter-book  gives 
this  abstract : 

"Glad  to  see  you  intend  new  edition  Chancery  Reports;  suggest 
such  publication  that  purchasers  can  take  whole  or  part ;  avoid  ty- 
pographical errors;  not  condense  too  much.  Send  prospectus,  and  I 
will  get  subscribers.     Respects  to  Mrs.  P.  and  family." 

A  letter  to  Rev.  A.  Ganills,  Georgetown,  Kentucky,  dated  May 
8,  1835,  reads  as  follows: 

"Dear  Sir  : — The  time  has  arrived  when  an  answer  must  be  tiled 
to  Bishop  Purcell's  bill.  I  have  prepared  one  for  you.  Shall  I  send 
it  to  you  at  Georgetown,  or  shall  you  visit  Cincinnati  ere  Long?  I 
have  received  Mr.  James  Denison  into  partnership.  Please  ad- 
dress Chase  &  Denison.     Yours,  etc., 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  next  letter  speaks  of  Mr.  Denison  as  a  young  gentleman. 
17 


/ 


244  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

A  letter  to  Hamilton  Smith,  Esq.,  dated  May  29,  1835,  after 
disposing  of  some  business  matters,  thus  proceeds: 

"The  books  came,  at  last,  safe  to  hand.  I  am  much  obliged  to 
you  for  the  trouble  you  have  taken  in  this  matter;  though  I  can  not 
say  that  I  am  much  pleased  with  my  purchase.  The  books  are  old 
and  in  bad  condition  ;  but  perhaps  this  is  the  case  with  all  Kentucky 
reports.  Cincinnati  is  going  ahead  again  like  a  young  race-horse 
recovered  from  a  sprain  ;  how  long  it  will  be  before  another  halt, 
human  intelligence  can  not  foresee.  My  wife  is  tolerably  well,  and 
if  she  knew  of  my  writing  would  join  in  atfectionate  remembrances. 
Finish  your  cottage,  and  I  will  come  and  see  you. 
'•  Yours,  faithfully, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  friendship  thus  referred  to  stood  always.  It  is  one  of  the 
very  beautiful  things  in  the  life  we  are  following  throughout  its 
course. 

And  it  is  a  thing  of  which  Mr.  Smith,  the  survivor,  may  well  be 
proud.  I  know  that  Mr.  Whitelaw  Reid,  in  his  Ohio  in  the  War, 
has  said,  in  effect,  of  Mr.  Chase,  that  while  profoundly  versed  in 
man,  he  was  profoundly  ignorant  of  men  ;  so  that  the  merest  char- 
latan could  deceive  him  into  confidence;  and  very  many  instances 
might  be  given  in  apparent  justification  of  that  judgment.  But,  in 
point  of  fact,  Chase  was  neither  so  deep  in  man  nor  so  shallow  in 
men  as  that  judgment  indicates.  It  is  a  superficial  judgment.  But, 
however  that  may  be,  when  Mr.  Chase  had  opportunity  to  study 
individuals  as  he  had  Opportunity  to  study  Mr.  Smith,  he  judged  as 
well  as  most  men  ;  and  his  friends  are  not  to  be  discredited  by  the 
notion  that  he  was  profoundly  ignorant  of  men. 

Here  is  a  little  note  that  shows  that  he  was  not  so  ignorant  of 
men  as  he  may  have  seemed.  It  is  most  precious  to  my  eyes.  It 
was  dated  June  3,  1835,  and  addressed  to  "  Nicholas  Longworth, 
Esq.,  Present;"  and  it  said  to  the  rich,  eccentric,  shrewd,  but  some- 
times partially  deranged  Cincinnatian  : 

"My  Dear  Sir  : — I  have  considered  the  proposition  submitted  by 
you  yesterday,  and  in  reference  to  it  say:  1st,  that  I  am  much 
obliged,  to  you  for  the  favorable  estimate  which  the  proposition  itself 
implies;  and.  next,  that  I  do  not  perceive  how  I  can,  consistently 
with  m3r  duties  as  solicitor  of  the  Agency  Office,  enter  into  the  pro- 
posed arrangement  with  you.  In  behalf  of  the  bank,  I  have  been 
already  engaged  in  one  or  two  suits  adversely  to  you,  and  may 
hereafter  be  emplo}Ted  in  more.  But,  this  objection  apart,  I  should 
hardly  feel  willing  to  enter  into  an  arrangement  which  would  de- 
volve upon  me  the  care  of  your  entire  business  in  addition  to  that 


OF  SALMON  POKTL.AXD  CHASE.  245 

which  I  now  have.  My  business  now,  though  not  so  largo  as  ] 
might  attend  to,  perhaps,  is  yet  sufficient  for  a  young  lawyer,  and 
increases  steadily  in  a  ratio  at  least  as  great  as  my  capacity  to 
transact  it.  1  should  distrust  my  ability  to  fulfill  my  duties  to  my 
present  clients  and,  at  the  same  time,  satisfy  your  just  expectations. 
I  must,  therefore,  decline  your  offer.     Yours,  truly, 

"S.  P.  C." 

Now  this  little  document  establishes,  first,  the  high  standing  of 
our  hero  as  a  practicing  lawyer  at  the  Cincinnati  bar,  when  he 
was  only  twenty-seven  years  of  age ;  and,  second,  his  high  princi- 
ple and  character  as  a  professor  of  the  law. 


246  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

CHIEFLY    POLITICAL — m'lEAN     AND     HARRISON — PROFESSIONAL     PROG- 
RESS— THE  FIRST  CHILD. 

THIS  chapter  is  devoted  chiefly  to  matter  of  distinctively  politi- 
cal concern.  It  introduces  John  McLean  and  William  Henry 
Harrison — a  man  distinguished  chiefly  as  a  legist  and  a  man  distin- 
guished chiefly  as  a  soldier. 

Both  of  them  I  saw  more  than  once.  I  never  talked  with  Har- 
rison. I  had  more  than  one  conversation  with  McLean.  The  per- 
son, port,  and  presence  of  the  latter  were  quite  striking.  John 
McLean  was  a  great  man  in  body,  and  perhaps  in  mind.  He  evi- 
dently seemed,  at  one  time,  a  great  man  to  our  hero.  I  confess,  I 
never  found  in  him  much  evidence  of  intellectual  magnitude,  much 
evidence  of  moral  grandeur.  As  for  Harrison,  he  neither  seemed 
nor  was  a  man  of  intellectual  or  moral  massiveness.  He  was  a 
worthy  citizen,  an  amiable  character,  a  warm-hearted,  ready-handed 
friend  and  neighbor ;  but,  I  own,  beyond  that,  I  could  never  see  in 
him  much  to  point  out  for  special  praise. 

Here  is,  in  part,  the  tenor  of  a  letter,  written  to  Hon.  Samuel  F. 
Vinton,  February  8,  1835,  by  Mr.  Chase: 

"Dear  Sir:  You  are  probably  fully  informed  as  to  the  extent 
and  character  of  the  feeling  which  exists  here  in  favor  of  Gen.  Har- 
rison as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  As  it  is  extremely  desir- 
able, however,  that  there  should  be  no  misapprehension  on  this 
point,  I  have  concluded  to  write  you  a  few  lines,  in  which  I  shall 
try  to  state  the  exact  truth.  Where  the  nomination  of  Gen.  H. 
originated  you  probably  know  better  than  I  do.  You  could  tell,  I 
doubt  not,  whether  it  proceeded  from  the  spontaneous  combustion 
of  Pennsylvania  feeling,  or  whether  the  torch  that  ignited  the  '  fire 
in  the  mountains/  was  sent  from  Ohio.  It  was  received  in  this 
quarter  coldly.  The  leading  papers  barely  mentioned  it— one  in 
terms  of  direct  censure,  the  other,  Mr.  Hammond's,  as  a  measure  of 
doubtful  expediency.  Some  individuals,  however,  appeared  to  be 
delighted  by  the  movement. 

"  Of  these  the  most  conspicuous  was  Judge  Hall,  the  editor  of  the 


OF    SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  247 

Western  Monthly  Magazine,  and  a  few  others,  like  himself,  formerly 

attached  to  the  Jackson    party,    and    always    inimical    to   Judge 
McLean." 

The  expression  "  the  Jackson  party"  ought  to  be  considered  for  a 
moment. 

Mr.  Chase  as  a  young  man  admired  Calhoun  and  Clay,  and  almost 
hated  Jackson.  He  considered  Jackson,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
unworthy  of  the  honors  given  to  him  by  his  countrymen.  The  so- 
called  democratic  party  was,  to  Mr.  Chase,  as  a  young  man,  nothing 
but  a  Jackson  party — the  party  of  the  President.  I  well  remember 
how  the  Adams  men  and  Clay  men  of  Cincinnati  spoke  of  Jackson 
and  the  Jackson  party  in  the  years  from  1832  to  1836,  inclusively. 
It  was  with  deepest  disdain.  The  "  Jackson  party  "  then  appeared 
to  me,  and  to  most  of  my  boy  acquaintances,  the  Devil's  own  party ; 
and  in  Jackson  I  saw  only  the  worst  man  in  the  best  place. 

How  Chase  afterward  regarded  Jackson  I  can  not  precisely  say. 
I  know,  however,  that  the  former  came  to  look  upon  the  latter  as  at 
least  not  a  mere  savage,  as  not  quite  a  moral  monster.  There  came, 
indeed,  a  time '  when  Chase  could  write  of  himself  as  a  democrat  of 
the  Jackson  and  Benton  school ! 

The  letter  to  Vinton  goes  on  as  follows: 

"These  gentlemen  exerted  themselves  with  so  much  zeal  that 
meetings  were  held  in  Delhi  and  in  Miami,  in  this  county,  for  the 
purpose  of  seconding  the  '  Pennsylvania  nomination.'  These  meet- 
ings were  tolerably  well  attended  for  county  meetings,  and  passed 
resolutions  which  have  appeared  in  print.  The  great  body  of  the 
Whigs  in  the  county,  and  the  still  greater  body  of  the  Jaeksonians, 
remained,  however,  altogether  quiet. 

"  After  these  preliminary  movements  in  the  country,  it  was 
thought  expedient  to  try  the  experiment  of  a  city  meeting.  A  call 
was  accordingly  circulated  for  signatures.  It  was  signed  by  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  persons,  some  of  whom  are  persons  of  influ- 
ence, ability,  and  respectability.  How  many  signed  the  call  as 
friends  of  Gen.  Harrison,  how  many  as  Whigs  willing  to  deliberate 
as  to  the  fittest  nomination  to  be  made — to  see,  in  short,  who  was 
the  strongest  man — it  is  impossible  to  say.  I  know  that  one 
argument  used  to  persons,  persuaded  to  attend,  was,  that  the  object 
of  the  meeting  was  not  to  nominate  Gen.  Harrison,  but  to  ascertain 
who  was  the  strongest  man.  I  have  no  doubt  that  many  attended, 
in  consequence  of  these  representations,  whose  first  choice  does  not 
seek  Gen.  H. 


1  Post,  Chapter  L. 


248  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

"  On  the  day  of  the  meeting,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  persons 
attended — no  more — though  the  Chronicle,  a  paper  advocating  the 
General's  pretensions,  had  asserted  that  a  thousand  names  would 
be  attached  to  the  call.  Of  the  two  hundred  and  lift v,  a  consider- 
able number,  doubtless,  attended  from  motives  of  curiosity.  Reso- 
lutions were  adopted  and  a  committee  appointed,  with  Judge  Wright 
as  chairman,  to  draft  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
Judge  Wright  was  not  present  at  the  meeting,  and  afterward,  in 
the  Daily  Gazette,  denied  the  authority  to  use  his  name.  The  whole 
thing  went  off  badly.  I  presume,  the  address  to  the  people  will 
never  be  drafted. 

"  I  have  thought  it  my  duty  to  make  these  statements  that  you 
may  know  how  far  the  military  fever  prevails  here.  I  am  aware 
that  those  under  its  influence,  like  men  affected  by  other  fevers, 
see  with  an  indifferent  vision.  But  I  think  my  statements  are  cor- 
rect in  the  main.  I  believe  that  Judge  McLean  is  the  choice  of 
the  reflecting  men  of  our  party  in  this  quarter,  and  that  the  whole 
party  will  go  for  him  as  soon  as  he  is  nominated,  in  other  States  or 
at  Washington.  In  union  upon  him  they  see  a  probability  of 
success  which  they  discern  in  no  other  quarter.  They  see  also  in 
his  election  the  period  of  military  rule,  of  corruption,  and  of  execu- 
tive encroachment. 

"  Our  friends  now  look  anxiously  to  Washington.  I  believe  the 
part}'  as  a  mass  will  be  for  the  man  there  nominated.  Mr.  Webster 
has  been  nominated  by  Massachusetts.  Judge  McLean  has  been 
nominated  by  Ohio.  Xo  other  will  probably  be  brought  into  the 
field  from  the  ranks  of  the  Whig  party.  Let  our  friends  at  Wash- 
ington decide  between  these  gentlemen.  Gen.  H.'s  claims  have 
been  named  by  various  primary  meetings.  Let  his  claims  be  also 
fairly  weighed. 

"  As  a  very  humble  individual,  deeply  interested,  nevertheless, 
in  the  approaching  struggle,  in  common  with  all  Americans,  I 
feel  extremely  solicitous  that  a  nomination  should  be  made  before 
Congress  rises. 

"  We  have  been  too  long  without  a  rallying  point.  In  a  country 
like  ours,  we  can  never  carry  'measures'  without  'men.'  Give  us 
a  man  as  an  index  of  measurers  tending  to  the  restoration  of  the 
country  to  its  former  healthful  condition — a  man  not  obnoxious  to 
popular  prejudice  on  account  of  past  or  present  party  connections 
— and  he  can  not  fail  to  succeed. 

"  I  remain  most  respectfully  and 

"  Most  truly  yours,  etc., 

"  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  P.  S.  You  will,  of  course,  see  much  of  Judge  Burnet  in  Wash- 
ington. He  can  state  to  you  the  result  of  various  attempts  made 
in  this  county  to  elect  Gen.  H.  to  Congress,  and  so  to  the  State  Leg- 
islature, at  times  when  other  Whig  candidates  succeeded.  I  must 
add,  however,  in  justice  to  Gen.  H.,  that  he  only  wishes  that  the 
opinions  and  preference  of  those  by  whom  he  has  brought  forward 
should  be  fairly  considered,  and  that  he  is  prepared  to  second  an- 
other nomination,  should  one  be  made,  with  all  his  influence.     In 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  24i) 

this  he  acts  with  the  magnanimity  which  has  always  characterized 
him." 

At  Cincinnati,  February  16,  1835,  Mr.  Chase  wrote  as  follows  to 
Judge  McLean  himself: 

"Deab  Sie  :  Some  few  days  since  a  letter  was  received  in  town 
from  Mr.  Edward  Everett,  in  which  it  was  slated  (as  I  have  been 

informed  by  Mr.  Walker,  who  received  the  letter)  that  you  had  ex- 
pressed to  your  friends  at  Washington  a  determination  not  to  per- 
mit yourself  to  be  longer  considered  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency. This  report,  coming  from  such  a  source,  is  likely  to  do 
injury  if  it  be  not  true.  If  it  he  true,  I  must  regard  it  as  a  public 
misfortune.  So  long  as  a  hope  remains  of  healing  the  unhappy 
division  in  the  ranks  of  the  Whig  party,  and  of  saving  the  country 
by  an  united  effort,  it  seems  to  me  that  no  man  is  at  liberty  to  with- 
draw himself  from  the  people." 

Here  is  a  characteristic  sentiment.  Here  is  a  clear  indication  of 
our  hero's  fixed  idea  as  to  candidature  for  the  Presidency.  Let 
us  not  forget  it  as  we  pass,  from  point  to  point  of  progress,  in 
these  pages. 

Mr.  Chase  went  on  as  follows  in  that  memorable  letter : 

"  In  my  poor  judgment,  the  grand  error  of  those  who  think  that 
the  government  needs  reform,  lies  in  this,  that  any  man  nominated 
by  the  Whigs  can  succeed.  Of  consequence,  the  present  is  regarded 
as  a  favorable  opportunity  of  pushing  individual  pretensions  in  the 
hope  of  securing  tins  nomination,  or  of  thus  reaching  the  'golden 
round.'  In  the  din  of  this  contention,  the  voice  of  wisdom  is  un- 
heard. In  the  smoke  of  this  great  controversy,  the  great  questions 
at  issue  are  lost  sight  of.  The  people  come  to  look  upon  this  con- 
test, not  as  one  about  vital  principles,  but  as  one  about  men. 
Numbers  retire  in  disgust  from  a  party  destined  to  defeat  in  con- 
sequence of  divisions  among  its  prominent  men.  And  thus  mis- 
rule and  unconstitutional  encroachment  are  encouraged  and  per- 
petuated. How  much  it  is  to  be  wished  that  the  magnanimity 
which  seems  to  actuate  Mr.  Calhoun  might  be  imparted  to  the  other 
distinguished  men  of  the  Whig  party." 

Thus  it  seems  that,  as  late  as  1831,  John  Caldwell  Calhoun  was 
rated  by  the  hero  of  these  pages  as  a  Whig.  But  Mr.  Chase  pro- 
ceeded in  this  fashion  : 

"I  should  for  myself  be  better  pleased  with  Mr.  C.  did  his  dis- 
claimer of  party  connections  and  personal  objects  spring  from  a 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  whole  country  rather  than  to  those 
of  a  particular  State  ;  but  as  it  is,  I  can  not  but  look  on  him  with 
admiration  and  delight." 


250  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

As  already  intimated,  it  has  been  my  fancy,  sometimes,  that  in 
Chase  one  might  consider  that  the  country  saw  the  Calhoun  of  Free 
Territory.  But  the  fancy  is  not  sound.  Of  that  hereafter.  Mr. 
Chase  continues  in  his  letter  to  Judge  McLean,  as  follows : 

"  I  write  thus  freely  to  you  because  I  believe  I  possess  some 
measure  of  your  regard,  and  am  unwilling  that  you  should  be 
ignorant  of  what  has  been  written  to  this  point  and  to  others  in 
respect  to  your  intentions.  I  wrote  some  days  ago  to  Mr.  Vinton  at 
the  instance  of  some  of  your  friends,  giving  as  impartial  account 
as  I  could  of  Harrisonism  in  this  quarter.  I  think  I  can  not  be 
mistaken  in  the  opinion  that  Gen.  H.  is  not  the  choice  of  any  con- 
siderable party  in  Ohio.  The  late  meeting  here  was  thinly  attended, 
and  no  enthusiasm  could  be  excited.  The  Whigs  can  not  with  con- 
sistency support  a  man  for  the  Presidency  on  the  sole  ground  of 

military  services.     But,  I  presume,  at  XV ,  Gen.  H.  is  not  thought 

of.  Judge  Burnet  expected  to  be  at  Washington  ere  this ;  but  had 
been  confined  b}^  indisposition.  Your  son,  under  my  care,  has  been 
very  punctual  to  the  office  for  some  time  past,  and,  I  think,  makes 
good  progress.  I  should  be  pleased  to  hear  from  you  if  convenience 
permits — and  to  know  how  the  cases  of  Beers  vs.  Houghton,  and  the 
Bank  United  States  vs.  Robert  Piatt,  have  been  decided.  Please  present 
to  Mrs.  McLean  m}7  own  assurances  of  great  respect  and  regard,  and 
my  wife's  love,  and  believe  me,  etc.,  "  S   P   CHASE  " 

On  this  interesting  letter  it  is  obvious  to  remark  that  it  shows  at 
least  that  its  writer,  in  1835,  when  he  was  twenty- seven  years  of 
age,  discerned  no  impropriety  in  a  presidential  candidature  on  the 
part  of  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  We 
shall  see  that  in  1868,  when  he  was  sixty  years  of  age,  and  in  1872, 
when  his  years  had  numbered  four  and  sixty,  he  himself,  as  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Union,  felt  at  liberty,  if  well  invited,  to  become  a 
presidential  candidate. 

I  own  that,  while,  as  a  general  rule,  it  may  be  wrong  for  a  judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  to  seek  the  Presidency,  it 
appears  to  me  that  there  are  circumstances  forming  exceptions  to  this 
rule  ;  and  that  the  case  of  Judge  McLean  as  well  as  our  hero's  case 
may  well  be  treated  as  exceptional. 

And  now  I  must  present  a  few  words  more  about  our  hero's  bias 
and  his  prejudices  as  a  politician  during  early  manhood.  The  Cin- 
cinnati American,  of  whose  date  notice  has  been  already  taken,1  con- 
tains an  editorial,  headed  Party  Violence.  I  have  no  doubt  that  it 
was  written  by  Chase.  At  least,  he  preserved  it  in  a  scrap-book. 
It  reads  as  follows  : 


1  Ante,  Chapter  XV. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  251 

"We  do  not  intend  that  the  American  shall  be  a  violent  party 
paper;  but  we  desire  that  our  ideas  of  this  matter  may  be  under- 
stood. We  wish  our  readers  to  know  what  we  mean  by  violence; 
that  they  may  not  accuse  us  of  disregarding  a  pledge,  when  we  are 
only  acting  on  principle.  We  do  not  then  think  it  violence  to  call 
things  by  their  right  names  ;  but  we  do  think  it  violence  to  apply 
to  any  person  or  thing  a  harsher  name  than  the  strictest  truth  will 
warrant.  We  regard  every  attack  upon  personal  character  for  specu- 
lative opinions  as  violent  and  altogether  unjustifiable  ;  but  we 
think  it  very  right  and  not  at  all  violent,  to  say  of  a  man  who 
commits  a  reprehensible  deed,  whatever  the  deed  deserves.  An 
example  or  two  will  make  our  meaning  plainer.  We  do  not  scruple 
to  say  of  the  Secretary  of  War's  compositions,  that  they  are  mani- 
fest transgressions  against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  our  American 
Speech  ;  but  we  should  say  of  these  transgressions  nothing  harsher 
than  that  they  indicate  an  ignorance  of  our  language  hardly  decent 
in  so  high  an  officer.  We  are  unwilling  to  say  of  one  who  holds  in 
theory  the  nullifying  doctrines,  that  he  entertains  a  treasonable 
design  ;  but  we  should  not  beat  all  fastidious  about  calling  the  man 
who  would  himself  do,  or  would  excite  others  to  do,  an  act  of  nulli- 
fication, a  traitor.  Let  us  not  be  mistaken.  We  are  in  earnest  in 
the  cause  we  have  espoused.  We  hold,  with  undouhting  faith,  all 
the  articles  of  the  National  Republican  creed.  We  are  in  favor  of 
the  principle  of  Protection,  and  of  the  principle  of  Internal  Improve- 
ment. We  think  our  present  national  rulers  to  be  hostile  to  these 
principles.  We  think  that  the  Government  is  not  administered 
by  them  as  a  national  government,  but  as  a  party  government. 
We  are  of  opinion  that  they  have  caused  the  nation  to  break  its 
faith  with  the  feeble  and  dependent  Indians.  We  doubt  not  that 
they  have  carelessly  wasted  large  amounts  of  public  money.  We 
are,  therefore,  opposed  to  the  present  administration.  And  believing, 
as  we  do,  that  Henry  Clay  is  a  man  of  other  principles,  and  that 
his  administration  will  be  marked  by  a  higher,  and  nobler,  and 
better,  and  more  national  policy,  therefore,  are  we  the  advocate  of 
Henry  Clay. 

"  We  shall,  it  is  likely,  use  strong  expressions,  not,  we  hope, 
without  strong  facts  to  warrant  them.  We  shall,  however,  be  care- 
ful to  mistake  no  facts,  and  to  misrepresent  no  opinions.  We  hope 
to  overcharge  no  description,  and  never  to  soil  our  sheet  with  the 
filthiness  of  abuse.  Keeping  within  these  limits,  our  own  con- 
science will  acquit  us  of  party  violence  ;  and  if  that  reproach  us 
not,  we  care  little  what  is  said  of  us  by  friend  or  foe." 

Under  date  June  12,  1835,  is  another  entry  reflecting  light  on 
the  material  prosperity  of  Mr.  Chase.     It  reads  as  follows  : 

"  Resolved,  from  and  after  this  date  for  the  period  of  one  year,  I 
will  not  ask  a  discount  of  any  note  (except  renewals,  and  except  as 
indorser  for  Mr.  Garniss  if  he  request  it),  either  drawn  or  indorsed 
by  me,  unless,  in  the  meantime  I  shall  have  sold  the  St.  Clair 
property." 


252 


THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 


We  come  now  to  domestic  matter  of  great  interest.  As  to  some 
of  it  I  hardly  know  just  what  to  offer.  I  now  refer  particularly  to 
an  entry  which  begins  as  follows  : 

"  On  the  evening  of  Saturday,  the  14th  of  November,  1835, 1  came 
home  to  tea  in  the  evening  and  found  that  my  dear  wife  had  been 
extremely  busy  all  day  in  household  affairs." 

Most  of  the  remainder  uf  this  very  interesting  entry  I  have  felt 
at  liberty  to  withhold  from  readers.  There  may  come  a  time  when 
false  delicacy  will  no  longer  be  allowed  to  order  the  suppression  of 
such  revelations  ;  but,  at  present,  I  feel  bound  to  omit  the  greater 
part  of  the  entry  in  question,  but  to  say  that  the  whole  of  it  is  full 
of  evidence  that  he  who  made  it  was  a  fond,  devoted  husband. 

But  here  is  a  passage  I  can  not  omit : 

"  At  half-past  two,  or,  perhaps,  nearer  three  in  the  morning,  her 
labor  terminated  in  the  safe  delivery  of  a  little  daughter.  When 
she  was  informed  that  it  was  over,  she  lay  back  in  the  bed  and  ex- 
claimed, '  Oh,  Heavenly  Father  !  I  thank  thee  ! ' " 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  253 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE    HERO'S    GREATEST    SORROW — UNEXPECTED   DEATH    OP   THE 
FIRST   WIPE. 

REFERENCE  has  already  been  made  to  the  fact  that,  according 
i  to  Kennedy  and  others,  Wirt  died  of  a  broken  heart.  How 
long  a  broken  heart  may  live,  has  not  been  calculated  by  the  cold 
conclusions  of  psychologists  and  physiologists.  One  can  imagine 
cases  in  which  broken  hearts  may  live  on,  brokenly,  through  many 
years  of  usefulness,  and  aspiration,  even  of  ambition. 

Sorrow  has  outwrought  the  works  of  joy.  It  is  not  when  the 
mouth  is  filled  with  laughter  and  the  tongue  with  singing,1  that  the 
master-pieces  of  endeavor  and  of  aspiration,  whether  in  the  arts  or 
elsewhere,  are  accomplished. 

Kennedy  distinctly  says  that  after  the  death  of  Agnes  her  devoted 
father  lost,  never  to  recover  it  entirely,  the  "  buoyancy  of  spirit 
which,  heretofore,  even  in  his  gravest  moments,  was  wont  to  break 
forth  in  sudden  and  irrepressible  sallies,"  and  that  "  this  sad  event 
even  affected  his  health,  and  secretly  preyed  upon  his  mind  to  a 
degree  which  is  supposed  to  have  hastened  the  termination  of  his 
life.' " 

Was  he,  then,  a  mere  weakling? 

William  Wirt  may  seem  to  have  been  vain  and  weak,  because, 
not  being  by  profession  what  we  call  a  man  of  letters,  he  wrote 
books  and  minor  compositions  of  general  interest  for  publication. 
But  this  eminent,  successful  lawyer  clearly  understood  that  one  is 
not  necessarily  trying  to  "  ride  two  horses"  if,  in  the  midst  of  active, 
various  practice  as  a  lawyer,  he  writes,  now  and  then,  for  the  general 
world  of  readers. 

No!  this  man  whose  death  followed  the  death  of  his  daughter  with 
so  much  likeness  to  the  succession  of  an  effect  to  its  cause,  was  not  a 
weakling;  he  was  no  mere  trifler. 


1  Psalm  cxxvi,  2. 


254  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

It  is  healthy  to  remember  lives  like  that  for  which  he  so  poeti- 
cally sorrowed.  It  is  wholesome  to  remember  his  devotion,  though 
it  was  at  once  too  idolatrous  and  too  ideal — though,  to  many  readers, 
it  may  seem  more  woman-like  than  manly.  Would  that  we  had 
more  men  of  that  "unmanly"  mold  among  us!  Then  we  might 
begin  at  least  to  civilize  our  cultivated  savageism. 

This  man  was  "  only"  Agnes'  father ;  he  was  not,  according  to  the 
common  sense  of  words,  her  lover;  why  did  he  so  love  her,  why  did 
her  departure  hasten  his  descent  into  the  grave? 

According  to  Kennedy,  the  letters  of  Agnes'  father  to  her  prove 
that  he  attributed  to  her  precocity  of  understanding;  and  his  biogra- 
pher considers  that  he  did  not  err  in  that  behalf.  This  lovely  girl, 
it  seems,  "  was  her  father's  constant  companion  in  his  study,  arranged 
and  indorsed  his  papers  for  him,  collected  his  books  of  authority 
when  he  was  studying  his  cases,  made  notes  for  him,  and  by  a  thou- 
sand affectionate  assiduities  so  associated  herself  with  his  happiest 
hours  as  to  render  her  presence  one  of  his  highest  delights,  and 
frequent  letters  to  her  when  absent  almost  indispensable  to  his  con- 
tent." 

We  also  learn  that  Alice  Wirt  "  possessed  a  remarkable  intel- 
ligence and  aptitude  of  mind,  which  was  developed  in  a  devotion 
to  study  very  unusual  to  her  years  and  sex."  Mr.  Kennedy  has 
added:  "It  was  not  less  expressed  in  her  face,  which  sparkled  with 
physical  and  intellectual  beauty.  Her  manners  won  all  hearts  by 
their  gentleness  and  grace." 

Wirt  himself  thus  pictures  his  lost  daughter:  "Young  as  she  was 
she  seemed  to  be  the  seal  and  connecting  bond  of  the  whole  family. 
Her  voice,  her  smile,  her  animated,  graceful,  movements,  her  count- 
less little  acts  and  expressions  of  kindness  and  love,  those  '  small, 
sweet  courtesies  of  life'  which  she  was  so  continually  rendering  to 
all  around  her  with  such  exquisite  grace  of  manner,  had  made  her 
necessary  to  the  individual  happiness  of  every  member  of  the  house- 
hold. When  she  was  lost  to  us,  it  was  as  if  the  key-stone  of  the 
arch  had  been  removed.  There  was  a  healthfulness  in  the  glow  of 
her  fresh  and  young  affections  which  animated  the  rigid  nerves  of 
age,  and  a  pleasantness  and  beauty  in  the  play  of  her  innocent 
thoughts  and  feelings  which  could  smooth  the  brow  of  care  and  light 
up  a  smile  even  in  the  face  of  sorrow.  To  me  she  was  not  only  the 
companion  of  my  studies,  but  the  -sweetener  of  my  toils.  The  painter, 
it  is  said,  relieved  his  aching  eyes  by  looking  on  a  curtain  of  green. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAXE    CHASE.  255 

My  mind,  in  its  hour  of  deepest  fatigue,  required  no  other  refresh- 
ment than  the  one  glance  at  my  beloved  child  as  she  sat  beside  me." 
Almost  infinite  seems  the  divisibility  of  love,  even  in  the  order 
known  as  finite.  The  father  of  Agnes  almost  reproached  himself* 
for  his  devotion  to  her  memory  when  he  looked  on  her  surviving 
mother  and  his  yet  "remaining  circle  of  affectionate  children." 
After  all,  perhaps,  what  he  gave  to  Agnes  was  no  real  robbery  of 
the  surviving  members  of  his  household,  though  it  seems  quite 
certain  that  her  loss  aged  him  very  quickly,  even  when  occurrences 
might  have  disposed  him  to  cry  out  with  Hamlet: 

"  Hold,  hold,  my  heart, 
And  you,  my  sinews,  grow  not  instant  old, 
But  bear  me  stiffly  up." 

According  to  "  the  Burr  School  "  and  some  other  schools,  it  is 
weakness  to  mourn  and  wisdom  to  enjoy.  But,  perhaps,  one  may 
find  means  to  justify  the  doctrine  that  the  author  of  the  poem  which 
relates  the  ill  effects  of  Helen's  beauty,  understood  true  courage 
quite  as  well  as  Aaron  Burr.  How  beautifully  Lessing  shows  that 
old  Greek's  fine  philosophy  of  feeling  !  Having  pointed  out  the 
tendency  of  modern  European  manners  to  refine  away  emotion  or 
conceal  it,  and  referred  back  to  the  old  barbaric  days  in  Europe — 
how  extremes  will  meet! — which  were  illustrated  in  the  command  of 
Palnatoko  to  fear  nothing  and  not  even  to  name  the  word  fear,  he 
says  :  "  Not  so  the  Greek  !  He  felt  and  feared  !  He  gave  outward 
indication  of  his  pains  and  of  his  trouble;  he  was  ashamed  of  none  of 
the  human  weaknesses,  only  none  of  them  must  keep  him  back  on 
the  way  to  honor,  or  from  the  performance  of  his  duty.  When 
Homer  leads  the  Trojans  to  battle  with  wild  cries,  the  Greeks  on  the 
contrary,  in  determined  stillness ;  thereupon,  the  annotators  very 
well  remark  that  the  poet  thereby  means  to  paint  those  as  barbarians, 
these  as  mannered  people.  I  wonder  that  they  have  not  remarked 
in  another  passage  a  like  characteristic  contrast. 

"  The  hostile  armies  have  struck  a  truce.  They  are  busied  with 
the  burning  of  their  dead,  which  on  both  parts  goes  not  off  without 
tears.  But  Priam  forbids  his  Trojans  to  weep.  He  forbids  them 
t;>  weep,  says  Dacier,  because  he  apprehends  that  they  may  too  much 
weaken  themselves,  and  on  the  morrow  go  with  less  courage  to  the 
conflict.  Well;  but  I  ask,  Why  must  Priam  only  apprehend  this? 
Why  does  not  Agamemnon  also  publish  to  his  Greeks  the  same 
interdict?     The  true  meaning  of  the  poet   goes  deeper.     He  will 


256  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

teach  us  that  only  the  civilized  Greek  can  at  once  weep  and  be  brave, 
while  the  uncivilized  Trojan,  in  order  to  be  full  of  courage,  must 
first  smother  all  humanity." 

In  vain  does  Parton's  facile  but  too  often  superficial  pen  exert 
itself  to  paint  the  stoicism  of  his  hero  as  if  it  had  something  in  it 
less  repugnant  than  a  studiedly  ignoble  selfishness.  Aaron  Burr,  in 
spite  of  antecedents,  was  a  born  barbarian,  and  all  his  education 
(unintentionally  I  concede)  but  tended  to  make  him  an  accomplished 
and  resolved  barbarian. 

I  say  all  these  things  by  way  of  introduction — let  me  say  of 
mournful  prelude — to  the  showing  that  I  am  about  to  make  of 
Chase's  conduct  under  the  supreme  affliction  of  his  private  life. 

He,  like  Wirt,  abhorred  the  doctrine — so  abhorrent  to  each  Christian 
heart — that  it  is  weakness  to  mourn  and  wisdom  to  enjoy.  He  knew 
that  it  is  often  wisdom  to  mourn  and  weakness  to  enjoy.  He  knew 
that  sorrow  can  Avork  wonders  quite  impossible  to  joy.  He  knew 
that  life  itself  is  one  long  sorrow  with  reliefs  of  pleasure. 

I  have  quoted  a  diary  especially  devoted  to  the  memory  of  his 
first  great  sorrow.  Here  is  another  passage  that  seems  fit  to  be 
presented  here : 

"I  did  not  go  to  court  in  the  morning.  I  walked  down  to  my 
office,  however,  and  mentioned  the  birth  of  my  babe  to  Mr.  Caswell, 
whom  I  overtook  on  the  way.  At  night,  about  half  past  nine  or  ten, 
Kitty  suddenly  became  delirious.  I  had  gone  up  stairs  to  bed;  but, 
hearing  something  unusual  below,  I  hastened  down  stairs,  and  found 
my  dear  wife  talking  incoherently.  I  ran  for  the  doctor,  who  soon 
came,  and,  having  ascertained  her  condition,  requested  a  consulta- 
tion. Her  father  and  I  objected,  fearing  to  alarm  her.  The  doctor 
observed  that  he  was  satisfied  as  to  the  nature  of  the  attack,  and  as 
to  the  course  to  be  prescribed  ;  but  that  he  had  proposed  a  consul- 
tation in  deference  to  our  feelings.  I  told  him,  if  he  was  satisfied,  to 
go  on.  I  was  greatly  alarmed,  and  trembled  violently.  He  said  he 
thought  he  ought  to  bleed.  He  went  home  and  procured  his  lancet, 
but  when  he  returned  the  delirium  had  passed  off. 

"  At  this  time,  or  before,  I  went  to  the  bedside  and  asked  Kitty 
if  she  would  like  to  have  another  physician.  She  replied,  'No,'  say- 
ing that  she  had  the  greatest  confidence  in  Dr.  Colhy,  and  when  I 
urged  it  farther  she  said,  '  Do  n't  you  talk  so,  you  will  hurt  his  feel- 
ings.' Her  father  then  interposed,  saying  that  the  doctor  had  him- 
self proposed  it,  and  I,  fearing  lest,  if  she  knew  that  the  proposition 
had  emanated  from  the  doctor,  that  she  might  be  inj-uriously  alarmed, 
dropped  the  subject.  I  followed  the  doctor  out  of  the  room,  however, 
and,  as  he  went  down  stairs,  said  to  him  that,  as  Kitty  did  not  seem 
to  be  alarmed  by  the  idea  of  having  another  physician,  I  would  go 
for  Dr.  Eberle  if  he  still  thought  it  expedient.     He  thought  it  unnec- 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  257 

essary,  and  I  did  not  go.  After  the  delirium  passed  off,  the  doctor 
concluded  not  to  bleed  her.  After  charging  the  nurse  to  call  me  if 
any  thing  should  happen,  I  went  to  hed  again. 

"  When  I  went  un  stairs,  I  knelt  down  and  earnestly  implored  God 
to  spare  the  life  of  my  dear  wife;  to  give  wisdom  to  the  physician, 
and  efficacy  to  his  remedies  ;  and  especially  to  prepare  her  for  all  His 
holy  will.     Nothing  farther  occurred  that  night." 

I  must  omit  much  other  matter,  the  presentation  of  which  affected 
delicacy  might  condemn.  The  next  sentences  to  which  I  think 
proper  to  invite  attention  read  as  follows: 

"It  was  on  the  evening  of  this  day,  I  think,1  that  a  serious  con- 
troversy took  place  about  the  name  of  the  child.  I  wished  to  have 
it  called  Catherine  Jane,  after  its  mother.  Kitty  wished  to  have  it 
called  Amelia  Catherine  or  Amelia  Janette,  after  its  two  grand- 
mothers. Mrs.  Grarntss  wanted  to  have  it  named  after  herself.  1 
felt  thoroughly  disinclined  to  this,  but  was  willing  that  it  should  be 
called  Catherine  Amelia ;  and  this,  indeed,  was  the  name  we  had 
agreed  upon  before  its  birth.  Mrs.  G.  then  said  that  she  did  n't  care 
how  it  was  called — that  she  would  not  take  any  more  notice  of  it, 
and  a  great  deal  of  the  same  import,  and  in  the  same  temper.  I 
made  no  reply,  but  felt  much  displeased." 

Under  date  November  19th,  are  the  words  : 

"I  remember  very  little  of  Kitty's  appearance  this  day,  but  she 
seemed  much  improved." 

The  next  day,  Friday,  has  this  record  : 

"  Kitty  seemed  to  be  getting  better  to-day,  also,  quite  fast ;  so 
much,  that,  in  a  conversation  with  the  president  and  cashier  of  the 
Lafayette  Bank,  I  expressed  a  willingness  to  go  to  Philadelphia  on 
the  business  of  the  bank  should  there  be  nothing  at  home  to  prevent 
it.  At  noon,  I  went  home  and  suggested  the  possibility  of  my  being 
sent  to  Philadelphia.  Kitty  seemed  pleased  with  the  idea  of  my 
going,  and,  on  my  remarking  that  probably  I  should  not  get  any 
compensation  for  going,  she  observed,  '  but  you  will  get  reputation 
by  it.' 

L-  Shortly  after  this  she  spoke  to  me  about  naming  the  child.  I 
told  her  that  I  should  leave  it  entirely  to  her.  She  said,  'No,  it 
rested  with  me.  The  name  should  be  as  I  pleased.'  '  Well,'  I  replied, 
'it  shall  be  as  you  have  said.'  She  wished  me  to  have  the  name  of 
Amelia  Janette  placed  on  the  child's  bracelets.  I  tried  to  evade  a 
promise  ;  but  she  insisted  on  it,  saying  that  if  I  promised  I  should 
be  sure  to  do  it.  At  length  1  promised,  and,  immediately  on  going 
out  after  dinner,  went  to  the  jeweler.  Mr.  MeGrew's,  and  gave  him 
the  proper  directions.  By  some  accident,  however,  the  jeweler  did 
not  execute  my  order;  and  my  dear  Kitty,  seeing  the  bracelets  re- 


1  November  18. 


258  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

turned  unmarked,  never  knew  that  I  had  complied  with  her  request. 
I  did  not  see  my  Kitty  again  till  I  came  home  to  tea,  having 
been  engaged  all  the  afternoon,  arguing  a  cause  at  court." 

Under  date  Xovember  21,  I  find: 

"On  going  to  the  bank  this  morning,  the  cashier  inquired  of  me 
if  I  had  concluded  to  go  to  Philadelphia.  I  replied  that  I  had,  if  it 
was  desired.  He  said  that  it  was  urgently  desired.  I  then  went 
immediately  home,  and  found  the  doctor  in  my  wife's  room.  I  asked 
him  if  it  was  safe  and  prudent  for  me  to  go.  He  said  that  it  was. 
I  asked  him  if  there  was  no  danger  that  something  might  go  wrong 
in  my  absence.  He  said  he  could  not  say  there  was  no  danger;  but 
there  was  no  probability  of  any  thing  amiss.  I  then  turned  to  Kitty. 
She  did  not  seem  as  bright  as  yesterday.  She  had  taken  morphine 
the  previous  evening.  I  had  a  vague  idea  that  she  did  not  wish  me 
to  go.  I  expressed  it.  'Yes,'  said  she,  'I  do  want  you  to  go.' 
'  Kitty  do  n't  want  me  to  go,'  said  I  to  her  mother.  '  Yes,  she  does,' 
was  the  reply.  I  then  concluded  to  go,  but  reluctantly.  Kitty 
seemed  to  take  an  interest  in  the  preparations  for  my  departure. 
She  told  me  to  clothe  myself  warm — to  take  my  overshoes — not  to 
ride  over  the  inclined  plane,  etc.  It  was  near  four  in  the  afternoon 
when  I  kissed  her,  and  bade  her  farewell.  Little  did  I  dream  that 
it  was  for  the  last  time  !  " 

Saturday,  Xovember  22d,  yields  this  entry: 

"  Came  on  the  '  Philadelphia'  with  the  intention  of  going  to  Phila- 
delphia. The  P.  is  a  boat  of  the  middling  class,  with  an  upper  cabin. 
A  large  number  of  passengers  (about  forty)  were  already  on  board. 
and  I  had  some  difficulty  in  procuring  a  berth.  I  secured  one,  how- 
ever, but  it  was  near  the  wheel.  The  passengers  were  nearl}*  all 
strangers  to  me,  but  I  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Lytle  to  Mr.  Greene, 
of  Richmond,  and  Mr.  Bainbridge,  of  Louisville.  We  left  the  land- 
ing at  Cincinnati  about  six  o'clock.  It  was  twilight,  then,  and  twi- 
light soon  deepened  into  darkness,  relieved  by  a  faint  starlight.  The 
weather  was  cold  and  cheerless,  and  I  was  faiu  to  remain  in  the  cabin 
and  while  away  the  time  by  reading,  and  by  a  game  of  chequers 
with  Mr.  B.,  of  Portsmouth.  My  antagonist  was  easily  vanquished 
at  the  first  evng,  (?)  and  did  not  seem  disposed  to  renew  the  contest 

"  Mr.  B.  had  been  visiting  Cincinnati,  and  had  been  introduced 
into  the  family  of  Mr.  Moore.  He  was  pleased  with  the  young 
ladies.  I  rallied  him  on  his  state  of  unblest  singleness.  He  con- 
fessed that  he  did  not  find  much  pleasure  in  it.  and  expressed  a  firm 
determination  to  wed  before  spring.      He   said  that  he  had  lately 

journeyed  from  Cincinnati  to  Portsmouth  with  Mrs.  A .  of  whom 

he  spoke  in  such   terms  that   I  was    induced  to  tell  him  that  I  had 

heard  authentically  that  the  fair  lady  was  engaged  to  Mr.  M ,  of 

Cincinnati.  He  received  the  intelligence  with  absolute  consternation, 
and  could  not  be  persuaded  that  the  report  was  correct.  He  left  the 
boat  at  Portsmouth. 

"  About  nine,  I  sought  my  berth,  and,  except  that   the  jar  of  the 


OF    SALMON    TOETLAND    CHASE.  259 

wheels  and  noise  of  stopping,  etc.,  frequently  disturbed  me,  passed 
a  comfortable  night." 

The  next  entry  reads  as  follows: 

"Sunday,  November  23.  I  rose  early  this  morning,  and,  to  my 
surprise,  found  the  guards  of  the  boat  and  the  banks  of  the  river 
covered  with  snow.  The  atmosphere  was  still  charged  with  mingled 
rain  and  snow.  I  was  obliged,  with  the  rest  of  the  passengers,  to 
perform  my  ablutions  in  the  open  air,  and  to  use  the  common  towel. 
I  evaded  the  disagreeableness  of  the  latter  necessity,  however,  by 
seizing  my  opportunity,  when  the  first  towel,  being  completely 
blackened,  was  removed  and  another  substituted  in  its  place.  Early 
in  the  morning  I  took  my  Bible  and  a  couple  of  volumes  of  Dick's 
works  from  my  trunk.  At  first,  fear  of  ridicule  had  nearly  induced 
me  not  to  take  out  my  Bible.  I  did  not,  however,  yield  to  this  un- 
worthy feeling,  and,  in  the  course  of  the  day,  had  the  pleasure,  not 
only  of  using  my  Bible  1113-self,  but  of  seeing  it  much  used  br- 
others."' 

A  clean-minded  man  is  apt  to  be  a  clean-bodied  man.  I  look 
upon  the  revelations  of  this  little  entry  as  quite  precious.  I  should 
say,  however,  that  the  entry  itself  was  made  before  the  entries  re- 
hearsing the  story  of  the  wife's  illness  and  the  birth  of  the  child. 

The  next  of  the  last-mentioned  entries  reads  as  follows : 

"Sunday,  November  22.  There  was  a  violent  snow  storm  to-day. 
Mr.  Garniss  wrote  to  me  that  Kitty  was  better,  and  that  the  babe 
was  well.     She  continued  to  drink  the  porter." 

Thursday,  November  24,  has  this  record : 

"  The  nurse  says  Kitty  continued  to  improve.  She  was  not,  how- 
ever, very  lively;  nor  did  she,  at  any  time  during  her  illness,  man- 
ifest much  disposition  to  have  her  babe  with  her,  though  she  ex- 
pressed the  liveliest  concern  about  every  thing  relating  to  its  wel- 
fare.    She  continued  to  drink  the  porter." 

Then  the  record  goes  on  in  this  fashion  : 

;-  Wednesday,  November  25.  Kitty  still  continued  to  mend  slowly. 
She  continued  to  take  the  porter. 

'Thursday.  November  26.  To-day  Kitty  complained  of  a  pain  in 
her  ear  and  of  deafness,  or,  rather,  of  a  slight  difficulty  in  hearing. 
The  doctor  syringed  her  car.  Mr.  Garniss  wrote  me  that  her  health 
continued  to  improve,  but  that  her  spirits  were  rather  low.  She 
continued  to  take  porter. 

"  Friday,  November  27.     Kittjr  commenced  taking  quinine  pills 
to-day,  and  kept  on  drinking  porter.     She  began  also  to  eat  the  soft 
parts  of  oysters  as  well  as  to  take  oyster  soup.     She  took  very  little, 
however,  of  any  thing,  for  her  appetite  was  poor. 
18 


260  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"  Saturday,  November  28.  The  same  course  of  medical  treatment 
and  diet  continued  to-day.  In  the  evening,  she  sat  up  for  some 
time." 

The  next  entry  is,  in  part,  unfit,  according  to  received  aesthetic 
views,  for  presentation  to  readers ;  but  every  word  is  instinct  with 
the  proper  feeling  on  the  part  of  him  from  whose  heavily  afflicted 
pen  it  emanated.  Real  delicacy  would  receive  each  syllable  of  it ; 
the  canons  of  true  art  in  biographic  writing  would  completely  sanc- 
tion full  presentation  of  its  contents.  But  the  time  has  not  yet  come 
for  full  respect  to  those  true  laws  of  biographic  writing.  Here  is  all 
I  dare  to  offer: 

"  Sunday,  November  29.  This  morning  Mrs.  Garniss  came  into 
the  room,  and  wished  Kitty  to  get  up,  but  she  did  not  feel  very 
well,  and  was  disinclined  to  rise.  Her  nurse  told  her  if  she  did  not 
feel  as  if  she  wanted  to  get  up  to  lie  still — there  was  no  need  of  her 
getting  up.  About  noon  she  expressed  a  wish  to  rise,  and  the  nurse 
assisted  her  out  of  bed  into  her  chair.  She  leaned  back  in  the  chair 
as  usual,  and  so  remained  till  after  dinner.  At  dinner,  two  or  three 
oysters  and  a  small  piece  of  boiled  turkey  was1  sent  up  to  her.  She 
ate  the  soft  parts  of  the  03'sters,  and,  as  the  nurse  says,  a  part  of 
the  turkey.     Two  little  bits  of  turke}^  remained,  which  the  nurse 

urged  her  to  eat,  and  she  did  take  them A  little  while 

after  this,  she  was  put  back  into  bed,  and  the  nurse  observes  that 
she  then  noticed  that  she  seemed  more  helpless  than  she  had  before 
— that  she  did  not  help  herself  so  well.  But  all  this  seems  to  have 
passed  without  farther  attention.  Toward  evening  Mrs.  MeCandless 
and  Mrs.  Emerson  came  in.  She  said  she  felt  cold — a  kind  of  crawl- 
ing sensation,  and  asked  that  the  bed  clothes  might  be  put  close 
around  her  neck.  This  was  done  and  she  seemed  comfortable  and 
conversed  with  them.  In  the  evening  she  was  up  again  and  was 
sitting  up,  reclining  back  in  the  chair." 

The  remainder  of  the  record  goes  on  in  part  as  follows: 

"  Monday,  November  30.  .  .  .  It  was  now  morning,  and  Eliza, 
one  of  the  servants,  came  into  the  room.  She  told  her  to  call  her 
mother:  When  her  mother  came  she  told  her  to  send  her  father 
for  the  doctor,  for  she  was  very  sick.  Her  mother  did  so  immedi- 
ately and  then  asked  her  why  she  had  not  sent  for  her.  She  ans- 
wered, 'She  would  n't  let  me.'  The  doctor  soon  came.  .  .  About 
eleven  o'clock  the  doctor  came  in  again.  The  nurse  said  that  Kitty 
was  doing  very  well,  and,  as  she  had  not  slept  any  during  the  night, 
the  doctor  did  not  disturb  her.  About  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
Mrs.  Grarniss,  who  had  been  very  much  alarmed  by  Kitty's  unusual 
manner  of  breathing,  sent  for  Mrs.  Colby,  notwithstanding  the  assur- 


1  So  in  the  original. 


OF    SALMON  PORTLAND    CHASE.  261 

ances  of  the  nurse  that  all  was  well.  As  soon  as  Mrs.  Colby  came 
she  said  that  Kitty  was  very  sick,  and  went  home  and  sent  the 
doctor  over.  AVhen  he  came  he  also  pronounced  her  to  be  very  ill, 
and  requested  a  consultation.  Her  father  proposed  to  send  for  Dr. 
Drake,  who  was  accordingly  summoned  immediately.  Before  he  had 
arrived,  Dr.  Colby  had  made  preparations  for  bleeding  her,  thinking 
immediate  bloodletting  necessary,  and  that  a  high  state  of  peritoneal 
inflammation  existed.  Dr.  Drake  concurred,  and  they  proceeded  to 
bleed.  When  six  or  eight  ounces  of  blood  had  been  abstracted.  Dr. 
Colby,  thinking  that  she  had  been  bled  as  much  as  her  constitution 
would  bear,  and  becoming  satisfied  also,  from  the  effects  of  the  bleed- 
ing, that  the  high  state  of  inflammation  supposed  did  not  exist,  ar- 
rested the  flow  of  blood.  Dr.  Drake  was  much  dissatisfied,  and  in- 
sisted on  a  more  copious  bleeding.  The  bandage  was  accordingly 
removed,  and  more  blood  was  taken.  It  was  then  replaced.  Dr. 
Drake  still  remained  dissatisfied,  urging  that  it  was  necessary  to 
bleed  to  fainting.  He  rejiresented  the  difference  of  opinion  to  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Garniss,  and  spoke  of  leaving  the  house.  Mr.  Garniss  en- 
treated him  not  to  do  so.  He  then  suggested  that  another  physician 
should  be  sent  for,  and  suggested  Dr.  Marshall.  Mr.  Garniss  ob- 
jected to  him.  He  then  proposed  Dr.  Eichards.  This  was  acceded 
to,  and  Dr.  Drake  went  for  Dr.  Eichards  himself.  When  they  came, 
both  soon  agreed  as  to  the  necessity  of  bleeding,  and  she  was  again 
bled,  contrary  to  Dr.  Colb}r's  opinion  and  wish.  Forty  grains  of 
calomel  were  then  administered.  Thirty  ounces  of  blood  had  been 
taken.  Still  Drs.  Drake  and  Eichards  were  not  satisfied;  they 
thought  further  bleeding  necessary,  but  postponed  it  till  morning. 
While  this  bleeding  was  going  on,  Drs.  Drake  and  Colby  each 
counted  Kitty's  pulse — the  latter  rej^eatedly.  Dr.  Drake  affirmed 
that  the  pulse  was  diminished  in  frequency  from  one  hundred  and 
forty-five  to  one  hundred  and  twenty,  and  Dr.  Colby  was  equally 
confident  that  it  was  accelerated  from  one  hundred  and  forty-five  to 
one  hundred  and  seventy.  Drs.  Drake  and  Colb}'  remained  in  the 
house  all  night,  and  Dr.  Colby,  fearing  the  result  of  the  bleeding,  and. 
still  more,  the  consequence  of  a  repetition  of  it,  exerted  himself  to 
prevent  any  opinion  of  its  necessity.  Warm  fomentations  and  warm 
drinks  were  copiously  used.  Kitty  was  thrown  into  a  profuse  per- 
spiration, which  continued  through  the  night,  and  in  the  morning  all 
her  symptoms  were  better.     .     .     . 

"Tuesday,  December  1.  Such  was  her  condition  on  the  morning 
of  this  unhappy  day.  There  was  a  fair  prospect  of  recovery.  All 
the  symptoms  boded  well.  But  Drs.  Drake  and  Eichards  were  of 
opinion  that  she  had  not  been  bled  sufficiently,  and  that  the  disease 
was  not  subdued.  They,  accordingl}T  recommended  further  bleed- 
ing. Dr.  Colby  opposed  it,  saying  that  all  her  symptoms  were  im- 
proved, and  the}' ought  to  watch  the  result.  The  other  physicians 
insisted,  however.  Dr.  Colby  then  urgently  recommended  that  Dr. 
Eberle1  should  be  sent  for.  Mr.  Garniss  went  for  him,  and  returned 
with  him.     On  the  way,  he  told  him  that  Kitty  was  suffering  from 


1  One  of  the  most  eminent  obstetricians  in  the  city. 


262  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

a  violent  inflammation.  Dr.  Eberle  remarked  that  such  inflamma- 
tion rarely,  if  ever,  occurred  so  late  after  confinement.  When  ho 
arrived,  Drs.  Drake  and  Richards  stated  their  view  to  him,  and  Dr. 
Colby  stated  his.  He  concurred  with  the  majority,  and  further 
bleeding  was,  consequently,  resolved  upon.  It  was  anticipated  that 
the  effect  would  be  to  reduce  the  frequency  of  the  pulse  and  augment 
its  volume.  Kitty  was  told  that  the  doctors  thought  of  bleeding  her 
again,  and  was  asked  if  she  was  willing.  She  said  '  Yes,  any  thing.' 
She  was  then  raised  up  in  the  bed,  and  twenty  ounces  of  blood 
were  taken  from  her.  The  effect  upon  the  pulse  was  the  exact  con- 
trary of  what  was  anticipated.  It  became  more  frequent  and  more 
feeble.  But,  in  other  respects,  she  seemed  somewhat  easier.  The 
physicians  seemed  to  entertain  some  hope  of  her  recovery,  and 
agreed  upon  a  course  of  treatment  to  be  adopted. 

"Her  father  came  into  the  room,  exclaiming,  'Thank  God!  my 
child  !  the  doctors  say  there  is  hope.'  She  said  nothing.  All  hope 
soon  vanished.  Her  difficulty  of  respiration  returned.  It  was  not 
painful,  but  tiresome  and  wearying.  It  was  plain  that  she  was 
dying. 

"  Her  father  came  to  her  bedside  and  said  : 

"  '  My  daughter,  do  you  know  your  father?' 

"  :  Oh  !  yes,'  she  said,  '  I  know  my  father.' 

"  '  My  daughter,  do  you  know  that  you  are  dying?  ' 

"To  this,  her  father  says,  she  answered  'yes.'  Mrs.  Cope,  who 
was  also  at  the  bedside,  thinks  she  answered  '  no.' 

"  '  My  daughter,  have  you  thought  of  Cod  ?  ' 

"  '  Oh  !  yes,'  she  answered,  '  long  and  seriously.' 

"'Are  you  willing  to  die,  m}^  daughter?' 

"  She  faintly  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and  seemed  to  sink,  to 
sink,1  to  sleep.  Dr.  Drake  felt  her  pulse,  and  said  that  she  was 
dead. 

"  '  My  daughter!'  exclaimed  her  father.  She  partly  opened  her 
eyes,  and  then  closed  them  again,  forever.  Those  who  were  near 
her  during  those  two  last  awful  days,  say  that  her  whole  demeanor 
was  inexpressibly  sweet  and  gentle.  Her  faculties  were  unclouded. 
Her  complexion  was  clear.  Her  eyes  were  larger  and  more  lustrous 
than  usual,  and  her  whole  countenance  was  illumined  by  an  almost 
celestial  radiance.  She  passed  away  almost  insensibly — without  a 
struggle — without  even  a  sigh. 

"I  was  far  away.  At  the  moment  of  her  death,  I  was  in  Phila- 
delphia, thinking  of  her,  I  believe,  but  little  dreaming  of  her  situa- 
tion. The  next  morning  I  left  Philadelphia  on  my  return  home; 
arrived  in  Baltimore  the  same  day.  Visited  several  of  my  friends 
in  the  evening,  and,  early,  on  the  following  morning,  Wednesday, 
continued  my  journey  homeward.  My  whole  soul  was  occupied  by 
the  idea  of  reaching  home,  and  receiving  the  welcome  embrace  of 
my  dear  wife.  From  Baltimore  we  traveled  day  and  night,  and 
readied  Wheeling  about  midnight  between  Saturday  and  Sunday. 

"Sunday  morning,  the  'Leonidas'  came  down  from  Pittsburg,  and 


1  So  in  the  original. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  263 

I.  fearing  the  river  would  be  frozen  over,  resolved  to  proccd  in  her 
without  delay.  Before  leaving  the  hotel,  however,  I  sent  a  servant 
to  the  post-office,  who  brought  me  three  letters — one  from  her  father, 
dated  Thursday,  the  26th  November,  stating  that  Kitty's  health  was 
improving,  but  that  her  spirits  were  low  ;  another  from  Mr.  McCand- 
less,  dated  Monday.  11  o'clock,  P.  M.,  stating  the  sudden  and  alarm- 
ing accession  of  disease  ;  and  another,  dated  the  next  day.  announc- 
ing the  fatal  termination. 

"  My  cup  of  anticipated  enjoyment  was  thus  dashed  suddenly  from 
my  lips,  and  I  was  made  to  drink  the  dregs  of  sorrow. 

•■  I  went  immediately  on  board  the  steamboat.  On  Tuesday  night, 
about  twelve  o'clock,  we  arrived  at  Cincinnati.  I  hurried  up  to  the 
house,  hoping,  even  against  hope.  The  black  crape  at  the  door  an- 
nounced that  death  was  within.  I  felt  afraid  to  disturb  her  parents, 
and  determined  to  return  to  the  boat.  I  walked  several  squares 
through  the  silent  streets.  I  returned,  passed  the  house,  and  went 
to  Dr.  Colby's.  I  roused  them,  and  went  in,  and  made  some  in- 
quiries about  Kitty  and  about  the  family.  I  then  went  over  to  the 
house.  After  some  time,  Mr.  Garniss  was  awakened,  and  opened 
the  door. 

"I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  my  meeting  with  him,  or  with  the 
broken-hearted  mother.  I  went  up  stairs.  There,  in  our  nuptial 
chamber,  in  her  coffin,  lay  my  sweet  wife.  'Lovely  in  death  the 
beauteous  ruin  lay.'  She  was  but  little  changed  in  features — but. 
oh  !  the  look  of  life  was  gone.  The  sweet  smile,  the  glance  of  affec- 
tion, the  expression,  the  mind,  was  gone.  Nothing  was  left  but 
clay. 

"  I  kneeled  before  her,  and  implored  God  to  restore  her  to  me. 
My  prayer  was  not  heard.  I  kissed  her  cold  lips.  They  returned 
no  pressure  as  they  were  wont.  I  pressed  her  cold,  but  still  noble, 
forehead.     She  was  dead. 

"From  this  time  till  Thursday  I  was  almost  continually  by  her 
dead  body.  It  was  a  mournful  satisfaction  even  thus  to  have  her 
near  me  ;  but  it  was  soon  to  end.  On  Thursday  we  committed  her 
bod}-  to  the  tomb.  Since  then  I  have  visited  her  grave  every  day 
except  twice,  when  circumstances  which  I  could  not  control,  pre- 
vented. She  lies,  for  the  present,  in  the  family  vault  of  Geo.  Y\\ 
Jones,  Esq.,  but  we  shall  build  one  for  her  (and  for  ourselves  when 
we  may  be  summoned  to  join  her)  in  the  spring." 

Lessing  paints  a  work  of  ancient  art,  figuring  a  winged  youth, 
who  stands,  in  deeply  pensive  attitude,  the  left  foot  thrown  across 
the  right,  beside  a  corpse,  with  his  right  hand  and  his  head  resting 
upon  a  reversed  torch,  which  is  supported  upon  the  breast  of  the 
dead,  and  in  his  left  hand,  which  reaches  round  the  torch,  holds  a 
wreath  with  a  butterfly.  This  figure,  says  Belleri,1  must  be  Love, 
who  extinguishes  the  torch — that  is,  the  Affections — upon  the  breast 

1  Admirandis,  tab.  Ixxix. 


264  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

of  the  dead  man.  "  Arid  I,"  says  Lessing,  "  I  say,  this  figure  is 
Death !  " x 

But  it  is  hard  to  figure  Death  as  Love.  And  we  shall  find  that 
all  the  piety  of  our  hero — all  his  deep  and  dark  religiousness,  if  I 
may  so  express  myself — did  not  enable  him  to  stifle  sorrow.  He 
inordinately  grieved  under  the  terrible  affliction  shown  in  the  pre- 
ceding narrative.  Indeed,  we  shall  find  something  very  morbid  for 
a  time  in  his  mourning — so  morbid  that,  if  I  could  escape  the  duty 
uow  to  be  performed,  I  would  be  more  relieved  than  I  can  intimate. 

This  is  not  a  poem — it  is  not  a  play.  It  is  a  Life.  The  views  of 
Schlegel2  and  others,  touching  the  artistic  handling  of  harsh  effects 
in  tragedy  can  not  govern  a  biography.  I  must  show  the  life  re- 
lated as  it  was;  the  character  portrayed  must  be  represented  truly. 
Not,  indeed,  severely — not  at  all. 

Before  proceeding  farther,  let  me  call  attention  to  one  of  the  vain 
efforts  made  to  console  this  heavy  mourner. 

The  following  letter  was  mailed  at  the  place  named  iu  the  date- 
line, on  the  day  of  the  date  : 

"  Philadelphia,  December  12,  1835. 

"My  Dear,  Dear  Friend  : — I  have  this  moment  taken  a  letter 
from  my  brother  George,  who  announces  with  great  feeling  and 
affection  for  you,  the  heavy  hand  of  God  that  has  been  laid  upon 
you.  With  my  whole  soul,  my  dear  friend,  do  I  sympathize  with 
you  at  this  most  afflicting  dispensation.  Blessed  be  God  that  you 
have  made  your  peace  with  him — and  can  go  to  his  throne  of  grace, 
and  there  pour  out  all  the  deep  feelings  of  your  soul.  Blessed  be 
God  that  you  feel  that  his  declarations  are  true  and  faithful — that 
troubles  do  not  spring  from  the  dust  nor  afflictions  from  the  ground — 
but  that  they  are  sent  from  him  for  all-wise  purposes — to  wean  our 
hearts  more  and  more  from  the  vain  things  of  this  world — and  to 
make  us  build  for  heaven.  What  is  wealth — what  is  fame — what 
are  all  the  honors  of  this  world  ?  The  grave,  with  superhuman  elo- 
quence, answers — nothing,  nothing. 

"  But,  my  dear,  dear  friend,  I  can  offer  you  no  consolation.  But, 
blessed  be  God,  that  we  have  an  advocate  with  the  Father — even 
-Jesus  Christ  the  Righteous — Him  who  was  touched  with  the  feelings 
of  our  infirmities.  My  most  fervent  prayer  to  God  is,  that  he  would 
sustain  you  at  this  most  trying  hour;  that  he  may  give  the  conso- 
lations of  His  holy  word,  which  are  neither  few  nor  small. 

"  Do  not,  I  entreat  you,  reflect  upon  yourself,  for  leaving  your 
dear  wife.  You  would  not  have  done  it,  unless  to  all  human  appear- 
ances there  was  perfect  safety  in  doing  so.    You  came  at  the  call  of 


1  Wie  die  Alien  den  Tod  gebildet.     Lessing's  gasamelte  Werke,  Erster  Band,  401. 

2  In  his   Vorlesungen  ueber  dramatishc  Kunsl  und  Literalur. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  265 

duty.  But  God  seeth  not  as  man  Beeth.  And  oh !  what  a  voice  issues 
even  from  the  very  grave  of  a  dearest  friend.  Our  light  afflictions, 
which  arc  but  for  a  moment,  will  work  out  for  us  a  far  more  ex- 
ceeding and  eternal  weight  of  glory. 

"My  dear  Alison  joins  with  me  in  the  deepest  sympathy.  Your 
loss  is  our  only  theme.  But  'be  still,  and  know  that  it  is  God.' 
The  struggles  of  this  delusive  world  will  soon  he  over  with  us  all; 
then,  if  we  have  made  our  peace  with  God,  we  shall  join  our  dear 
Christian  friends,  who  have  gone  before  us,  and  be  forever  together, 
where  friends  no  more  go  out,  and  foes  no  more  come  in. 

"  With  feelings  of  deepest  sympathy  I  am,  dear  friend,  yours  in 
the  bonds  of  friendship,  and  the  bonds  of  the  Gospel  of  Peace. 

"CHARLES  D.  CLEVELAND." 

The  next  entry  in  the  register  so  often  cited  reads  as  follows  : 

"December  25,  [1835.]  I  rose  at  my  usual  hour  this  morning. 
One  thought  filled  my  mind,  one  emotion  occupied  m}T  whole  soul  : 
my  great,  my  irreparable  loss;  my  wife,  my  dear  wife,  gone,  never 
to  return.  Oh  !  how  I  accused  myself  of  folly  and  weakness  in 
leaving  her  when  yet  sick ;  how  I  mourned  that  the  prospect  of  a 
little  addition  to  my  reputation,  a  little  pecuniary  compensation, 
should  have  tempted  me  away  from  her  at  a  time  of  such  interest. 
Yet  every  one  told  me  that  there  was  no  danger,  the  doctor  and  the 
nurse.  She  and  her  father  and  mother  seemed  desirous  that  I  should 
go;  I  went,  alas!  I  took  my  last  leave  of  my  precious  wife,  I  im- 
printed my  last  kiss  on  her  conscious  lips ;  she  was  dead  ere  I  re- 
turned. 

"After  dressing  and  offering  my  morning  devotions,  I  went  down 
stairs  to  breakfast.  Before  breakfast,  I  prayed  with  my  father  and 
mother-in-law.  We  three  breakfasted.  After  breakfast,  I  read 
awhile,  then  went  to  my  office,  where  I  saw  Mr.  Wiggins,  and 
held  some  conversation  with  him  on  business — about  Hey's  bill  to 
foreclose  mortgage  on  the  leasehold  interest  of  Dawson,  in  premises 
belonging  to  G-.  &  W.,  on  Water  Street,  about  debts  due  from  Wil- 
liams1 estate,  and  about  pa}Tment  for  stock  lately  purchased  by  him 
for  G.  and  myself,  in  New  York.  After  Mr.  W.  left  the  office,  I 
went  home,  and  from  thence  to  church. 

■While  in  the  house  of  God,  I  endeavored  to  fix  my  thoughts  on 
the  solemn  service,  and  pra3Ted  for  strength  so  to  do  ;  but  I  was  sit- 
ting in  the  same  place,  joining  in  the  same  service,  and  listening  to  the 
same  hymns  as  a  year  ago,  when  my  dear  wife  was  with  me.  I  saw 
the  wife  of  the  clergyman,  who  was  not  a  professor  of  religiou,  go 
forward  to  receive  the  sacraments,  and  I  thought  how  I  had  antici- 
pated the  pleasure  of  seeing  my  dear  wife  do  the  same.  How  myste- 
rious are  his  ways  who  ordereth  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his 
own  will !  My  wife  was  cut  off  without  the  opportunity  of  publicly 
testifying  her  faith  in  Christ,  though  not,  I  trust,  without  such  faith. 

"I  kneeled  at  the  Lord's  table,  and  renewed  my  vows  of  love  and 
obedience.     Oh!  for  grace  to  enable  me  to  keep  them. 

"After  the  communion,  I  returned  home  to  wee])  and  mourn.  I 
went  to  my  chamber,  whither,  a  year  ago,  I  had  returned  with  the 
partner  of  my  bosom,  and  could  not  restrain  my  feeling 


266  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"After  awhile,  I  went  down  to  dinner.  I  then  came  up  again, 
and  again  surrendered  myself  to  grief.  At  length,  I  calmed  my- 
self and  wTalked  out.  I  went  to  the  vault  which  contains  the  mortal 
part  of  my  dear  departed  one.  I  prayed  for  grace  to  sustain  me 
under  my  bereavement.  I  came  home.  I  had  hardly  exchanged  my 
boots  for  my  slippers  when  Mr.  Read,  the  Prosecuting  Attorney, 
came  in.  He  informed  me  that  Maguire,  a  man  who  was  shot  on  the 
21st  by  a  man  named  Gedne}^,  who,  having  been  committed  for  the 
crime  of  shooting  with  intent  to  kill,  was  let  to  bail  in  §1,000 — that 
Maguire  was  dying,  and  suggested  a  new  warrant  for  the  appre- 
hension of  G.  I  advised  against  this  course  until  the  event  in  regard 
to  Maguire  should  be  ascertained,  and  proposed  to  go  and  see.  He 
assented,  and  we  went  together.  We  found  that  Maguire  was  dead, 
and  immediately  sent  for  a  magistrate.  Two,  Wing  and  Wiseman, 
refused  to  issue  a  new  warrant.  Harrison,  however,  issued  it,  and 
committed  him  to  prison.  I  conceived  a  higher  estimate  of  Read's 
character  this  evening  than  I  had  previously  held.  He  talked  to  me 
of  the  loss  of  his  two  children  last  summer,  and  of  the  dangerous 
illness  of  his  wife,  and  seemed  to  entertain  very  correct  and  even 
religious  views.  After  leaving  the  magistrate's  office,  I  came  home, 
and  after  prayer  with  the  family  came  to  my  lonely  room.  I  have 
now  no  wife  to  whom  I  can  narrate  any  incident  that  concerns  or 
interests  me." 

Then  we  have  this  record : 

"December  26.  I  rose  this  morning  at  my  usual  hour  with  the 
one  engrossing  thought  in  possession  of  my  soul — my  loneliness,  my 
utter  desolation.  After  reading  the  Bible,  the  3d  chapter  first  epistle 
of  John,  and  praying  in  my  room,  I  went  down  stairs  and  read  the 
Bible,  and  prayed  with  the  family.  I  then  breakfasted,  and  went  to 
my  office.  I  spent  the  morning  in  preparing  an  answer  in  Chancery 
for  Messrs.  G.  &  W.,  and  in  fruitless  attempts  to  prepare  an  argu- 
ment for  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  G.  handed 
me  Mr.  Wiggins'  receipts  for  $10,050.  I  came  home  to  dinner,  re- 
turned to  my  office;  accomplished  nothing;  visited  the  resting-place 
of  ray  dear  wife;  every  thing  was  still,  except  the  clamors  of  two 
or  three  dogs.  Came  home,  took  tea,  had  a  very  long  conversation 
with  my  mother-in-law  about  Kitty.  Mrs.  G.  thinks  that  Dr.  C.  did 
not  act  with  sufficient  efficacy;  that  he  was  not  explicit  enough  with 
the  family;  that  he  was  negligent  of  her  the  morning  before  she  died. 
I  think  her  death  was  occasioned  by  excessive  bleeding — -a  measure 
which  was  advised  by  Dr.  Drake,  and  adopted  against  Dr.  Colby's 
wishes.  Went  to  my  office,  did  nothing;  returned  home.  Alarm  of 
fire;  went  to  the  spot,  Ninth  Street,  between  Sycamore  and  Main; 
some  frame  buildings  on  fire;  two  brick  buildings  and  some  frames 
in  danger.  Returned  home,  joined  in  family  worship;  came  to  my 
room  and  wrote  these  lines;  heard  David  read;  he  makes  slow 
progress. 

"December  27.  I  rose  this  morning  with  a  heavy  hearty  1  had 
been  dreaming  of  accompanying  my  dear  wife  to  church,  and  I 
awoke  to  the  mournful  conviction  that  never  more  should  we  walk 


. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  267 

to  the  house  of  God  in  company,  or  take  sweet  counsel  together. 
The  day  was  very  fine,  and  it  pained  my  heart  to  think  that  never 
more  would  my  dear  wife  be  gladdened  by  the  brightness  of  the  sun. 
At  length  I  endeavored  to  seek  God  in  prayer.  ]  read  the  last  chap- 
ter in  the  first  epistle  of  John,  in  which  he  sets  forth  so  strongly  the 
preeminent  necessity  and  excellence  of  Christian  love,  and  went 
down  stairs,  where  I  was  soon  joined  by  my  mother-in-law  and  father- 
in-law,  and  we  united  in  family  prayer.  Oh  !  that  God  would  give 
me  a  deeper  sense  of  my  own  sinfulness  and  destitution,  that  I  might 
pray  with  more  earnestness  and  humility  ;  greater  love  for  others,  that 
1  might  pray  for  them  more  heartily.  After  breakfast  I  took  my 
little  daughter  in  my  arms,  and  held  her  for  some  time.  Dear  remem- 
brancer of  thy  departed  mother  !  may  I  supply  to  thee  a  mother's 
care  and  watchfulness.  And  ma}^  God  be  to  thee  better  than  father 
and  mother.  The  natural  pilot  of  thy  life's  bark  God  hath  taken 
from  thee  at  the  very  commencement  of  thy  voyage.  May  he  him- 
self be  the  pilot  and  the  Savior.  I  spent  the  morning  until  church 
time  chiefly  in  thinking  of  my  loss,  and  mourning  that  it  was  irre- 
parable. What  grieves  me  most  is,  that  I  was  not,  while  my  dear 
wife  lived,  so  faithful  with  her  on  the  subject  of  religion  as  I  should 
have  been;  and  I  have  now  no  certain  assurance  that  she  died  in  the 
faith.  I  am  not,  blessed  be  God,  without  strong  hope  ;  but  I  have 
not  that  clear  evidence  of  her  salvation,  which  might  reasonably  have 
been  expected  to  result  from  more  faithful  and  diligent  efforts  on  my 
part  for  her  conversion.  Oh  !  if  I  had  not  contented  myself  with  a 
few  conversations  on  the  subject  of  religion,  with  a  few  recommen- 
dations of  religious  books,  with  faint  prayers  ;  if  I  had  incessantly 
followed  her  with  kind  and  earnest  persuasion  ;  if  I  had  ceaselessly 
besought  God's  blessing  on  my  efforts;  if  I  had  ever  exhibited  be- 
fore [her]  an  example  of  the  Christian  life,  she  might  have  been, 
before  her  death,  enrolled  among  the  professed  followers  of  the  Lamb. 
But  I  procrastinated,  and  now  she  is  gone. 

''I  attended  church  in  the  morning  at  St.  Paul's.  Mr.  Howell  con- 
ducted the  service  and  preached.  My  thoughts  wandered  much; 
and  once  during  the  sermon  I  fell  asleep.  May  God  pardon  these  sins. 
When  I  returned  home,  I  went  to  my  home  [room],  and  read  various 
passages,  chiefly  such  as  were  calculated  to  bring  my  dear  wife  to  re- 
membrance.  In  the  afternoon,  I  went  over  to  my  sister's,  to  see  my 
cousin,  James  Dennison,  who  is  sick  ;  found  him  convalescent.  I 
then  went  to  the  grave-yard,  where  my  Kitty's  remains  were  de- 
posited. Oh !  how  I  wished  that  I  could  once  more  see  even  her  life- 
less corpse.  There  are  a  multitude  of  graves  in  the  two  contiguous 
yards ;  most  of  those  who  lie  there  are  younger  than  I  am,  few  much 
older;  may  I  feel  the  warning.  My  afflicted  father-in-law  joined  me 
at  the  grave  of  my  dear  wife,  who  is  laid,  for  the  present,  in  the  family 
Vault  of  George  W.  Jones.  We  returned  home  together.  In  the 
evening  we  all  went  to  church.  Mr.  Brooke  preached  a  sermon  on 
the  folly  of  the  common  maxim,  that  it  is  no  matter  what  a  man 
thinks,  provided  he  be  sincere.  My  thoughts  wandered  less  than  in 
the  morning.  After  church  I  attempted  to  learn  David  the  Lord's 
prayer,  but  made  little  progress;  1  shall  persevere,  however.  I 
then  wrote  the  foregoing  journal  of  the  day. 


268  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE   AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

"  December  28.  Before  going  to  bed  last  night,  I  told  David  that 
I  would  allow  him  a  cent  every  morning  if  he  would  make  my 
fires  by  daylight,  to  be  laid  out  in  books  for  him  ;  and  this  morning 
I  had  a  fire  very  early.  I  rose  earlier  than  usual  in  consequence. 
I  had  been  dreaming  that  my  beloved  wife  was  dangerously  ill, 
and  I  rose,  with  my  mind  full  of  her.  After  dressing  and  private 
prayer,  I  went  down  stairs,  and  joined  in  family  prayers.  Oh  !  how 
I  mourn  that  my  dear  wife  can  not  join  us  in  our  devotions,  but  I 
trust  she  is  joining  in  a  purer  and  more  acceptable  service  than 
can  be  rendered  on  earth,  even  in  that  offered  by  the  glorious  com- 
pany of  angels  and  by  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect. 

"After  breakfast,  I  went  down  to  my  office Mrs  Bigelow 

came  in.  We  conversed  about  my  dear  wife,  and  she  seemed  to 
sympathize  sincerely  with  me.  How  much  almost  any  person  may 
become  endeared  to  us  by  sympathy!  I  gave  her  some  deeds  and 
leases  belonging  to  her,  and  she  went  away.  Mr.  Wm.  Maguire 
came  in  to  know  if  he  ought  to  retain  additional  counsel  in  the 
prosecution  of  Gedney.  I  told  him  I  thought  it  unnecessary. 
I  advised  him  to  send  Joiner  and  Brummel,  two  of  his  witnesses, 
to  me,  that  I  might  ascertain  the  exact  purport  of  their  testimony. 
After  I  had  got  through  with  my  morning  visitors,  I  ap- 
plied myself  to  the  preparation  of  an  argument  in  the  case  of  Bank 
United  States  vs.  Longworth  and  others,  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  and  continued  engaged  upon  it  until  dinner  time ; 
after  dinner  I  returned  to  my  work,  and  continued  at  it  till  I  went 
to  visit  the  grave  of  my  Kitty.  It  was  twilight — a  solemn  hour, 
in  a  solemn  place.  I  stood  at  her  silent  resting-place,  and  prayed 
for  strength  to  perform  the  will  of  God  and  to  suffer  it.  As  I  came 
[away]  I  thought — and  oh !  how  terrible  was  the  thought — of  meeting 
my  dear  wife  as  an  accusing  spirit  at  the  bar  of  God  ;  that  she 
might  reproach  me  for  my  unfaithfulness  to  her  in  spiritual  things 

as  the  cause  of  her  misery.     But  I  hope  for  better  things 

I  spent  some  time  in  dipping  into  Dr.  Dewee's  book  on  Midwifery. 
I  feel  extremely  sorry  that  I  did  not  study  this  subject  before  the 
sickness  of  my  wife.  It  might  have  prevented  me  from  leaving 
her.  At  nine  o'clock  I  came  home,  bringing  Dewee's  and  Good's 
Study  of  Medicine  with  me. 

"After  family  prayer,  came  to  my  room,  and  attempted  to  teach 
David  the  Lord's  prayer,  and  heard  him  read.  The  child  certainly 
makes  some  progress.  May  the  Lord  enable  me  to  be  a  blessing  to 
him.  I  shall  spend,  by  the  permission  of  God,  the  remainder  of 
this  night,  until  I  go  to  bed,  in  reading  Dewees,  my  Bible,  and  in 
prayer. 

"  December  29.  The  sun  had  hardly  risen  when  I  left  my  bed 
this  morning,  full,  as  usual,  of  sad  and  mournful  recollections.  How 
can  I  become  reconciled  to  the  loss  of  my  chief  earthly  treasure? 
After  reading  the  Scripture,  the  epistle  of  John,  and  prayer,  I 
went  down  stairs  and  joined  in  family  devotion.  After  awhile, 
the  nurse  came  down  stairs  with  my  dear  little  motherless  child. 
I  ought  to  be,  and  I  hope  I  am,  thankful,  that  I  have  been  able  tc 
obtain  such  good  nursing  for  the  child,  and  that  her  health  is  good. 

"After   breakfast,   I   went  to  my  office After  dinner,  I 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  269 

went  to  work  again,  and  continued  so  employed  until  evening, 
when  I  again  visited  the  resting-place  of  my  dear  wife.  Several 
young  wives  of  about  her  own  age  sleep  very  near  her. 

''I  returned  home,  hut,  after  tea,  again  went  to  my  office,  where 
I  stayed  until  near  nine  o'clock,  when  I  came  home  bringing  with 
me  Dewees  on  Females,  and  Eberle  on  Children,  in  which  books  I 
read  with  little  profit  until  the  approach  of  midnight  summoned 
me  to  devotion. 

"  December  30.  David  came  into  my  room  this  morning,  just 
after  daylight.  I  made  a  fire;  hut  I  did  not  rise  till  some  time 
after.  When  risen,  I  endeavored  to  offer  my  morning  prayer  and 
praise  to  God,  but  my  heart  was  heavy,  and  I  felt  that  I  did  not 
pray  aright.  Oh,  for  a  closer  walk  with  God — for  greater  degrees 
of  conformity  to  bis  will!  After  prayer,  I  went  down  stairs.  After 
breakfast,  I  went  to  my  office 

"  I  have  this  day  been  engaged  nearly  the  whole  time  in  prepar- 
ing the  argument  already  mentioned.  It  is  heavy  work  now  with 
me.  I  have  no  longer  a  wife  at  home  interested  in  all  that  I  do, 
and  gratified  by  all  my  success.  I  am  no  longer  stimulated  by  a 
wish  to  please  one  whom  I  love  far  better  than  myself.  But  I  have 
duties  to  perform,  and  I  ought  to  exert  myself  from  love  to  God  and 
my  fellow-men.  Would  that  I  could  feel  so  devoted  to  God  that  I 
might  do  every  thing  with  all  my  might  for  the  sake  of  pleasing 
him 

"  Toward  evening,  I  went  to  the  grave-yard.  The  rain  and  snow 
were  falling  fast  and  the  north-west  wind  blew  chill.  It  was  a 
melancholy  evening,  but  it  harmonized  well  with  my  feelings.  I 
felt  a  sad  pleasure  in  standing  once  more  at  the  spot  where  her 
mortal  remains  were  deposited.  I  offered  up  a  silent  prayer  to  God 
for  more  conformity  to  his  will,  and  reluctantly  turned  my  steps 
homeward. 

'After  writing  the  above,  I  went  to  a  prayer-meeting  at  Mr. 
Brooke's  church  with  my  father  and  mother-in-law.  It  was  held  in  a 
room  in  the  basement  story.  Not  many  were  present.  The  exer- 
cises were  to  me  very  solemn  and  interesting.  Short  addresses  were 
delivered  both  by  Mr.  Howell  and  Mr.  Brooke — by  the  former  on 
bringing  all  our  sorrows  and  sins  and  laying  them  at  the  foot  of 
the  cross— by  the  latter  on  the  joy  of  believing  and  the  inconsist- 
ency of  Christians  in  living  so  far  away  from  God.  Deeply  and 
bitterly  did  I  regret  that  my  poor  wife  could  not  hear  the  messages 
which  I  heard,  and  join  in  the  solemn  services ;  but  I  do  hope  she 
needs  no  message  now  to  tell  of  her  Savior,  and  that  she  constantly 
joins  in  a  better  service.  Oh !  could  I  but  be  sure  of  this  how  gladly 
would  I  embrace  my  lot ! 

"This  day,  Gen.    Findlay  was  borne   to  his  tomb — Gen.  James 

Pindlay He  was  a  kind-hearted  and   most  amiable  man, 

and  had  many  friends.    He  has  left  a  widow  but  no  children." 

The  next  day  affords  this  record  : 

"  Dec.  31,  [1835.]  The  last  day  of  the  old  year !  The  old  year- 
strange  name  for  a  portion  of  time  so  lately  begun — so  speedily  ter- 


270  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

urinated.  The  old  year;  but  yesterday  as  it  seems  it  was  ushered 
in  as  the  New  Year.  How  little  did  I  then  anticipate  what  has 
come  to  pass.  This  year  found  me  a  husband  ;  it  has  left  me  wife- 
less; it  found  me  childless,  it  has  left  me  charged  with  a  solemn 
trust — the  welfare  of  the  sole  pledge  of  my  departed  wife's  affection ; 
it  found  me  rejoicing  in  the  hope  of  worldly  advancement,  it  has 
left  me  with  all  such  wishes  annihilated  ;  it  found  me  receding  from 
God,  it  has  left  me,  I  trust,  drawing  nigh  to  him ;  it  found  me  lay- 
ing up  treasures  on  earth,  it  leaves  me  convinced  of  the  vanity  of 
such  occupations,  and  anxious,  chiefly,  to  lay  up  treasures  in 
heaven.  In  professional  attainment  and  reputation,  it  found  me 
nearly  as  it  leaves  me.  I  have,  during  this  year,  completed  the 
edition  of  the  Statutes  of  Ohio,  on  which  I  have  been  so  long  engaged, 
by  publishing  the  third  volume.  This  book  my  beloved  wife  used 
to  say  she  would  keep  for  her  oldest  son.  Alas !  she  never  saw  the 
third  volume." 

The  first  day  of  the  New  Year  is  thus  recorded  : 

"  This  day,  the  first  of  the  new  year,  usually  with  me  a  day  of 
gladness,  has  been  a  day  of  gloom.  My  dear  wife,  who  shared  the 
joys  of  the  last  new  year's,  has  gone.  Every  thing  reminds  me  of 
her.  Just  so  gloriously  did  the  unclouded  sun  ascend  the  sky  last 
year,  just  so  did  he  magnificently  sink  to  rest.  Just  so  mild  was  the 
temperature  of  the  air,  just  so  serene  the  expanse  of  heaven.  Here 
she  sat  at  the  breakfast  table,  bidding  me  admire  her  New  Year's 
gift  to  her  father,  and  when  I  remarked  that  every  one  in  the  house 
had  a  gift  but  me,  she  said  nothing.  When  I  wanted  to  go  out 
and  attempted  to  draw  on  my  boots,  I  found  a  difficulty  in  the  way. 
Something  had  got  into  my  boot !  Half  fretfully  and  half  expect- 
ingly,  I  drew  it  out.  It  was  a  gold  pencil-case.  On  it  was  inscribed: 
iPen8ez  a  moi.'     It  was  my  wife's  New  Year's  gift. 

"Delightful  gift,  yet  not  half  so  delightful  as  the  kiss  which  ac- 
companied it.  How  often  has  she  adverted  since  to  this  little  cir- 
cumstance, and  said  :  '  How  bad  I  should  have  felt  had  there  in- 
deed been  nothing  for  you !  When  you  complained,  I  could  hardly 
help  from  telling  you  to  look  in  your  boot ! '  Dear,  dear  Kitty, 
life  of  my  life,  is  it  possible  that  thou  art  gone  ?  That  I  shall  no 
more  hear  that  kind  and  gentle  voice — no  more  receive  that  kind, 
affectionate  caress.  I  can,  at  times,  hardly  realize  it,  yet  I  know  it 
is  so.    lPensez  a  moi.'     Yes,  I  will  think  of  thee  as  long  as  I  live. 

"We  all  went  to  church  this  morning  ;  but  Mr.  Haight,  the  rec- 
tor, being  indisposed,  there  was  no  service.  After  leaving  the 
church,  I  walked  up  to  the  grave-yard  where  my  Kitty  lies,  with 
her  mother.  We  talked  of  her  all  the  way,  going  and  returning 
home.  When  we  got  home,  I  told  her  what  I  thought,  respecting 
the  management  of  her  disorder  by  the  physicians. 

"  Mrs.  Anderson,  with  her  little  baby,  and  Mrs.  McCandless,  with 
her  little  children,  came  to  see  me  this  morning.  They  passed 
through  childbirth  safely,  but  my  Kitty  died. 

"  This  afternoon,  I  went  down  to  my  office  with  the  intention  of 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  271 

finishing  ray  argument  in  the  ejectment  case,  but  I  did  not  write 
a  line.  Toward  evening,  I  walked  up  to  the  vault  where  lies  the 
mortal  part  of  all  that  was  most  dear  to  me  on  earth.  Here  I  lin- 
gered for  some  time — until  the  twilight  was  rapidly  merging  in 
darkness. 

"  This  evening  I  went  again  to  my  office,  where  I  began  to  copy 
my  argument  for  the  press.  Before  I  went,  Mr.  G.,  at  table,  told  a 
Btory  about  Gov.  Root,  and  Elisha  Williams,  and  Thomas  J.  Oakley. 
How  discordantly  it  struck  upon  my  ears. 

"Jan.  2,  [1836.]  The  same  subject  continues  to  occupy  my 
nightly  dreams  and  daily  thoughts — my  great  and  irreparable  loss. 
Oh!  that  I  could  live  over  again  the  last  two  months,  how  different 
would  be  my  conduct !  Let  this  make  me  inquire  :  May  not  [some- 
thing] happen  within  two  months  which  would  make  me  wish 
that  the  conduct  of  to-day  had  been  different?  My  wife  is  indeed 
gone.  She  can  no  longer  be  the  object  of  care  and  kindness.  But 
duties  remain;  are  they  fulfilled? 

"  The  day  has  been  very  different  from  yesterday.  I  has  rained 
nearly  all  day,  and  the  clouds  have  completely  shut  out  the  sun. 
Every  thing  has  looked  gloomy. 

"  I  have  attended  to  little  business  to-day.  I  intended  to  com- 
plete my  argument,  but  I  have  hardly  touched  it.  I  have  settled 
a  few  claims  on  Thorp's  estate — little  else.  I  received  a  notifica- 
tion to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  Committee  on  the  Dividend  of  the 
Lafayette  Bank;  but  forgot  the  duty  at  the  hour. 

"  I  have  repeated  my  visit  to  my  wife's  grave.  It  was  nearly 
dark,  and  it  was  raining  fast ;  but  I  like  to  go  there.  I  have  lately 
become  accustomed  to  grave-yard  walks.  Oh !  that  the  solemn 
voices  which  seem  to  issue  from  all  those  tombs  might  humble  and 
sober  every  high  thought  in  me. 

"  I  walked  over  to  Mrs.  Colby's  after  tea,  and  conversed  with  her 
a  long  time  about  my  dear  wife.  Mrs.  C.  thinks  it  probable  she 
would  not  have  recovered,  even  had  not  the  treatment  of  Dr.  C. 
been  departed  from.  I  think  otherwise,  and  am  agonized  by  the 
thought  that  had  I  been  at  home  she  would  have  recovered ;  but  I 
was  far  from  her 

"I  have  had  some  talk  with  David  this  evening  since  prayers. 
His  conduct  has  been  quite  bad  of  late.  He  has  been  remiss  in 
getting  his  lessons — insolent  and  abusive  toward  the  other  serv- 
ants, and  extremely  dirty  in  his  personal  appearance.  I  have 
warned  him  that  unless  he  mends  his  ways  I  shall  be  compelled 
to  punish  him." 


In  conversation  with  the  Chief  Justice  about  David,  he  told  me 
that  the  boy  had  been,  perhaps,  too  severely  governed,  and  that  at 
length  he  went  off,  none  knew  whither.  But  it  must  be  quite  ap- 
parent that  the  severity  in  question,  if,  indeed,  there  was  a  real 
severity,  was  conscientious.  It  was  not  the  dictate  of  an  unloving 
heart,  the  act  of  an  unpitying  hand.     It  had  been  well  for  David, 


272  THE    PRIVATE   LIFE   AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

doubtless,  had  he  stayed  with  Mr.  Chase,  as  Mr.  Chase  had  stayed 
with  his  almost  despotic  uncle,  as  we  have  already  seen. 

For  it  is  well  to  be  with  such  men  as  he  whose  life  is  here  related. 
More  and  more  I  feel  that  as  we  go  forward. 

Yet  there  are  some  things  in  this  sad  record  which  require  most 
delicate  treatment.  Let  me  point  out  an  example  in  this  memo- 
randum : 

"  I  have  been  reading  lately  on  medicine.  The  barbarous  jargon 
makes  rny  progress  slow.  It  is  like  reading  Greek.  I  am  compelled 
to  have  a  dictionary  by  and  use  it  constantly." 

Such  is  the  entry,  made  in  most  painful  mood,  in  the  diary  under 
date  January  2,  1836. 

I  have  long  acted  on  the  conviction  that  I  ought,  from  time  to 
time,  to  study  medicine  and  hygiene  almost  as  if  I  had  intended  to 
devote  myself  to  the  practice  of  the  healing  art.  While  composing 
this  work  I  have  had  more  than  one  occasion  to  review  and  extend 
my  medical  and  hygienic  reading  and  reflection.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, my  design  to  vindicate  the  healing  art,  or,  on  the  other  hand, 
to  question  that  it  is,  in  some  respects,  of  real  service  to  the  world. 
Undoubtedly,  the  practice  of  it  is  not  such  as  it  should  be  ;  but  to 
say  that  it  is  wholly  worthless,  in  all  cases,  would  be  going  very  far. 
Nor  am  I  disposed  to  make  too  much  of  the  exception  to  medical 
writings,  taken  in  the  last  extract  from  our  hero's  diary.  An  art 
has  always  its  distinctive  technical  terms.  Perhaps,  much  of  the 
so-called  jargon  of  medical  books  is  inevitable.  And  we  ought  to 
bear  in  mind  the  mood  in  which  our  hero  wrote  the  words  last 
quoted. 

As  for  the  fault  found  by  the  bereaved  husband  with  Dr.  Drake, 
it  seems  to  me  at  once  quite  natural  and  quite  unjust,  if  I  may  so 
express  a  thought  not  easy  of  expression. 

I  have  studied  the  life  and  character  of  Daniel  Drake,  in  his 
writings  and  elsewhere,  almost  as  thoroughly  as  I  have  studied  the 
life  and  character  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase.  Let  any  one  com- 
pare the  autobiographic  letters  of  these  two  men  as  I  have  compared 
them.  Let  their  other  writings  be  compared  with  due  discrimination. 
Let  the  life  of  Drake,  by  Mansfield,  be  compared  with  the  present 
work.  No  man  can  then  doubt  that  Daniel  Drake  was  as  true  and 
high  a  worthy  as  the  hero  of  these  pages,  or  as  any  other  man  that 
has  appeared  in  this  new  world. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  273 

Daniel  Drake  was  a  man  of  strong  convictions  and  deep  sense  of 
duty.  What  he  did,  after  that  decision,  he  did  far  from  ignorantly, 
and  according  to  his  best  judgment.  Simple  justice  to  the  memory 
of  a  great,  good  man  demands  this  judgment ;  and  I  who  knew  that 
man,  am  certain  that  no  more  than  justice  is  involved  in  the  conclu- 
sion so  expressed. 

We  must  not  forget  the  facts.  Dr.  Drake  differed  with  Dr.  Colby. 
Dr.  Richards  being  called  in,  agreed  with  Dr.  Drake.  But  even 
that  is  not  all.  Dr.  Drake  was  farther  supported  by  Dr.  Eberle, 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  obstetricians  of  the  West. 

January  5th  affords  this  entry  : 

"Yesterday  was  a  wet  and  cheerless  day — only  that  now  and  then 
for  a  little  while  the  sun  would  shine  out  from  behind  the  clouds 
with  cheering  beams.  To-day  the  weather  has  been  delightful. 
To-day,  had  my  dear  wife  lived,  she  would  have  called  for  me  at  my 
office,  and  we  would  have  been  walking,  arm  in  arm  and  heart  in 
heart,  beneath  the  pleasant  sun.  But  she — where  is  she  ?  Rejoic- 
ing. I  hope,  beneath  the  far  brighter  beams  of  the  sun  of  righteous- 
ness. 

"My  little  babe  continues  to  improve.  She  enjoys  the  most  per- 
fect health,  and  now  takes  considerable  notice  of  many  things.  She 
smiles  and  laughs,  now  and  then,  awake  and  in  dreams.  The  serv- 
ant girl  of  our  next  neighbor  says  that  when  she  smiles  in  dreams 
it  is  because  she  sees  an  angel  passing.  She  begins  to  endeavor  to 
make  her  wants  known  by  sounds ;  at  least,  so  I  think.  She  is  quite 
fat,  or  rather  plump.  Her  eyes  arc  blue;  her  forehead  is  slightly 
depressed  just  above  the  eyes.  Her  hair  is  brown.  Her  eye-lashes 
are  long  and  her  eye-brows,  I  think,  will  be  heavy.  Her  cheeks 
are  now  full.  Her  mouth  is  not  very  pretty.  Her  lips  are  too  thick 
and  the  upper  overhangs  the  lower  too  much.  Her  chin  sometimes 
looks  a  little  too  pointed,  then  again  it  is  quite  round.  She  is  very 
gentle  and  mild — seldom  crying  or  fretting.  Everybody  says  she 
is  a  sweet  and  very  pretty  child.  Her  grandmother,  grandfather, 
and  I  think  so.    May  God,  of  his  infinite  mercy,  make  her  his  child." 

The  next  entry  I  think  fit  to  offer  has  this  tenor : 

"January  9.  For  three  or  four  days  past  I  have  written  nothing 
in  this  journal,  because  nothing  unusual  has  occurred.  The  return- 
ing hours  have  brought  with  them  their  appropriate  duties,  which 
1  have  attempted  to  perform  in  the  strength  of  one  mighty  to  sup- 
port  and  save.  Far  short,  indeed,  have  I  come  of  the  standard  of 
purity  and  zeal  exhibited  in  the  gospel.  When  shall  I  learn  to  sub- 
due all  hastiness  of  temper,  all  petulance,  all  selfishness?  When 
shall  I  be  thoroughly  imbued  with  a  humble,  self-denying,  holy 
spirit?  0  Lord,  my  Savior,  do  thou  assist  and  teach  me.  I  have  been 
diligently  engaged  for  two  weeks  on  an  argument  for  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  which  I  have  finished  to-night,  in  the 


27-4  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

case  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  vs.  Longworth  and  others. 
My  object  has  been  to  establish  a  title,  made  under  an  order  of  sale 
in  the  course  of  certain  proceedings  in  attachment.  The  proceed- 
ings were  extremely  irregular  and  defective ;  but  I  attempted  to 
sustain  the  title  on  the  ground  that  the  order  of  sale  was  made  by 
a  court  of  competent  jurisdiction,  and  could  not  in  this  suit  be  col- 
laterally questioned.     I  think  I  shall  succeed. 

"  I  argued  this  same  case  a  year  ago,  last  July,  at  Columbus  in  the 
Circuit  Court.  My  dear  wife  was  with  .me  then.  We  roomed  at 
Mrs.  Robinson's,  where  Judge  McLean  and  his  lady  also  boarded.  I 
remember  expressing  some  anxiety  to  my  wife  about  this  case,  tell- 
ing her  that  a  fee  of  $150  depended  on  my  success,  and  that  the  next 
day  she  said  playfully  to  the  Judge  that  he  must  decide  this  case  for 
me  at  any  rate,  that  J  might  get  the  fee." 

Thus  we  see  how  the  almost  tragic  death  of  the  first  woman  who, 
became  wife  to  Salmon  Portland  Chase  affected  that  strong  man. 
Yet  no  !     God  alone  saw  that  completely — God  alone  can  see  it  fully 
now. 

The  mourner  was  to  love  again.  The  object  of  that  second  love 
was  to  prove  fully  worthy  of  it,  and,  when  she,  too,  too  early  passed 
away,  he  was  to  mourn  her  far  from  lightly.  But  he  was  yet  again 
to  love,  again  to  marry,  and  again  to  mourn  the  death  of  a  well-be- 
loved wife.  True,  there  is  but  one  first  love,  but  one  first  wife. 
Even  when  a  first  love  is  turned  to  hatred,  or,  still  worse,  to  mere 
disgust,  the  truth  remains,  that  it  affects  the  lover  as  no  other  love 
can  possibly  affect  him  :  even  when  a  first  wife  is  to  become  an  object 
of  disgust  or  detestation,  she  remains  the  first  wife  forever. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  constitute  anew  the  human  heart,  or  to  create, 
for  the  readers  of  this  work,  a  new  world  of  intellections  and  affec- 
tions. We  must  take  our  hearts  and  lives  as  God  has  ordered  us 
to  take  them. 

But  the  other  day,  I  read  these  words  in  a  newspaper: 

" '  When  we  come  to  the  separation  of  Mr.  Dickens  from  his  wife, 
we  can  not  but  admire  the  delicacy  and  reserve  with  which  Mr. 
Forster  treats  it.  This  is  the  one  event  in  the  life  of  the  illustrious 
novelist  which  darkens  his  fame.  We  do  not  sympathize  with  that 
morbid  and  unhealth}'  sentiment  which  gloats  over  the  frailties  of 
men  of  genius — the  unhappiness  of  a  Byron,  a  Shakspeare,  or  a 
Milton.  Men  like  these,  supremely  gifted  and  richly  endowed, 
have  lives  apart  from  the  doings  and  adventures  of  the  mere  body. 
However  Byron  may  have  sinned,  to  us  he  is  and  always  must  be 
'Childe  Harold.'  But  Dickens,  during  his  own  life,  called  atten- 
tion to  his  sorrows,  and,  after  dismissing  his  wife  and  the  mother 
of  his  children  from  a  home  in  which  she  had  lived  for  a  quarter  of 
a  century,  publicly  entreated  the  world  to  justify  him  in  the  act." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CFIASE.  275 

The  paragraph  is  full  of  affectation  and  injustice.  It  is  false  in 
sentiment  and  false  in  pretense.  But  God  knows  how  ardently  I 
have  desired,  throughout,  at  once  to  keep  away  from  real  indelicacy 
and  to  avoid  false  delicacy. 

Surely,  this  work  has  had  a  singular  history.  That  history,  how- 
ever, it  does  not  propose  to  tell  in  full.  Elsewhere,  its  author, 
though  no  longer  young,  and,  therefore,  not  concerned  as  young  men 
are  about  the  bubble,  reputation,  may,  with  more  or  less  minuteness, 
tell  so  much  of  that  strange  story  as  a  due  regard  for  certain  very  sacred 
interests  may  seem  to  order  or  at  least  to  allow.  Then,  it  will  appear 
that  if,  in  advance  of  publication,  this  work  was  assailed  with  un- 
precedented defamation,  on  account  of  its  alleged  indelicacy,  that 
was  not  because  its  author  had  not  taken  equally  unprecedented 
pains  to  avoid  even  the  appearance  of  indelicacy. 

We  shall  find  that  when  the  second  marriage  took  place  there  was 
a  perfectly  angelic  little  child  yet  living — daughter  of  the  first 
wife,  whose  name  she  bore.  The  second  mother  of  this  lovely,  emi- 
nently spiritual  child  was  perfectly  devoted  to  it — as  devoted  as  a 
second  mother  can  be. 

When  the  second  wife,  in  turn,  departed,  she,  too,  left  a  daughter — 
not  the  little  child  just  mentioned — that  had  apparently  illustrated 
the  lines  of  Montgomery,  which  I  quote  from  memory: 

"In  some  rude  spot  where  vulgar  herbage  grows, 
If  chance  a  violet  rear  its  purple  head, 
The  careful  gard'ner  moves  it,  ere  it  blows, 
To  thrive  and  flourish  in  a  nobler  bed. 

"Such  was  thy  fate,  dear  child!  thy  opening  such; 
Preeminence  in  early  bloom  was  shown, 
For  earth  too  good,  perhaps,  and  loved  too  much  : 
Heaven  saw  and  early  marked  thee  for  its  own;' 

That  daughter  of  the  second  marriage,  named  either  after  the  child 
so  early  taken,  or  after  the  mother  of  that  child,  is  now  living,  one 
of  the  most  beautiful,  accomplished,  and  distinguished  women  of  her 
day.  Perhaps  the  third  wife  was  to  her  devoted  as  was  the  second 
wife  to  the  surviving  issue  of  the  first  marriage;  but  of  that  I  had 
no  information  when  the  hero  of  this  work  descended  to  the  tomb. 
He  had  not,  directly,  furnished  me  with  special  memorials  of  the 
third  wife. 

Mrs.  Hoyt,  the  sole  surviving  child  of  the  third  marriage,  I  have 
never  met  since  she  was  quite  a  child.  She  writes  delightful  letters, 
19 


276  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

and  she  is,  I  have  no  doubt,  as  accomplished  and  as  well  endowed 
with  genius  as  her  reputation  indicates ;  but,  for  certain  reasons,  I 
do  not  feel  free  as  I  could  wish  to  write  of  either  Mrs.  Hoyt  or  Mrs. 
Sprague.  This  is,  I  know,  anticipation,  but  it  seems  to  me  but 
proper,  in  the  circumstances. 

Let  me  add,  in  this  connection,  that  it  was  not  to  wound  any  one's 
feelings,  that,  after  much  consideration,  while  Chief  Justice  Chase 
still  lived,  it  was  resolved  to  include  in  this  work  the  foregoing  ex- 
tracts, relating  to  the  first  great  grief  of  him  whose  life  engages  our 
attention.  On  the  contrary,  the  sole  object  of  presenting  those  ex- 
tracts always  has  been  to  make  proper  use  of  the  means  at  my  com- 
mand of  making  readers  well  acquainted  with  the  inuer  life  of  the 
man  so  often  named  throughout  this  work. 

It  may  be  thought  questionable  whether  it  was  well  to  furnish 
such  material.  I  do  not  say  it  is;  I  say  only  that  it  may  be.  My 
opinion,  after  much  reflection,  is,  that  to  furnish  that  material  was 
well;  and,  after  much  consideration,  I  resolved,  as  just  stated,  to 
use  it  as  it  has  been  actually  used  thus  far.  For,  even  if  the  fur- 
nishing of  that  material  had  seemed  to  me  of  doubtful  discretion,  I 
could  not  have  felt  at  liberty,  as  a  biographer,  to  suppress  the  reve- 
lations here  in  question. 

I  may  make  at  once  a  similar  remark  respecting  certain  diaries, 
markedly  showing  the  martial  aspects  of  the  life  before  us.  As  to 
them  I  was  greatly  perplexed ;  and,  in  spite  of  my  resolution  not  to 
submit  any  part  of  this  work  to  the  suppression  or  to  the  dictation 
of  its  hero,  I  acquainted  him  with  the  nature  of  the  doubt  to  which 
I  now  refer.  He  was  unwilling  to  decide  for  me;  but  he  intimated 
that,  whatever  doubt  I  might  have  on  that  subject  ought  to  be  re- 
solved in  favor  of  insertion  rather  than  of  supervision.  He,  he  said, 
was  interested.  He  had  left  all  to  my  discretion,  which  was  wholly  dis- 
interested ;  and  to  that  discretion  he  must  still  leave  the  whole  matter. 

Take  into  consideration,  how  this  man,  even  since  his  death,  has 
been  maligned.  How  important  it  is  to  show  the  depth  of  feeling 
in  him — how  important  to  make  use  of  all  the  means  at  my  com- 
mand of  showing  him  just  as  he  was!  Had  [  suppressed  the  fore- 
going extracts,  would  not  my  offense  have  been  almost  unpardonable? 

The  motto  of  this  work  will  bear  deep  study.  Let  it  be  remem- 
bered here.  To  interpret  the  enigma  in  the  life  of  Salmon  Portland 
Chase,  without  the  aid  afforded  by  the  matter  here  in  question, 
would  have  been  impossible. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND   CHASE.  27' 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

SORROWING    AND    TOILING PRIVATE  LIFE   AND    LIFE    IN    PUBLIC. 

THE  conclusion  of  the  entry  under  date  January  9,  1835,  is  as 
follows: 

"I  have  attended  this  evening  a  meeting  of  a  committee  on  the 
subject  of  obtaining  the  public  school-houses  for  the  use  of  the  Sab- 
bath schools.  I  was  appointed  one  of  a  committee  to  ascertain  to 
whom  application  for  this  privilege  should  be  made." 

The  record  then  goes  forward  in  this  manner : 

"January  17.  My  little  babe  was  vaccinated  yesterday  by  Dr. 
Drake 

"  To-day  I  have  attended  church  with  little  profit.  My  mind  has 
wandered  exceedingly.  The  incident  of  yesterday  has  been  suffered 
to  occupy  too  much  of  my  attention,  and  I  have  made  little  or  no  prog- 
ress in  the  divine  life.  I  have  attended  church  three  times — twice 
at  Dr.  Haight's  and  once  at  Mr.  Brooke's.  I  have  visited,  as  usual, 
the  vault  where  lies  the  mortal  part  of  her  who  was  to  me  the  life  of 
life.  It  was  mist}'  and  rained  a  little.  Oh  !  how  ardently  I  wished. 
as  I  stood  by  the  silent  tomb,  that  the  door  might  open,  and  that 
she,  who  slept  within,  might  be  restored  to  me  ;  but  it  might  not  be. 
And  not  my  will,  but  thine,  O  God  !  be  done.  I  feel  that  the  stroke 
is  just.  I  feel  that  I  have  deserved  far  more  evil  than  has  fallen  to 
my  lot.  I  desire  humbly  to  submit  myself  to  the  Divine  Will,  and 
magnify  the  name  of  the  Lord.  Yet  could  I  be  assured  of  her  sal- 
vation, much  of  the  bitterness  of  the  cup  would  be  removed.  1 
strongly  hope  that  she  is  safe — but  the  evidence  is  not  clear  and 
full. 

"Jan.  18.  I  had  a  conversation  this  morning  with  my  mother-in- 
law,  in  regard  to  the  employment  of  a  physician  for  the  child,  and 
I  am  grieved  to  say  that  I  allowed  myself  to  exhibit  an  improper 
spirit.  It  is  my  duty  to  be  firm  and  decided  in  that  course  which  my 
conscience  approved  ;  but  I  should  remember  how  much  older  than  I 
she  is;  I  should  remember  that  she  is  the  mother  of  my  dear  departed 
wife,  and  in  every  way  entitled  to  respect  and  deference  from  me.  I 
do  hope  and  pray  that  I  may  not  thus  offend  any  more.  After  this 
conversation  I  went  to  my  sister's  and  told  her  that  I  thought  I 
should  be  obliged  to  employ  another  physician,  and  that  I  should 
select  Dr.  Eberle.     She  said  that  she  should  be  satisfied  to  have  Dr. 


278  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Eberle  attend  the  baby.  She  then  conversed  much  on  the  circum- 
stances of  Kitty's  hist  illness.  These  conversations  unfitted  me 
entirely  for  the  business  of  the  morning.  I  went  down  to  the  office. 
...  In  the  afternoon,  I  wrote  to  Helen,  inviting  and  urging  her  to 
come  out  here,  should  a  suitable  opportunity  present.  This  evening 
I  have  attended  a  meeting  of  our  vestry. 

"  Jan.  22.  For  the  last  two  or  three  days  I  have  been  engaged  in 
conducting,  in  aid  of  the  prosecuting  attorney,  a  criminal  trial. 
Charles  F.  Gedney,  lately  one  of  the  city  watch,  was  indicted  for 
maliciously  and  purposely  shooting  Isaac  Maguire.  The  charge  was 
for  murder  in  the  second  degree.  The  examination  of  witnesses 
commenced  on  Wednesday,  and  was  continued  until  about  five 
o'clock  last  night,  when  I  addressed  the  jury.  The  examination  of 
the  witnesses  was  extremely  fatiguing.  The  evidence  related  to  a 
transaction  which  took  place  in  three  or  four  minutes  and  was 
witnessed,  from  different  points  in  the  room,  by  different  persons. 
There  was,  of  course,  a  great  deal  of  discrepancy  in  the  testimony, 
and  a  great  deal  of  testimony  was  introduced  in  relation  to  a  previ- 
ous   difficulty   between    M and    Gr ,    when    the   former   was 

arrested  by  the  latter  and  taken  to  the  watch-house.  I  spoke  about 
an  hour  and  a  half,  and  was  listened  to  with  great  attention  by  a 
crowded  audience.  I  have  reason  to  think  that  in  the  judgment  of 
my  hearers  I  acquitted  myself  well." 

I  well  remember  that  case.  And  I  have  not  forgotten  the  bad 
verses  in  which  Gedney  made  some  of  his  appeals  to  public  sym- 
pathy. 

Mr.  Chase  continues : 

"  To-day,  Mr.  Fox  and  Mr.  Benham  have  addressed  the  jury  in 
behalf  of  the  prisoner.  I  heard  but  little  of  Mr.  F's  speech.  He  is 
earnest  and  some  times  ingenious ;  he  is  vehement  in  manner  and 
boisterous  in  enunciation.  His  main  defect  is  want  of  logical  con- 
secutiveness." 

Judge  Fox  himself  will  recognize  that  character  as  a  well-drawn 
pen-portrait,  as  far  as  it  goes.     Mr.  Chase  goes  on  as  follows : 

"Mr.  Benham  has  a  high  reputation  as  a  speaker.  He  is  a  very 
portly  man — somewhat  obese,  indeed — with  a  lull,  long,  and  broad 
face,  surmounted  by  a  forehead  high  but  narrow  and  pyramidal. 
He  has  a  good  voice,  but  was,  to-day,  affected  by  a  severe  cold.  His 
manner  is  good.  He  is  perfectly  self-possessed — understands  his 
subject  well — is  slow  and  deliberate  in  his  enunciation.  He  is  ver- 
bose, however,  and,  to  use  a  word  which  1  to-day  heard  for  the  first 
time,  very  repetitionary.  He  expands,  dilates,  and  repeats  a  great 
deal  too  much,  and  is,  of  course,  excessively  prolix.  He  spoke  to-day 
over  five  hours.  It  was  his  first  speech  since  his  return  from  Louis- 
ville, and  he  put  forth  all  his  powers.  He  commenced  by  a  very 
unwarrantable  attack  upon  me  in  regard  to  my  appearance  there  for 
the  State.  He  said  that  I  reversed  the  chivalry  of  my  profession  by 
appearing  in  the  prosecution  rather  than  the  defense  of  criminals. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  279 

I  had,  he  said,  remarked  that  I  could  not  conscientiously  refuse  my 
services  when  required.  He  did  not  envy  me  such  a"  conscience. 
This  language  was  highly  improper,  especially  as  coming  from  one 
so  much  my  senior.'' 

Of  this  portraiture  I  can  not  speak  with  certainty.  I  never  heard 
Mr.  Benham,  though  I  very  often  heard  of  him,  at  the  time  in  ques- 
tion. 

The  entry  of  the  22d  also  contains  the  following: 

"I  have  been  quite  unwell  to-day,  and  oh!  how  much  do  I  miss 
the  endearing  attentions  of  my  dear  wife.  How  much  do  I  regret 
that  I  can  not  tell  her  of  my  speech,  and  impart  to  her  all  my  feel- 
ings. I  made  my  way  out  of  the  Court-house  while  Mr.  B.  was 
speaking,  and  went  to  her  grave,  and  ejaculated  a  brief  prayer  to 
God  for  strength  and  patience  to  do  and  suffer  his  will. 

'•I  have  spent  this  evening  at  my  office,  reading  two  articles  in 
the  London  Quarterly  Review — one  reviewing  brief1  Reed  and  Mache- 
sotis  Tour,  Latrobe's  Rambles  in  America''1  Abel's  Tour,  etc.,  and 
another  reviewing,  with  some  severity,  AVillis1  Pencillings  by  the  Way." 

The  next  entry  reads  as  follows: 

'•January  26.  I  dreamed  last  night — as  I  do  almost  every  night 
— of  my  dear  departed  wife  ;  bat  I  can  not  now  recollect  my  dream. 
It  has  passed  from  me  like  the  vision  of  Nebuchadnezzar.  I  ruse 
later  than  usual  this  morning,  for  it  was  intensely  cold.  After 
prayer  in  my  room  alone  I  went  down  stairs  and  joined  in  family 
prayer.  Oh  !  how  my  heart  aches  when  I  think  that  my  dear  wife 
ie  not  permitted  to  join  in  these  delightful  exercises,  but  I  do  hope 
that  she  is  worshiping  the  same  God.  in  a  better  society.  I  remem- 
ber her  saying  frequently  that  sin  was  the  only  cause  of  unhappiiu  >s 
in  our  family;  and  I  am  sure  it  would  have  gladdened  her  heart  to 
kneel  at  the  family  altar  with  her  father,  mother,  and  husband. 

"After  breakfast,  in  conversation,  her  mother  remarked  that,  about 
two  hours  before  her  death,  she  asked  the  doctor  if  her  milk  would 
not  return  when  she  should  get  well,  saying  that  she  could  not  bear 
the  idea  of  not  nursing  her  own  babe.  From  this  it  seems  that  she 
was  not  at  all  aware  other  immediate  danger,  or  other  approaching 
dissolution.     Surely,  this  was  very  wrong. 

"After  breakfast,  I  went  to  my  office,  where  I  have  spent  the  greater 
part  of  the  daj-  in  arranging  my  papers,  which  have  been,  for  some 
time  past,  much  deranged. 

"This  morning,  conversing  about  a  proposed  amendment  of  our 
charter,  Mr.  George  W.  Xett'  remarked  that  they  must  send  me  to 
the  Senate,  next  year,  and  get  it  through.  I  observed  that  I  would 
have  it  done  if  they  would  send  me.  'Well,'  said  Mr.  Neff,  '  if  you 
will  say  you  will  accept  the  nomination  I  will  assure  you  of  my 
efforts  in  your  behalf     '  Why,'  said  I,  '  I  should  like  to  go  there 


1  So  in  the  original.  2  A  delightful  book. 


280  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

one  winter  very  well,  if  I  could  make  it  comport  with  my  business. 
'  Well,'  said  he, '  I  shall  probably  have  some  influence  next  year,  and 
I  will  remember  you.'  JVous  verrons,  as  Mr.  Kitchie  says.  Who 
can  tell  what  may  happen  ere  another  year  rolls  around  ?  I  havo 
heard  within  a  few  hours  that  Mr.  Garrard,  one  of  the  candidates  for 
the  legislature  at  the  last  election,  lies  even  now  in  the  grasp  of 
death  ;  and  I  have  just  returned  from  my  evening  visit  to  the  tomb 
of  my  dear  wife  who  was  then  in  full  health.  Let  me  study  to  be 
ready  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord." 

Here  is  a  precious  record  : 

"January  27.  To-day  I  have  been  engaged  in  arranging  my  letters 
and  in  bringing  up  the  arrears  of  my  correspondence.  I  opened 
some  old  letters  and  read  them.  Among  them  are  three  from  my 
dear  and  now  sainted  mother,  written  while  I  was  at  college.  How 
precious  are  these  remembrances  of  her  now.  How  painfully  pleas- 
ant to  read  over  her  good  advice,  her  lessons  of  thrift  and  economy; 
lessons  which  she  rigidly  practiced  from  an  earnest  desire  to  have 
her  children  well  educated,  but  which  I,  alas  !  too  little  regarded. 
How  delighted  she  was  to  hear  that  her  children  had  done  well ;  but 
how  much  more  she  was  anxious  that  they  might  win  the  favor  of 
God !  '  I  hope  they  will  be  good,  and  that  will  be  great  to  me.' 
How  willing  she  was  to  spend,  and  be  spent  for  us  all !  Oh!  how 
little  I  deserved  such  a  mother  and  such  a  wife  as  I  have  had  and 
lost !  Would  that  they  could  have  been  spared  to  me  a  little  while 
longer,  that  I  could  have  given  more  proofs  of  my  affection  to  them. 
But  God  has  seen  fit  to  order  otherwise,  and  I  submit."  1 

The  next  memorandum  offered  is  as  follows : 

"  February  10,  1836.  I  received  a  letter  this  evening  from  Mrs. 
Wirt.  It  was  full  of  kind  sympathy  for  a  loss  which  seems  to  me 
greater  and  greater  every  day." 

This  letter  is  a  fair  specimen  in  exterior  of  the  missives  then 
despatched  by  mail  by  condoling  friends.  There  yet  clings  to  the 
paper  the  black  sealing  wax  with  which  the  enclosure  was  com- 
pleted and  made  sacred.  The  whole  letter,  which  is  without  en- 
velope, being  simply  folded,  as  was  then  the  fashion,  bears  upon  its 
face  these  characters,  the  "  25,"  like  the  post-mark,  being  in  red 

ink: 

25. 
Salmon  P.  Chase,  Esq., 

Cincinnati, 


Ohio. 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  281 

But  no  ordinary  hand  could  have  penned  the  contents  of  that 
folded,  sealed  paper.     Reverently,  I  present  this  copy  of  them  : 

"Richmond,  February  3,  1836. 

"  Could  I  alleviate  one  pang  of  the  agony  under  which  you  are  now 
suffering,  my  very  dear  friend,  what  is  there  that  I  would  not  do? 
But  alas!  in  the  dark  season  of  distress  and  desolation,  which  has  so 
suddenly  overwhelmed  you,  crushing  the  heart  almost  to  extinguish- 
ment, what  can  be  offered  by  the  truest  friendship  but  sympathy? 
Hearts  steeped  in  affliction  as  ours  have  been,  know  full  well  the 
impossibility  of  receiving  other  solace. 

"The  soothing  Christian  views  of  such  separations,  which  you  have 
so  beautifully  presented  under  similar  trials  and  bereavements,  can 
never  be  erased  from  my  heart's  memory;  and  could  I  do  justice  to 
the  deep  feeling  of  sorrow,  with  which  we  have  heard  of  your  afflic- 
tion, and,  like  you,  with  heavenly  eloquence  draw  off  the  suffering 
heart  from  the  corroding  present  to  the  hopeful  and  blissful  future, 
wIk-u  there  will  be  no  more  parting,  no  more  sorrow,  my  pen  should 
not  soon  be  laid  aside. 

"The  first  intimation  of  your  bereavement  we  received  a  few  days 
since  from  Judge  Randall,  who  was  hastening  to  Washington  on 
urgent  business,  partly  connected  with  the  alarming  disturbances  in 
Florida.  We  tried  to  hope  that  it  might  not  be  true,  but  were 
obliged  to  yield  to  the  sad  conviction  of  its  reality,  the  judge  hav- 
ing "seen  the  announcement  [in  the  N.  Intelligencer]  of  the  departure 
of  the  gifted  and  lovely  partner  of  your  bosom's  joys  and  griefs  to 
her  congenial  skies. 

"Ma}"  the  Almighty  hand  that  has  wounded  impart  the  healing 
balm  which  can  alone  flow  from  heavenly  sources  !  May  He,  whose 
wisdom  directeth  all  things  in  mercy,  allay  the  storm  of  grief  which 
now  rends  your  heart,  and  bestow  that  peace,  resignation,  and  sub- 
mission, which  He  alone  hath  power  to  give! 

"  My  children  unite  with  me  in  expressions  of  deep  sympathy  and 
love.  You  are  indeed,  and  always  have  been,  one  of  our  most  cher- 
ished and  valued  friends.  Your  sorrows  find  a  responding  chord  in 
each  bosom,  and  our  prayer  is,  that  you  may  be  supported  and  com- 
forted in  this  your  heavy  and  great  trial. 

"Affectionately  and  respectfully  your  deeply  sympathizing  friend, 

"E.  W.  Wirt. 

"  To  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Esq." 

But  the  sorrow  so  addressed  was  too  deep  for  even  such  consolation. 
It  was  most  alleviated,  I  doubt  not,  by  such  exercises  of  the  pen  as 
this : 

"February  17.  Rose  this  morning  at  my  usual  hour;  washed, 
dressed,  and  breakfasted  as  usual.  My  dear  little  babe  grows  finely; 
but  I  can  discover  little  or  no  resemblance  to  her  departed  mother. 
She  takes  a  great  deal  of  notice  of  many  things — attends  to  sounds. 
Yesterday,  she  observed  a  picture  very  attentively.     She  has  been 


282  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

twice  vaccinated,  without  effect.  She  is  very  good  tempered,  cries 
very  little,  and  gives,  so  far  as  I  have  observed,  very  little  trouble. 
She  was  three  months  old  yesterday.  To-day  completes  eleven 
weeks  since  her  mother  died.  Oh  !  could  she  have  been  spared  to 
witness  the  growth  and  improvement  of  our  dear  babe,  how  de- 
lighted she  would  have  been  !  How  often  should  I  have  been  called 
upoH  to  note  one  and  another  little  feat  of  infancy  !  How  happy  we 
should  have  been  !  And  it  seems  so  strange  that  she  should  have 
been  taken  away.  There  was  no  cause  for  her  death  in  the  disease 
itself,  had  it  not  been  aided  by  injudicious  treatment."' 

Another  part  of  the  same  is,  excepting  two  omissions,  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  Going  to  the  Court  this  morning,  I  met  Mr. ,  on  the  side- 
walk. This  individual  has  manifested  a  singular  feeling  of  malevo- 
lence toward  me  ever  since He  avoids   meeting  my 

eye,  and  shuns  speaking  to  me.  I  do  not  regret  this  in  itself,  be- 
cause his  character  is  such  as  to  render  association  with  him  unde- 
sirable; but  /  am  unwilling  to  be  on  bad  terms  uith  any  one.  I  cherish 
no  malevolent  feelings  toward  him.  On  the  contrary,  I  sincerely 
forgive  his  assault  upon  me,  and  was  willing  to  speak  to  him  to- 
day, but  he  looked  the  other  way  as  he  passed  me,  and  we  did  not 
speak." 

I  must  omit  many  things  which  I  would  like  to  present.  The 
next  document  to  which  I  ask  attention  is  this  letter  to  Mr.  Trow- 
bridge : 

"Washington,  March,  16,  1864. 

"My  Dear  Mr.  Trowbridge:  In  March,  1837,  some  anti-slavery 
men  called  at  1113'  office  in  Cincinnati,  and  said  that  a  woman,  named 
Matilda,  had  been  seized,  and  was  about  to  be  carried  out  of  the 
State  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  of  1793.  though,  in  reality,  a  free 
woman.  1  inquired  into  the  circumstances,  and  found  that  she  had 
been  a  slave  in  Virginia,  and  that  her  master,  taking  her  with  him  to 
Missouri,  had  stopped  at  Cincinnati  on  the  boat,  which  was  fasteued 
to  the  shore,  at  the  public  landing,  in  the  usual  way.  from  this  boat 
Matilda  had  come  up  into  the  city  with,  or  without,  the  knowledge 
and  consent  of  her  master,  and  found  employment,  and  was  now  a 
servant  in  the  house  of  James  (x.  Birney.  Under  these  circum- 
stances she  was  claimed  as  a  fugitive  slave  ;  while,  in  her  behalf,  it 
was  insisted  that,  having  come  to  the  landing  with  the  consent  of  her 
master,  and,  being  thus  within  the  territorial  limits  of  the  State  of 
Ohio,  she  could  not  be  taken  from  them  without  her  own  consent. 
1  had  no  doubt  of  the  correctness  of  this  position,  and  readily  con- 
sented to  do  what  I  could  to  protect  her.  With  this  view,  I  ob- 
tained a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  under  which  she  was  taken  from 
those  who  held  her  under  the  writ  issued  by  the  Justice  of  the  Peace. 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  283 

and  brought  before  Judge  Este.  the  President  Judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common   Pleas. 

"The  cause  was  heard  by  him  with  courtesy  and  fairnesss,  but, 
like  almost  all  lawyers,  and.  indeed,  almost  all  other  men  at  that 
time,  he  looked  upon  claims  lo  slaves  as  more  entitled  to  favor  than 
claims  to  liberty,  lie  heard  me  asserting  what  I  believed  to  be  the 
true  principles  of  constitutional  construction,  and  legal  as  well  as 
natural  right,  with  very  much  the  same  sort  of  indulgence  and  in- 
difference with  which  a  kind-hearted  professor  of  the  Aristotelian 
philosophy  may  be  supposed  to  have  listened  to  a  youthful  disciple 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  earth's  motion  around  the  sun.  On  the  other 
side,  the  appeals  of  the  counsel  for  the  slave  claimants  were 
vehement  and  passionate,  and  were  supported  by  the  prejudices 
and  sympathies  of  nearly  the  entire  community.  The  Judge  de- 
cided against  the  claim  of  Matilda,  and  she  was  remanded  into 
slaverv.  My  argument  in  her  case  was  printed  and  quite  widely 
circulated,  and,  perhaps,  contributed  something  toward  the  forma- 
tion of  juster  opinions. 

•  Nor  was  this  case  without  some  effect  upon  my  future  fortunes. 
It  so  happened  that,  in  the  audience,  there  was  a  young  student  of 
medicine,  then,  and  fir  many  years  afterward,  a  stranger  to  me,  full 
of  generous  sympathy  with  the  oppressed,  who  listened  to  my  argu- 
ment with  great  satisfaction.  This  young  student  went  to  Europe 
and  pursued  his  studies  in  the  schools  of  Paris  and  other  cities  of 
the  continent.  When  he  returned  to  the  United  States,  he  estab- 
lished himself  in  one  of  the  towns  of  northern  Ohio,  where  he  prac- 
ticed his  profession  with  great  reputation  and  success.  He  retained 
his  early  principles,  and  enjoyed  the  confidence  not  only  of  those 
who  agreed  with  him  in  opinion,  but  of  the  whole  community  in 
which  he  lived. 

aIn  1S48,  this  3*oung  physician  was  elected  to  the  Ohio  Legisla- 
ture, and  was  one  of  the  small  number  who,  independent  of  both 
parties,  ami  willing  to  act  with  either  for  the  advancement  of  their 
principles,  secured,  through  the  co-operation  of  the  old  line  Demo- 
crats, the  repeal  of  the  odious  code  of  oppressive  enactments 
against  the  colored  people,  known  as  the  'Black  Laws,'  and  my 
election  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  It  was  the  argument 
in  the  Matilda  case  which  secured  the  confidence  and  attach- 
ment of  Dr.  Xorton  E.  Townshend,  and  his  earnest  advocacy  of  my 
election. 

"The  Matilda  case  had  another  connection  of  another  character. 
Mr.  Birney,  who  had  employed  Matilda  as  a  servant,  was  indicted  upon 
the  charge  of  having  harbored  her  ;  for  harboring  a  slave  in  Ohio  was 
then  an  offense  under  the  existing  laws  of  the  State.  The  case  was 
tried  before  the  same  Judge -who  had  heard  the  argument  for  -Ma- 
tilda. 1  defended  Mr.  Birney,  hut  he  was  found  guilt}'  and  sen- 
tenced to  pay  a  fine  of  fifty  dollars.  From  this  decision  I  took  an 
appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  case  was  again  heard  before 
that  tribunal.  There  was  a  manifest  defect  in  the  allegations  of  the 
indictment,  to  which  I  had  not  even  invoked  the  attention  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas.  In  the  Supreme  Court  I  purposely  avoided 
directing  attention  to  this  defect,  because  I  was  anxious  to  have  a 


284  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

decision  upon  the  main  question,  whether  Matilda,  having  been 
brought  within  the  State  by  her  master,  remained  a  slave.  If  not  a 
slave,  Mr.  Birnej',  of  course,  did  not  harbor  a  slave. 

"At  this  time,  a  rule  of  the  Supreme  Court  existed,  prohibiting 
the  publication  of  any  reports  of  the  arguments  of  counsel,  except 
upon  the  special  discretion  of  the  court.  The  report  of  the  case  of 
the  State  against  Birney,  shows  that  the  court  reversed  the  judgment 
of  the  Common  Pleas  upon  the  technical  ground  to  which  their  at- 
tention had  not  been  directed,  and  directed  the  publication  of  the  argu- 
ment, though  not  in  the  slightest  degree  touching  the  point  decided. 
The  truth  was,  doubtless,  that  the  court  was  satisfied  that  the  judg- 
ment ought  to  be  reversed,  and  yet  was  unwilling  to  meet  the 
question  presented  by  the  ai'gument;  and  yet  not  only  willing,  but 
desirous,  to  have  the  argument  itself  brought  to  the  notice  of  the 
profession  through  the  reports. 

"I  think  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  this  argument  as  well  as 
that  upon  the  habeas  corpus  for  Matilda,  had  some  influence   upon 
professional  and  general  opinions. 
"Yours,  truly, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  only  entry  for  1837  begins  as  follows: 

"  August  24.  It  was  just  after  daybreak  when  I  awoke  this  morn- 
ing. My  little  daughter  was  wide  awake,  and  urgent  to  be  taken 
up.  I  gratified  her  wish,  and  she  was  soon  willing  to  return  to  bed. 
Not  long,  however,  was  she  quiet.  She  wanted  to  go  to  grandma, 
and  I  took  her  to  the  door  and  let  her  go  in.  I  then  washed  and 
dressed  myself,  and  attended  to  my  morning  devotions  —  I  trust, 
not  without  profit.  I  then  walked  down  to  my  office,  but  did  noth- 
ing there  before  breakfast.  Pound  Helen  waiting  to  see  me,  and 
urged  her  to  be  sure  and  consult  the  doctor  about  her  symptoms, 
coughing,  etc." 

The  remainder  of  the  entry  reads  as  follows: 

"On  returning  to  the  office,  saw  and  conversed  with  several  per- 
sons; with  E.  Bailly,  the  carpenter,  to  whom  I  gave  several  copies 
of  my  speech  in  Matilda's  case;  with  Mr.  Morgan,  the  bookseller, 
with  whom  I  advised  as  to  the  best  mode  of  collecting  a  debt  from 
;  Dr.  Waldo,  who  consulted  me  as  to  the  expediency  of  ob- 
taining insurance  on  his  life,  which  I  rather  discouraged.  I,  also,  in 
the  course  of  the  morning,  prepared  a  mortgage  to  be  executed  by 
Mr.  S.  E.  Poote  to  the  Lafayette  Bank.  After  dinner,  I  went  to  the 
court-house  and  filed  several  declarations,  and  searched  the  appear- 
ance docket.  After  returning  to  my  office,  settled  some  busiuess 
with  Mr.  Owens,  the  shoemaker,  and,  with  the  assistance  of  Truman 
Thorp,  arranged  my  book-cases  and  books.  Since  then,  I  have  taken 
supper;  heard  Freeman's  verses  out  of  the  titles  of  Christ:  read  the 
Philanthropist  and  Ohio  Political  Register,  and  written  the  above.  I 
shall  now  so  home  and  to  bed.     Ten  o'clock." 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  285 

The  Cincinnati  Gazette,  in  February,  1838,  thus  introduced  an 
article  communicated  by  our  hero  :  "  The  author  is  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  lawyers  of  the  State,  and  is  not  an  abolitionist. "  The 
article  so  introduced  reviewed  a  report  of  the  judiciary  committee 
of  the  Senate  of  Ohio  against  the  granting,  by  the  State,  of  trial  by 
jury  to  alleged  fugitives  from  service. 


286  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE    SECOND    "WIFE — DEATH    OF     THE     FIRST     DAUGHTER — BIRTH    OF    THE 
SECOND   DAUGHTER — OTHER    MATTERS. 

IN  one  of  the  books  furnished  me  by  the  man  whom  we  follow 
through   the  course  of  his   remarkable   career,  was  one  which, 
under  the  head  of  Family  Memoranda,  contains  this  entry : 

"  S.  P.  Chase  and  Eliza  Ann  Smith  (who  [was]  born  in  Cincinnati, 
November  12,  1821,  and  daughter  of  Edmund  C.  Smith  and  Mary 
Smith)  married  September  26,  1839.    Rev.  Henry  Van  Slyke  Johns." 

For  many  reasons,  I  deeply  regret  that  I  am  not  able  to  furnish 
a  more  complete  account  of  the  lady  who  became  the  second  wife  of 
Mr.  Chase,  and  who  seems  to  have  been  so  worthy  of  her  place  in 
his  heart  and  at  his  hearth.  But  we  shall  see,  ere  long,  more  than 
a  little  of  her  unpretending  love  and  sacrifice. 

Here  are  several  extracts  from  the  registry  so  often  quoted  : 

"May  2,  [1846].  After  a  long  interval,  I  resume  this  journal. 
What  a  change,  since  the  last  entry  was  made,  has  a  single  circum- 
stance wrought.  My  dear  little  daughter's  death  !  What  sorrow, 
and  yet,  blessed  be  God  !  what  consolation.  My  most  cherished  hope 
blasted  !  but  she  safe  forever. 

"  This  day  I  have  done  little,  almost  nothing.  Read  but  little 
Scripture  this  morning,  and  have  read  nothing  else  of  consequence 
during  the  whole  day.  Rode  out  to  Edgeforest  with  wife,  Eliza,  and 
Mr.  Gallagher;  gathered  Avild  flowers.  Mr.  Gallagher  at  supper. 
After  supper  wrote  to  Mrs.  Garniss.  I  go  now  to  prayer,  and  then 
to  bed. 

"  May  4,  8  o'clock,  A.  M.  Yesterday  I  was  greatly  troubled  with 
wandering  thoughts,  and  my  mind  was  far  too  little  affected  by  the 
sacredness  of  the  da}-.  Was  dull  at  Sunday  school  and  in  church. 
Young  Mr.  Gassawa}'  preached,  and  well.  Read,  at  home,  two  Nos. 
Journal  Christian  Education.  .Many  valuable  ideas  suggested  worth 
reflecting  on — especially,  how,  in  common  schools,  can  gospel  mo- 
tives be  substituted  for  worldly  motives  to  gain  knowledge  and 
perform  duty.  Read,  also,  from  Cowper,  to  wife,  his  glowing  de- 
scription of  the  coming  millennium — the  Sabbath  of  the  world." 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  287 

Under  date  July  1,  1840,  is  the  entry  : 

"As  I  was  going  to  my  office  after  dinner,  was  joined  by  Mr. 
Whiteman,  who  wished  to  secure  my  vote  in  council  for  James  F. 
Irwin,  an  old  school-fellow  of  mine,  who  desires  the  appointment 
of  Secretary  of  the  Waterworks.  I  told  him  that  I  had  already 
determined  to  cast  my  vote  for  Mr.  Richards,  if  no  other  candidate 
of  superior  qualifications  presented  himself,  and  I  thought  Mr. 
Irwin's  not  superior.  If,  however,  Mr.  Richards  should  decline,  and 
I  could  do  so  consistently  with  my  public  duty, I  should  be  happy 
to  further  Mr.  Fa  views." 

Not  much  of  the  politician  there!  I  can  imagine  Chase's  man- 
ner: kind,  yet  almost  frosty.  He  continues,  introducing  an  anec- 
dote of  a  very  interesting  personage  : 

"  "While  we  were  talking,  Gen.  Harrison  came  from  the  opposite 
direction.  We  met  and  exchanged  the  usual  greetings.  I  saw  that 
something  disturbed  the  General,  and  was  not  long  left  to  guess  the 
cause.  '  Do  you  know  a  person  named  Bailey  ?  '  said  he,  addressing 
me.  '  Very  well,'  I  replied.  He  then  requested  me  to  call  on  him 
with  Mr.  Greene,  or  alone,  and  inquire  of  him  what  foundation  he 
had  for  the  charges  published  against  him  yesterday  morning  in 
the  Philanthropist.  I  said  I  was  willing  to  go  alone,  but  would  pre- 
fer not  to  be  associated  in  a  mission  of  that  sort  with  Mr.  Greene. 
Mr.  Owen,  near  whose  door  we  stood,  said,  '  Let  Mr.  C.  go  alone,' 
and  the  General  assented.  The  General,  at  the  same  time  said  he 
had  never  called  on  Dr.  Bailey  but  once,  and  had  said  nothing 
which  could  give  color  to  the  charges  against  him,  unless  it  might 
be  a  remark  he  had  made  that  he  would  as  soon  appoint  an  aboli- 
tionist to  office  as  anybody  else  if  qualified.  He  said  he  particu- 
larly wanted  to  know  if,  in  any  conversations  with  Dr.  B.,  he  had 
ever  been  understood  to  retract  any  of  the  sentiments  expressed  in 
the  Vincennes  or  Cheviot  speeches.  Soon  afterward  I  called  on 
Dr.  B.  I  told  him  what  I  wanted,  and  made  the  particular  inquiries 
which  the  General  suggested.  He  said  the  speeches  were  not  defi- 
nitely named  or  referred  to  in  the  conversation.  I  remarked  that 
I  thought  he  had  dealt  with  unwarranted  harshness  by  Gen.  H. 
He  said  that  I  was  not  more  sorry  for  it  than  he  was  that  the  occa- 
sion had  arisen." 

Here  is  an  important  record,  under  date  July  12,  1840: 

"Formed  no  definite  plan  for  the  employment  of  the  day.  Rose 
about  6;  went  to  the  library;  recommitted  16  verses  of  the  109th 
Psalm,  and  read  the  2d  chapter  of  Matt.,  Gr.  Text ;  private  devotion  ; 
ate  moderately ;  attended  Sunday  school— about  80  present.  Two 
young  gentlemen  from  Texas  called  to  see  the  school,  and  afterward 
sat  with  me  in  church.  They  were  teachers,  they  said,  in  a  Sunday 
school  in  Austin,  in  Texas.  It  is  said  that  the  Episcopal  Church  is 
more  favorably  regarded  than  any  other  church  in  Texas.     Can  this  be 


288  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

diving  to  the  fact  that  the  Episcopal  Church  has  taken  no  ground  against 
Slavery,  but,  on  the  contrary,  has  a  slave-holding  ministry?  " 

Under  date  July  14,  1840,  is  the  record  : 

"  Miss  Carneal  gives  a  fashionable  party  to-night.  A  political 
meeting  is  held  in  the  3d  Ward.  Mr.  Benham,  once  a  rising  star, 
bright  and  brightening,  distinguished  for  talent,  for  oratory,  and 
for  personal  advantages,  afterward  a  bankrupt  in  fortune  and  fame, 
both  sacrificed  to  appetite,  lies  at  a  public  hotel,  the  victim  of  dis- 
ease, near  the  termination  of  his  mortal  career.  In  an  obscure 
street,  nursed  by  a  mother,  herself  rude  and  uneducated,  if  not  in- 
temperate, lies  a  young  man,  suffering  the  last  agonies  of  long-pro- 
tracted disease,  but  cheerful,  grateful,  supported  by  a  hope  that 
never  fails — at  least  I  so  judge.  What  contrasts  of  fact,  and  of 
opinion,  and  of  emotion  are  here  !  " 

On  the  15th,  the  death  of  Mr.  Benham  is  thus  noticed  : 

"  Mr.  Benham  had  died  and  his  body  had  been  committed  to  the 
tomb." 

July  15,  1840,  has  the  record: 

"  Until  half-past  seven,  I  recommitted  24  verses  of  the  119th 
Psalm ;  attended  family  prayers,  breakfasted,  and  read  the  Gazette ; 
the  only  article  of  permanent  interest  was  that  the  Sultan  had 
given  a  Constitution  to  the  Ottoman  Empire — a  striking  event  in 
the  history  of  the  age,  and  probably  the  herald  of  events  more  strik- 
ing still.  Another  article  was  an  elaborate  vindication,  by  the  affi- 
davits of  old  citizens,  of  Gen.  Harrison,  the  Whig  candidate  for  the 
Chief  Magistracy  of  the  Republic,  from  the  charge  of  ancient 
Federalism— from  the  sin  of  having  agreed  with  Washington,  with 
Hamilton,  with  Jay  !  " 

AVas  that  the  sentiment  of  an  independent  Whig  with  Democratic 
ideas?  Let  us  not  too  rashly  answer.  Nice  discriminations  must 
be  made  in  this  behalf,  or  none. 

July  16,  Mr.  Chase  made  this  record  : 

"Formed  no  plan  this  day;  attended  to  business  as  usual;  read 
about  35  pages  Confl.  Laws ;  Mr.  Clay's  speech — a  masterly  effort. 
Went  into  the  country  in  the  evening  five  miles  to  see  my  wife, 
who  returned  with  me.  A  gentleman  handed  me  the  call  for  an  anti- 
slavery  convention,  wishing  me  to  sign  it.  I  declined,  and  reasoned  with 
him  on  the  impropriety  of  the  step  at  the  present  time;  but,  I  think,  with- 
out much  effect. 

July  26,  1840,  has  this,  in  part,  pathetic  record : 

"  For  more  than  a  week  I  have  neglected  to  frame  any  plan,  and 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  289 

though  I  have  continued  to  read  with  some  diligence,  I  have  omitted 
several  duties,  through  forgetfulness,  which  I  think  I  should  have  re- 
memhered  had  I  looked  forward  through  each  day,  and  assigned  to 
each  hour  its  appropriate  employment. 

"This  morning  I  did  not  rise  till  past  seven  o'clock,  and  had  time 
only  for  family  prayer  and  breakfast,  after  dressing,  before  the  bell 
rang  for  the  Sunday  school,  which  1  attended.  The  number  present 
exceeded  seventy;  I  purposed  addressing  them,  but  did  not.  After 
Sunday  school  I  returned  home,  not  being  willing  to  be  absent  longer 
from  my  wife  in  her  present  state  of  health;  found  her,  on  my  re- 
turn, asleep.  Spent  the  morning  chiefly  in  reading  various  articles 
of  a  religious  character,  in  the  Xew  York  Evangelist;  was  interested 
particularly  by  a  condensed  sketch  of  the  results  of  missionary  en- 
terprise. How  few  are  at  any  pains  to  inform  themselves  on  this 
subject,  the  most  deeply  interesting,  except  one's  personal  salvation, 
to  every  true  Christian. 

"After  dinner  had  a  most  interesting  conversation  with  my  dear 
wife.  It  was  made  up  of  reflections  on  the  providential  dealings 
of  our  heavenly  Father  with  us,  and  especially  in  relation  to  our 
dear  little  departed  one.  From  every  subject  of  reflection  m}-  mind 
constantly  reverts  to  my  little  one  in  heaven. 

"Lizzy  said  that  one  da}*,  as  she  was  sitting  on  her  grandfather's 
knee,  he  used  some  harsh  expressions  in  relation  to  an  absent  indi- 
vidual. She  looked  up,  and  said,  '  Grandpa,  is  that  right?  only  wicked 
people  call  folks  such  names.'  Her  grandfather's  eyes  filled  with 
tears,  aud  she  added,  '  Grandpa  won't  do  so  any  more  ;  will  you, 
grandpa?' 

"  When  playing  with  little  children,  if  asked  to  play  any  part,  as 
pretending  to  visit,  etc.,  she  would  ask  if  that  was  right  to  saj*  what 
was  not  the  truth.  Not  long  before  her  death,  her  grandfather, 
coming  into  the  parlor,  found  her  kneeling  before  her  mother's  pic- 
ture, and  asked  her  what  she  was  doing.  She  answered,  he  told  me, 
that  she  was  praying  her  mother  to  take  her  to  heaven.  I  hardly 
think  this  was  so,  for  she  was  alwaj's  taught  to  pray  only  to  God, 
and  she  was  much  in  the  habit  of  praying  to  him  when  in  any  little 
affliction.  She  probabl}-  said  that  she  had  been  praying  to  God  to 
take  her  to  heaven  to  her  dear  mother.  This  was  a  wish  she  often 
expressed.  On  one  occasion,  she  came  and  told  me  that  a  meal  was 
ready,  and  I  asked  some  one  to  see  if  it  was;  she  seemed  hurt,  and 
said,  'Pa!  don't  you  think  I  tell  the  truth?' 

■•  Whenever  I  denied  any  thing  to  her  she  invariably  acquiesced, 
saying,  '  Pa  knows  what  is  best  for  his  little  daughter,'  and  never 
fretted  or  cried  on  account  of  it. 

"After  the  conversation  which  revived  these  reminiscences,  I  re- 
viewed the  latter  part  of  the  119th  Psalm.  This  is  the  third 
time  I  have  gone  over  the  whole  of  this  Psalm  in  addition  to  my 
other  Bible  reading.  I  mean  to  continue  to  do  so,  until  I  can  repeat 
it  with  facility  from  beginning  to  end." 

The  next  day  we  have: 

"  Pose  at  half-past  five.     Took  a  bath,  and,  while  doing  so,  repeated 


290  THE    PRIVATE    EIFE  AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

nearly  40  verses  of  119th  Psalm  ;  dressed,  and  at  a  quarter  past  six 
had  family  prayer.  Called  Warren,  and  told  him  to  hire  a  carriage 
for  me  to  go  to  Lawrenceburg.  It  is  now  half-past  six.  ]\ly  plan 
for  the  day  must  be  short:  from  half-past  six  to  eight,  Bible,  private 
devotions,  breakfast,  etc  ;  eight  to  twelve,  ride  to  L.  ;  twelve  to  four, 
dinner,  conversation  with  brother,  etc. ;  four  to  eight,  ride  home  ; 
eight  to  nine,  tea,  etc.;  half  an  hour,  Fr.  Rev.  j1  till  ten,  review,  plan, 
devotion,  and  bed." 

Perhaps,  no  man  of  genius  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  that  expres- 
sion, could  have  lived,  or  resolved  to  live  as,  we  see,  did  the  hero  of 
this  work.  But  it  is  hard  to  define  genius.  Much  that  bears  the 
name  of  genius  might  well  bear  the  name  fatuity.  But,  whether 
Chase  was,  or  was  not,  a  genius,  he  was  certainly  a  man  who  knew 
the  preciousness  of  time. 

Here  are  farther  extracts  : 

"August  4.  How  rapidly  time  fleets;  already  the  fourth  day  of 
the  last  month  of  summer,  and  but  yesterday  the  summer  begun. 

"August  12.  When  I  came  home,  this  evening,  I  found  my  dear 
wife  suffering  a  good  deal  of  pain,  but  sitting  up,  and,  apparently, 
otherwise  well.  Her  suffering  increased,  however,  and,  after  tea,  I 
insisted  on  sending  for  the  physician  and  her  mother.  The  latter 
came  first,  and  it  soon  became  apparent  that  Lizzie  was  about  to  be 
confined.  The  servant  was  sent  again,  to  hasten  the  doctor,  and  I 
sent  for  Mrs.  Ball,  a  kind  friend,  deservedly  dear  to  us  all.  She  came 
as  soon  as  she  could,  but,  before  she  arrived,  I  had  sent  for  the  nurse, 
and  the  doctor  (Dr.  Rives)  had  come.  ...  I  went  apart,  and, 
kneeling  down,  prayed  God  to  support  and  comfort  my  dear  wife,  to 
preserve  the  life  of  the  child,  and  save  both  from  sin.  I  endeavored 
to  give  up  the  child,  and  all  into  his  hands.  I  went,  once  or  twice, 
into  the  room  where  my  suffering  wife  lay,  and,  occasionally,  whis- 
pered to  her  words  of  consolation.  She  bore  her  pains  with  great 
fortitude,  and,  I  believe,  was  strengthened  b}*  her  heavenly  Father 
to  endure.  At  length,  after  full  trial  of  her  patience,  by  a  protracted 
labor  of  four  hours,  a  little  daughter  was  born.  Mrs.  Ball  came  to 
announce  the  tidings  to  me.  But,  lying  in  the  next  room,  I  had 
heard  the  pleased  exclamation  of  the  kind  physician,  after  all  was 
safely  over.  After  awhile,  I  went  into  the  room.  The  birth  had  taken 
place  at  two  o'clock,  A.  M.,  on  the  13th.  After  I  had  seen  my  wife 
and  child,  1  went  into  the  library,  and  read  a  few  pages  in  Eberle's 
book  on  children — a  judicious  treatise.  At  last,  I  became  tired,  and, 
though  it  was  now  day,  lay  down,  and  slept  awhile.  The  babe  is 
pronounced  pretty.     I  think  it  quite  otherwise." 

The  father  was  mistaken.  He  had  been  mistaken,  at  first,  as  to 
the  beauty  of  his  first  wife.  He  was  mistaken,  at  first,  no  doubt,  as 
to  the  beauty  of  the  child  whose  birth  he  recorded  in  this  fashion  : 


1  Thiers'   French  Revolution. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAD    CHASE.  291 

"  Catherine  Jane  Chase,  second  daughter  of  S.  P.  C,  and  E.  A.  C. 
born  August  13,  1840. 

That  daughter  is  the  celebrated  Mrs.  Sprague,  whose  beauty,  ac 
cornplishments,  and  distinction,  were  mentioned  in  a  former  chapter 
The  delighted  father,  and  fond  husband,  proceeds  as  follows  : 

"  It  is,  however,  well  formed,  and  I  am  thankful.  May  God  give 
the  child  a  good  understanding,  that  she  may  keep  his  command- 
ments.    I  have  done  little  this  day,  besides  reading  a  few  pages  in 

Story's  Conflict  of  Laics.     Saw  Mr.  Piatt  about 's  debt  to  me. 

Wrote  to  Mr. about  his  debt  to  me. — My  wife  has  been  very 

comfortable,  to-day,  and  has  slept  well.  The  child  has  been  rest- 
less and  uneasy.  .  .  .  Since  I  came  home  this  evening,  I  have  re- 
peated the  whole  of  the  119th  Psalm,  being  obliged  still,  however,  fre- 
quently to  refer  to  the  book." 

The  register,  so  often  called  a  diary,  contains,  under  date  August 
13,  1840,  this  additional  record : 

"  I  have  also  written  to  Mr.  Neil  on  the  subject  of  property  offered 
me  by  Mr.  Piatt. 

"  I  now  lay  down  this  plan  for  to-morrow  : 

"  Rise  at  half  past  rive  to  six ;  dress ;  to  seven,  repeat  Psalm — devo- 
tions ;  to  eight,  family  prayer,  breakfast,  etc:  to  nine,  Story  on  Con- 
flict and  Accidental*1 ;  to  one  P.  M.,  court-bouse,  office  business, 
especially  preparation  of  causes;  bank,  and  business  again  ;  to  two, 
dinner;  to  six,  office  business;  private  business;  to  eight,  tea,  etc.; 
to  ten,  History  of  French  Revolution  ;  to  half-past  eleven,  journal,  etc." 

But  the  next  entry  is  dated  August  20.  It  is  very  suggestive,  I 
consider.     Here  it  is  : 

"  I  have  omitted  to  form  any  regular  plans  for  each  day,  as  it 
seems  impossible  for  me  to  do  more  than  sketch  the  outline  of  each 
day's  action  as  it  takes  place,  whether  planned  or  no. 

"This  morning,  I  rose  about  half  past  six  o'clock — was  inter- 
rupted in  dressing,  and  did  not  get  ready  for  family  prayers  until 
about  half-past  seven.  Then  attended  family  prayers,  but  was  cold 
and  formal.  Neither  my  thoughts  nor  my  affections  seemed  free. 
Repeated,  as  usual,  while  dressing,  a  considerable  part  of  the  119th 
Psalm,  and  afterward,  during  the  day,  the  whole  of  the  residue.  I 
do  hope  the  word  thus  hid  in  my  heart  will  keep  me  from  sinning 
against  God.  Nothing  saves  me  from  absolute  despair,  in  the  con- 
templation of  the  perverseness  and  guilt  of  my  heart,  but  the  cer- 
tainty that  the  atonement  is  infinite,  and  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
pledged  to  those  who  ask.'' 


1  So  I  make  out  the  word. 

20 


292  THE    PEIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

That  is  a  true  photograph  of  a  true  spirit.  Faults  there  were 
and  great  faults  in  this  earnest,  rather  dark-minded  man  ;  but  he  was 
true  at  heart,  and  to  the  heart's  core,  when  he  wrote  those  words. 

Sunday,  August  29th,  affords  the  following  hardly  less  important 
indication  : 

"After  breakfast,  we  went  to  church,  where  I  superintended  the 
Sunday  school  as  usual,  and  addressed  the  children,  briefly,  on 
topics  suggested  by  the  hymn  for  to-day.  Must  pay  more  attention 
to  these  addresses,  and  try  to  make  them  more  interesting  and  in- 
structive. Attended  church.  A  strange  sermon,  sound,  but  badly 
composed  and  delivered.  Why  can  not  clergymen  speak  to  their  fellow- 
citizens  in  a  frank,  kind,  and  natural  manner — as  a  man  icould  speak  to 
a  friend  whom  he  was  warning  against  evil  habits  and  dangerous  courses?  " 

"  Why,  indeed  ?  The  pulpit  and  the  press — how  powerful  they 
might  be — nay,  they  are — yet  how  much  more  powerful  for  good 
might  they  become,  could  the  preacher  and  the  printer  only  be 
brought  to  comprehend  the  possibilities  alluded  to! 

The  entry  last  quoted  concludes  as  follows : 

"  In  the  afternoon,  committed  part  of  137th  Psalm,  and  read  Life 
of  Chrysostom.  In  evening,  attended  church  ;  Mr.  Johns  preached; 
text,  God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner;  walked  to  near  home  with 
Col.  Dudley;  found  Mrs.  Garniss  with  wife;  went  home  with  her; 
wrote  the  foregoing,  and  now  to  bed." 

Under  date  December  25,  1840,  appear  the  words: 

"  When  I  ceased  writing  in  this  journal,  last  August,  I  intended 
only  to  omit  it  for  a  day  or  two.  The  day  or  two,  by  procrastina- 
tion, has  been  extended  to  near  four  months.  Yet  idleness  has  not 
been  the  cause  of  the  omission.  I  have  allowed  other  things,  of  less 
real  importance,  to  engross  the  time. 

"During  the  interval,  I  have  been  at  Lockport,  in  New  York, 
and  at  Chicago,  in  Illinois.  Went  to  Chicago  from  Cleveland,  in 
steamboat  of  that  name.  Encountered  storm  on  Lake  Huron.  Read 
History  of  Michigan  and  Cobbett  on  Paper  Money,  on  board  the  boat. 

"Since  my  return,  have  been  almost  constantly  occupied  in  pro- 
fessional duties  and  public  engagements.  Have,  nevertheless,  con- 
tinued to  read  Thiers,  and  have  commenced  De  Tocqueville  de  la 
Democratic  des  Etats  Unis. 

"To-day  I  rose  too  late;  attended  to  private  and  family  prayer; 
afterward  read  several  chapters  in  Leviticus;  having  again  began 
to  read  the  Scriptures  in  course,  intending  to  read  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  private  and  the  New  with  the  family;  the  19th  chapter; 
analyzed  and  compai-ed  its  precepts  with  the  ten  commandments, 
which  it  expands  and  enforces  in  a  most  admirable  manner.  It  is 
my  deliberate  opinion  that  all  the  writings  of  all  moral  and  politi- 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  293 

cal  philosophers  do  not  contain  so  much  practical  wisdom,  whether 
applicable  to  States  or  persons.  While  analyzing  this  chapter,  my  wife 

came  in,  ready  to  go  to  church.  We  went;  an  excellent  sermon  from 
Mr.  Johns,  on  the  Divinity  of  our  Savior,  from  Mai.,  'The  Lord  whom 
ye  seek,'  etc.  After  sermon,  communion.  Before  church  received  a 
letter  from  several  clergymen  in  reply  to  a  note  signed  by  myself 
and  others  as  a  committee  of  Young  Men's  Bihle  Society,  in  answer 
to  a  remonstrance  on  their  part  against  the  election  of  Unitarians 
as  officers,  or  the  selection  of  such  as  speakers  for  the  Society. 
Thought  the  letter  weak  as  an  argument. 

"  After  church,  read  a  few  pages  in  French  Revolution,  and  then 
went  to  Mr.  Ball's  to  dine.  A  small  and  not  very  interesting  party. 
Might  have  made  it  more  interesting  and  profitable  had  I  taken  the 
proper  course. 

"  Coming  home,  called  at  Mrs.  Smith's,  where  we  had  left  our 
baby,  who  has  now  grown  finely,  and  is  very  healthy.  After  coming 
home,  went  to  Mr.  Garniss',  where  we  sat  talking  some  time;  then 
home  again  to  tea;  then  to  my  office,  whence  returned  immediately 
without  doing  any  thing.  Read  Thiers'  Geography  of  Switzerland,  and 
wrote.     Wife  unwell  from  cold,  and  retired  early. 

"  Wife  made  Christmas  presents — Margaret,  dress ;  Nancy,  shawl ; 
Betsey,  half  dollar ;  me,  suspenders.  I  gave  Warren  a  silver  pencil 
case." 

Does  it  not  seem  strange  to  any  one  who  is  old  enough  to  remem- 
ber 1840  clearly — does  it  not  seem  strange  to  any  such  reader  that 
these  words  should  have  been  written  during  that  year  by  Salmon 
Portland  Chase  ? 

Was  this  man  a  politician  at  that  time?  Was  he  ambitious 
then  ?     Did  he  contemplate  presidential  possibilities  ? 


294  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 


CHAPTER   XX. 

FROM    1840  TO    1845 — THE     VANZANDT     CASE — POLITICS     AND    PROFES- 
SIONAL OCCUPATIONS — DEATH  OF  THE  SECOND  WIFE. 

THE  mad  fashion  of  1840  was  little  to  the  liking  of  the  man  whose 
character  we  more  and  more  perceive  assuming  grand  propor- 
tions. Chase,  indeed,  supported  Harrison  ;  but  the  support  was  not 
markedly  enthusiastic.  Its  character  may  be  somewhat  indicated 
by  this  entry,  under  date  February  13,  1841 : 

"  Wrote  to  Gen.  Harrison  by  Maj.  Clarkson,  recommending  ap- 
pointment of  C.  to  post-office  in  Cincinnati,  E.  to  consulate  in 
Europe,  or  some  other  suitable  port,  and  G.  to  consulate  in  Europe, 
and  advising  the  General  to  make  no  allusion  to  the  subject  of 
slavery  in  his  inaugural  address." 

Gen.  Harrison  did  not  heed  this  counsel.  He  followed  the  ex- 
amples of  his  predecessors,  Van  Buren  and  Jackson.  Slavery  was 
strong,  and  Harrison  was  weak. 

The  death  of  Harrison,  however,  was  an  event  which  very  natu- 
rally interested  Chase. 

I  can  not  find  room  for  a  very  pleasant  account  of  a  river  trip,  on 
w-hich  our  hero  went  with  his  wife  and  their  little  daughter,  who 
were  on  the  way  to  New  Orleans,  as  far  as  Louisville.  We  must  go 
forward  rapidly ;  and  much  that  I  would  like  to  offer  must  be  un- 
presented. 

Very  marked  was  the  course  of  Mr.  Chase  in  Council  as  a  foe  to 
King  Alcohol.  One  entry  in  the  register  so  often  quoted  contains 
the  sentences  : 

"  On  Wednesday  evening,  at  the  Council,  I  openly  declared  my 
resolution  to  vote  for  no  more  licenses  to  sell  intoxicating  drinks, 
whether  to  taverns  or  other  houses,  and  I  took  some  pains  to  pre- 
vent the  grant  of  a  license  to  a  new  house  proposed  to  be  established 
on    Main    Street,    in    which   I  succeeded.      I    do  n't    know   what 


; 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  295 

the  effect  may  be  on  me  personally,  but  I  believe  that  I  have  done 
right." 

That  is  not  the  language  of  a  politician.     It  is  not  the  language 
of  a  man  preferring  popularity  to  self-esteem  and  self-approval. 
It  is  pleasant  to  encounter  such  paragraphs  as  this : 

"Greatly  disappointed  getting  no  letter  from  my  wife,  Miss 
Hewson  having  received  one  from  Mr.  Hewson,  who  went  in  the 
same  boat,  dated  on  the  12th,  the  boat  having  arrived  on  the  10th. 
Wrote  to  wife ;  sent  one  letter  by  New  Orleans  steamboat,  the 
other  by  mail.  Went  to  Miss  Hewson's  in  the  evening,  hoping  to 
hear  something  of  her — in  vain." 

On  the  next  day,  Sunday,  Mr.  Chase,  "  after  church,  read  on  the 
subject  of  Temperance  with  a  view  to  oppose  farther  licensing  of 
houses  for  sale  of  liquor  by  City  Council." 

The  following  Sunday  he  marked  with  an  entry,  opening  as 
follows: 

"  This  is  Sunday — always  a  welcome  day  to  me,  though,  in  one 
sense,  it  can  hardly  be  called  a  day  of  rest." 

The  same  entry  concludes : 

"  Afterwards,  read  Dymond's  Essays,  Temperance  Documents, 
and  Bible  ;  reading  desultory,  and,  of  course,  comparatively  unprofit- 
able." 

On  the  23d  of  May,  1841,  is  the  record  : 

"  Conversed  with  my  dear  wife.  She  said  that  if  she  should  die 
she  should  have  great  pain  in  parting  with  little  Kate,  but  did  not 
doubt  that  the  Lord  would  take  care  of  her.  '  You  don't  know,' 
said  she,  '  how  delighted  I  was  when  you  kneeled  down  with  me 
after  we  were  married.  I  thought  I  should  be  inexcusable  if  I  did 
not  become  pious — all  difficulties  seemed  to  be  taken  out  of  the  way.' 
My  dear  wife  is  not  well,  though,  I  trust,  not  in  great  danger.  It 
is  delightful  to  feel  that  she  sympathizes  with  me  in  religious  views 
and  feelings,  and  to  believe  that  she  is  indeed  a1  child  of  God. 
How  much  sanctity,  how  much  tenderness,  does  this  thought  add 
to  the  marriage  relation." 

In  November,  1841,  the  Cincinnati  Gazette  contained  the  first  call 
for  a  State  Liberty  Convention  in  Ohio,  as  follows  : 

"  It  is  desirable  that  the  friends  of  Constitutional  Liberty  should 
meet  in  convention  at  Columbus  for  the  purpose  of  nominating  a 

1  I  can  not  make  out  the  adjective. 


296  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

candidate  for  Governor  at  the  ensuing  election,  and  for  mutual  con- 
ference with  a  view  to  efficient  political  organization  and  the  pub- 
lic declaration  of  their  political  principles  by  a  suitable  address  and 
resolutions." 

It  is  said  this  call  was  "  originated  "  by  Mr.  Chase.  Perhaps 
that  statement  is  not  quite  correct.  But,  however  that  may  turn  out, 
the  call  was  signed  by  our  hero,  with  Samuel  Lewis,  Thomas  Morris, 
John  Joliffe,  and  W.  Revs.  It  named  Columbus,  and  December 
29,  1841,  for  time  and  place. 

Accordingly,  delegates  from  thirty-six  counties  repaired  to  Colum- 
bus on  that  day.  Some  of  the  delegates  were  opposed  to  nomina- 
tions and  to  action  as  a  party.  But  Hon.  Leicester  King,  of 
Trumbull  County,  was  nominated  for  Governor,  Mr.  Chase  actively 
working  for  that  result,  and  for  an  efficient  organization  in  the 
world  of  party  politics.  The  address,  unanimously  adopted  by  the 
convention,  was  drawn  up  by  him.  And  he  harangued  the  people 
at  various  places,  in  favor  of  the  action  so  taken  by  the  convention. 
Mr.  King  received  between  five  and  six  thousand  votes. 

Here  is  an  entry  under  the  head,  "  Family  Memoranda  :  " 

"  Lizzie  Chase,  daughter  of  S.  P.  C.  and  E.  A.  C,  born  May  30, 
1842 ;  died  August  30,  1842." 

The  next  matter  to  which  I  invite  attention  is  a  letter  of  great 
interest.     It  reads  as  follows  : 

"  March  18th. 

"  Dear  Sir  : — John  Vanzandt,  Avho  is  the  original  of  the  famous 
John  Van  Trompe  in  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,  was  an  old  man  who  had 
emigrated  from  Kentucky,  and  owned  and  occupied  a  small  farm 
in  Hamilton  County.  His  means  were  slender  and  his  education 
limited,  but  his  heart  was  rich  in  benevolence,  and  his  honesty  was 
doubted  by  none.  He  was  an  abolitionist  from  principle  and  from 
sympathy.  He  believed  that  slave-holding  was  wrong,  and  his 
kindly  nature  was  prompt  to  succor  the  distressed,  and  found  espe- 
cial gratification  in  aiding  fugitives  from  the  oppression  of  slavery. 

"  On  the  night  of  Friday,  22d  of  April,  1842,  a  number  of  slaves 
from  Kentucky  escaped  into  Ohio.  Their  escape  was  probably  vol- 
untary. There  are  very  few  cases,  I  believe,  in  which  persons  other 
than  slaves  themselves,  have  had  any  thing  to  do  in  prompting,  or 
even  assisting,  their  original  flight.  This  party  of  slaves  consisted 
of  nine  persons. 

"  On  reaching  the  Ohio,  they,  doubtless,  found  friends  who  con- 
ducted them  to  Walnut  Hills,  in  the  vicinity  of  Lane  Seminary. 
There  Vanzandt,  returning  from  the  Cincinnati  market,  where  he 
had  been  selling  the  products  of  his  farm,  found  them,  and,  moved 
by  sympathy,  undertook  to  convey  them,  in  his  wagon,  to  Lebanon 
or  Springfield.     One  of  the  slaves,  Andrew,  acted  as  driver.     They 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  297 

were  met,  some  fifteen  miles  north  of  Cincinnati,  by  some  ruffians, 
who,  suspecting  them  to  be  fugitive  slaves,  undertook  to  seize  them. 
They  succeeded,  except  as  to  Andrew,  the  driver,  who  jumped  from 
his  seat  and  escaped. 

"Such  was  the  temper  of  the  times,  and  such  the  countenance 
given,  by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  to  such  practices,  that 
this  abduction  of  persons  from  this  jurisdiction  of  Ohio  into  Ken- 
tucky could  not  be  punished.  A  prosecution  was  commenced  against 
them,  and  there  was  a  sort  of  trial  as  to  some  of  them.  The  prose- 
cuting attorney,  however,  evinced  little  zeal,  while  they  were  defended 
by  Thomas  Corwin  and  John  B.  Weller,  both  men  of  marked  ability. 
The}'  were  acquitted,  more  by  the  public  sentiment  than  by  the  jury, 
who  rendered  the  verdict  of  acquittal. 

"  Vanzandtwas  sued  by  Jones,  from  whom  the  slaves  had  escaped, 
for  harboring  and  concealing  them.  I  was  called  upon  to  defend 
Vanzandt,  and  very  willingly  undertook  the  cause.  It  came  to 
trial  before  Judge  McLean,  at  Cincinnati,  in  July,  1842.  The  evi- 
dence having  been  submitted  on  the  part  of  the  plaintiff,  a  motion 
was  made  by  Thomas  Morris,  who  was  associated  with  me  in  the 
defense,  to  overrule  the  evidence,  on  the  ground  that,  admitting  all 
the  facts  proved,  they  established  no  case  of  unlawful  harboring  or 
concealment,  and  no  notice  to  the  defendant  that  the  alleged  fugitives 
had  escaped  from  Kentucky  into  Ohio.  These  propositions  were 
full}*  discussed  by  Mr.  Morris  and  myself,  on  the  one  side,  and  by 
Messrs.  Fox  and  Southgate,  on  the  other.  My  argument  occupied 
nearly  three  hours,  and  I  really  thought  I  had  established,  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  court,  that,  in  order  to  charge  a  citizen  of  Ohio 
with  the  penalties  denounced  by  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  against,  har- 
boring and  concealing  persons  escaping  from  slavery,  there  must  be 
proof  of  actual  notice,  to  the  person  charged,  that  the  objects  of  his 
charity  had  escaped  from  a  slave  State  into  the  State  where  he 
received  them.  The  words  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  itself  were 
express,  that,  to  create  a  liability  to  penalty,  the  acts  charged  must 
be  '  after  notice,'  and  I  insisted  that  the  words  '  after  notice  '  must 
be  taken  to  mean  notice  by  the  claimant  of  the  fact  of  escape,  or,  at 
least,  actual  notice  given  by  somebody  of  that  fact  with  a  view  to 
charge  the  party  notified.  I  think  the  general  impression  in  the 
large  audience  of  intelligent  gentlemen  who  listened  to  my  argument, 
was,  that  these  points,  at  least,  were  established.  Indeed,  such  was 
the  impression  made  upon  the  mind  of  the  plaintiff,  Jones,  that  he 
came  to  me,  after  the  adjournment  of  the  court  upon  the  close  of  the 
argument,  and  said  he  was  sorry  that  he  had  brought  the  suit,  and 
should  not  have  done  so  if  he  had  not  been  badly  advised.  The 
next  morning,  however,  scattered  my  anticipations.  The  judge  came 
into  the  court  and  overruled  the  motion. 

"Upon  this,  the  cause  went  to  the  jury,  and  was  again  fully  ar- 
gued ;  but,  under  the  law,  as  stated  from  the  bench,  there  was  no 
possible  hope  of  a  favorable  verdict.  It  was  against  the  defendant, 
with  damages  to  the  amount  of  $1200. 

"  I  then  made  a  motion  for  a  new  trial,  and  another  for  an  arrest 
of  judgment.  They  were  argued  together.  The  judge  did  not  decide 
the  motion  in  arrest,  but,  in  the  course  of  his  opinion  upon  the  other 


298  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

motion,  stated  principles  which  would  necessarily  decide  that  motion 
in  favor  of  the  defendant.  I  did  not  press  the  motion  in  arrest 
farther  at  that  time,  nor  did  I  take  the  new  trial. 

"Besides  this  suit  for  damages,  an  action  had  been  prosecuted 
against  Vanzandt  to  recover  the  penalty  of  $500,  given  b}'  the  act 
of  1793.  In  this  action,  as  in  the  other,  the  verdict  was  for  the 
plaintiff.  Several  questions,  however,  which  arose  during  the  pros- 
ecution, and  several  questions  which  arose  upon  the  motion  to  arrest 
the  judgment  in  this  case,  were  carried  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  for  final  decision.  I  preferred  to  await  the  decision 
upon  these  questions  before  determining  what  course  I  should  pursue 
in  relation  to  the  verdict  for  damages. 

"  At  the  December  term,  1841,  the  cause  was  argued  upon  certified 
questions  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Sen- 
ator Moorhead  appeared  for  Jones,  while  Gov.  Seward  and  I  repre- 
sented Vanzandt.  The  case  was  reached  upon  the  docket  sooner 
than,  through  information  from  one  of  the  judges,  I  had  been  led  to 
expect,  and,  at  my  instance,  a  postponement  was  asked.  The  court 
denied  it,  but  consented  to  receive  written  arguments  if  presented 
within  fifteen  days.  The  time  was  short,  but  the  arguments  were 
submitted,  and  the  case  decided,  upon  all  points,  adversely  to  Van- 
zandt. When  the  certificates  of  these  decisions  were  presented  in 
the  Circuit  Court,  final  judgment  for  the  penalty  was,  of  course, 
entered. 

"  I  then  moved  in  arrest  of  the  judgment  in  the  suit  for  damages, 
but  the  judge  had  changed  his  opinion  on  the  controlling  points, 
and  the  decision  was  again  adverse.  I  then  proposed  to  accept  the 
new  trial  upon  the  terms  of  the  order  already  made;  but  the  court 
had  changed  its  opinion  upon  this  question  also,  and  denied  the 
motion,  and  judgment  was  entered  against  Vanzandt  for  the  $1200 
damages  as  well  as  for  the  penalty.  The  character  of  the  eminent 
judge  who  made  these  decisions  forbids  the  supposition  that  he  was 
controlled  by  any  other  than  upright  purposes  ;  but  I  could  never 
help  thinking  that,  in  the  absence  of  the  universal  bias  created  by 
the  dread  of  the  slave  power,  the  decisions  would  have  been  very 
different. 

"  My  connection  with  these  cases  necessarily  terminated  with  the 
judgments.  Both  Mr.  Seward  and  myself  gave  our  services  without 
compensation.  A  small  sum  was  contributed  by  friends  for  the 
actual  expenses  of  the  defense,  but  it  was  not  sufficient  even  for  that 
purpose.  The  loss  Vanzandt  suffered  embarrassed  him  seriously, 
and,  I  believe,  he  never  recovered  from  its  damaging  effects.  He 
has  long  since  gone  where  the  Supreme  Judge  of  all  certainly  holds 
humanity  no  crime.  Vanzandt's  best  monument  is  in  Mrs.  Stowe's 
immortal  book.     Yours,  truly, 

"S.  P.  CHASE." 

December,  1842,  was  marked  by  the  action,  at  Columbus,  of  a 
State  convention  of  the  Liberty  Party.  Mr.  Chase  was  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  resolutions  and  address.  He  also  spoke  to 
the  convention  in  a  set  speech. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  299 

This  remarkable  discourse  insisted  that  slavery  could  not,  consti- 
tutionally, exist  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Congress,  whether  in  the 
Territories,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  or  in  vessels  on  the  high 
seas.  It  set  forth  the  importance  of  international  negotiations  for 
the  free  admission  of  the  agricultural  products  of  the  West  into  the 
markets  of  Europe.  It  declared  against  a  mere  paper  money  sys- 
tem of  currency,  and  against  the  frauds  and  undue  expansions  of 
banks  and  their  suspensions  of  payment  on  their  issues  and  deposits. 
The  speaker  confessed  his  faith  in  favor  of  free  trade,  yet  so  as  that, 
while  the  expenses  of  government  should  continue  to  be  derived 
from  duties  as  imports,  those  duties  should  be  so  arranged  as  to  en- 
courage any  branch  of  production  or  fabrication  which  would 
thereby,  in  a  reasonable  time,  become  so  established  as  no  longer  to 
require  protection. 

Mr.  Chase  was  never  a  no-party  man.  The  address  drafted  by 
him  for  the  convention,  under  notice,  ably  and  spiritedly  argues 
the  necessity  of  the  new  party. 

Under  date  June  1,  1843,  is  an  entry  which  contains  the  sen- 
tences : 

"About  a  quarter  before  one,  a  little  stranger  was  ushered  into 
the  world;  another  daughter.  I  can  not  be  sufficiently  thankful 
that  my  dear  wife  has  passed  through  the  crisis  so  well." 

Under  date  June  20th,  we  have  : 

"I  have  concluded  not  to  attend  Anti-Slavery  Convention  at 
Bloomingsburg.  Lizzy  still  improves;  baby  opens  her  eyes  a 
little.     Dr.  lets  Lizzy  have  some  strawberries." 

June  23d  witnessed  the  memorandum  of  a  visit,  to  which  this  note 
was  added  : 

"  Came  home  and  called  at  Dr.  Bailey's,  just  returned  from  Bloom- 
ingsburg Convention;  the  best  yet  held  in  the  State;  1500  people; 
excellent  speeches ;  King,  Lewis,  Morris,  Hudson,  and  others ;  en- 
thusiastic and  resolute.  Lizzy  and  baby  still  doing  finely;  Lizzy 
sitting  up  most  of  day." 

The  entry  dated  June  26th,  reads,  in  part,  as  follows : 

"Rose  late;  in  private  and  family  prayer  cold;  alas!  when  shall 
I  overcome  wandering  thoughts  and  worldly  imaginations.  Break- 
fast late;  obliged  to  send  for  bread.  Mr.  Buchler  and  Mr.  Hendry 
Oast  introduced  by  Mr.  B.  F.  Wade),  called  at  office.     Discussed 


300  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    A>'D    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

with  him  (H.)  principles  of  Liberty  men  as  distinguished  from 
abolitionists." 

In  the  entry  dated  July  2d,  appear  tne  sentences  : 

"  Mr.  Cleveland,  in  prayer,  asked  for  the  deliverance  of  the  land 
from  slavery,  among  other  sins  and  evils,  and  in  his  sermon  spoke 
of  the  imprisonment  of  Butler  and  Worcester  in  Georgia  Peniten- 
tiary. Coming  out  of  church,  Mr.  Ewing  asked  me  how  I  liked 
their  stranger.  On  my  expressing  the  gratification  I  felt,  he  said 
his  anti-slavery  feelings  stuck  out  too  much  for  that  congregation 
— that  his  allusion  to  the  imprisonment  in  the  Georgia  Peniten- 
tiary was  evidence  of  it.  '  Why,  I  replied,  '  that  was  no  allusion 
to  slavery!  Butler  and  Worcester  were  the  missionaries,  impris- 
oned by  the  Georgia  authorities,  for  whom  Wirt  made  his  great 
speech.'  It  seemed  that  he  supposed  they  were  abolitionists  impris- 
oned for  some  aggression  on  slavery — and  this  gent,  is  one  of  the 
most  intelligent  members  of  the  church." 

The  Buffalo  Convention  of  1843  was  a  most  important  body,  and 
the  role  of  our  hero  in  it  was  not  second  to  that  of  any  other  mem- 
ber. He  prepared  the  platform.  But  he  did  not  propose  or  approve 
the  resolution  in  favor  of  treating  a  clause  of  the  Constitution,  when- 
ever applied  in  the  case  of  a  fugitive  slave  as  utterly  null  and  void, 
and  consequently  as  forming  no  part  of  the  supreme  law  of  the  land, 
"whenever  called  upon  or  sworn  to  support  it." 

The  truth  in  this  respect  was  made  known  by  Senator  Chase  in 
reply  to  Mr.  Butler,  of  South  Carolina.     Said  Mr.  Chase: 

"  I  have  only  to  say,  I  never  proposed  the  resolution ;  I  never 
would  propose  or  vote  for  such  a  resolution.  I  hold  no  doctrine  of 
mental  reservation.  Every  man.  in  my  judgment,  should  say  pre- 
cisely what  he  means — keeping  nothing  back,  here  or  elsewhere." 

Rev.  John  Pierpont,  of  Massachusetts,  was  the  real  father  of  the 
fanatical  folly  in  question.  It  was  submitted  to  the  Committee  on 
resolutions.  Mr.  Chase  opposed  it,  and  the  committee  rejected  it. 
But  Mr.  Pierpont  was  not  vanquished.  He  proposed  his  resolution 
in  open  convention,  when  Mr.  Chase  was  not  present,  and  it  was 
adopted  without  discussion,  in  a  blaze  of  enthusiasm. 

Mr.  Chase,  in  1844,  supported  James  G.  Birney. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Loyal  National  Repeal  Association  of  Ireland, 
held  May  10,  1843,  Daniel  O'Connell  said  some  things,  in  his  fash- 
ion, far  from  favorable  to  the  Irish-American  supporters  of  the  then 
"peculiar  institution  of  the  South."     Such  eminent  Irish-American 


OF   SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  301 

repealers  as  David  T.  Disney  were  greatly  concerned  about  that 
utterance  of  the  great  Irish  leader.  They  responded  to  the  liber- 
ator. Mr.  Disney  was  thought  to  have  surpassed  himself  in  that 
response.  But  Mr.  O'Connell,  in  a  letter,  dated  October  11,  1843, 
replied,  more  suo. 

Whereupon  such  eminent  Irish-Americans  as  Salmon  Portland 
Chase  took  up  the  tale.  "  The  Friends  of  Liberty,  Ireland,  and 
Repeal,"  assembled  in  Cincinnati,  and  Mr.  Chase  as  one  of  a  com- 
mittee, prepared  an  address,  reviewing  the  relations  of  the  Federal 
Government  to  slavery  at  the  period  of  its  organization,  setting 
forth  the  original  anti-slavery  policy  and  the  subsequent  growth  of 
the  opposite  policy,  and  vindicating  the  Liberty  Party. 

It  was  surprising  to  find  how  much  Irish  blood  and  Irish  extrac- 
tion showed  themselves  in  born  Americans  at  that  time. 

I  knew  Mr.  Disney  well.  He  wras  a  very  able  man.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  he  was  just  as  conscientious  as  were  Chase  and  the  other 
"  Liberator ;  "  conscientiousness  does  not  always  enable  one  to  dis- 
cern truth  ;  and,  alas !  it  does  not  always  make  one  just  toward  his 
fellow-men.  Mr.  Disney  believed  that  Mr.  Chase  was  keeping  back 
the  day  of  deliverance  for  the  slave  by  agitating  so  excitedly  in  favor 
of  emancipation  and  against  what  Mr.  Disney  deemed  the  constitu- 
tional status  of  the  slaveholder.  Status  did  not  seem  to  Mr.  Disney 
presently  necessary  to  the  slave.  For  a  century  or  so,  he  could  con- 
tent himself  with  the  assurance  that  by  and  by  something  might 
turn  up  to  induce  the  slaveholder  to  give  up  his  human  chattel. 

I  would  not  be  understood  that  abolitionists  did  not  keep  back  the 
day  of  freedom.  That  is  a  theme  of  which  I  speak  not  now.  Here- 
after I  may  say  a  word  about  the  subject,  notwithstanding  its  great 
delicacy. 

Here  is  another  entry  under  the  head,  "  Family  Memoranda : " 

"  Lizzie  Chase,  2nd  daughter  of  S.  P.  Chase  and  E.  Chase,  born 
June  1,  1843;  died  July  24,  1844." 

From  July  3,  1843,  to  April  22,  1849,  there  is  no  entry  in  the 
register  so  often  quoted. l     I  have  found,  however,  another  book  of 


1  The  entry  under  date  July  3,  1843,  is  as  follows  :  "Read,  after  dressing,  a  Psalm, 
the  50th,  and  the  four  first  chapters  of  Matt,  Some  earnestness  in  prayer.  Was 
obliged  to  correct  my  dear  little  Kate.  Prayed  with  ber.  Brought  up  the  journal 
from  June  26." 


302  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

entries,  which  contains  the  following  mournful  record,  under  date 
Nov.  24;  1845: 

"  I  resume  my  journal  after  a  long  intermission,  during  which  the 
saddest  affliction  has  fallen  upon  me.  I  have  recorded  its  details  in 
separate  sheets  which,  with  other  intervening  events  I  may  yet  note 
in  this  book. '  If  so  the  preceding  page  will  exhibit  a  reference  to 
them." 

In  another  book,  under  the  head  "  Family  Memoranda,"  we  have 
the  entry  : 

"  Eliza  Ann  Smith,  born  Nov.  12,  1821 ;  married  S.  P.  Chase,  Sep. 
26,  1839 ;  died  Mon.  2|,  P.  M.,  Sep.  29,  1845;  23  y.  10  m.  17  d." 

The  entry  under  date  Nov.  24th,  goes  on  as  follows  : 

"  This  day  has  been  marked  by  no  extraordinary  event;  rose,  as 
usual,  of  late,  before  sunrise;  breakfasted  with  sister  Alice  and  little 
Kate.  Eead  Scriptures  (Job)  to  little  Kate,  who  listened  and  seemed 
to  be  pleased,  probably  with  the  solemn  rhythm — for  she  certainly 
can  understand  very  little ;  then  prayed  with  her ;  then  to  town  in 
omnibus;  unshaven,  for  want  of  time." 

It  concludes  as  follows : 

"  Home  in  omnibus.  Eead  newspapers;  read  Landscape  Gardening. 
Heard  little  Kate  read  a  little  poem  ;  also  in  Bible  ;  and  wrote  above. 
A  little  more  time  now  on  Vanzandt  case,  and  then  to  bed." 

Under  date  Nov.  25th,  is  an  entry,  from  which  I  draw  these  words  : 

"  Supper.  Prayers.  Heard  Kate  read  Bible.  Before  coming 
down  called  on  Whitney,  railroad  king — he  full  of  enthusiasm,  which 
he  has  breathed  into  Cist,  who  now  admits  himself  mistaken  as  to 
the  destiny  of  Cincinnati  to  be  the  greatest  city  in  the  world,  which 
preeminence  is,  in  his  opinion,  reserved  for  the  city  to  be  at  the 
Pacific  termination  of  the  railroad." 

Dec.  2d,  has  the  entry : 

"  I  wrote  nothing  on  Sunday  or  Monday  night  because  I  felt  too  much 
indisposed.  On  Sunday,  however,  I  was  at  church  in  the  morning, 
and  in  the  afternoon  attended  funeral  services  of  Sam.  Lewis'  child, 
at  his  house  on  Broadw^vy.  He  is  said  to  have  been  a  very  bright 
child,  just  turned  of  4  years — only  two  months  younger  than  my 
dear  little  Kate,2  and  destroyed  by  the  same  dreadful  disease— the 
scarlet  fever.  During  the  night,  Sunday,  I  was  quite  ill,  and  much 
alarmed  by  my  symptoms — sinking  faintness,  palpitation,  violent 
shaking.  Dear  sister  Alice  wrapped  me  up  warm — made  a  fire  in 
my  room  and  gave  me  hot  drink,  and,  after  a  while,  I  got  bettei. 


1  Not  done.  2  The  first  daughter. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  303 

Monday  I  was  in  town,  and  devoted  most  of  my  time  to  stating  an 
account  of  my  debts,  which  were  more  than  I  expected.  I  thought  I 
had  reduced  them  to  about  £!•, 000,  but  found  them  to  exceed  $11,000. 
Abstained  from  dinner  in  hope  of  benefit  from  it.  To  bed  soon  after 
prayers,  and  rather  restless  eight.  Very  cold  this  morning.  Rather 
restless  night.  Thermometer  this  morning  8°  above  zero.  To  town 
in  sleigh  omnibus.  Busied  chiefly  as  yesterday,  but  a  good  deal 
interrupted.  Dined  temperately  at  Mrs.  Capt.  Smith's.  Home  about 
5.  Much  better  than  for  several  days.  Heard  dear  little  Kate  read 
verses  and  Bible,  and  pray;  talked  to  her.  Bead  conclusion  of  Job, 
and  wrote  foregoing  before  family  prayers." 

Part  of  the  next  entry  reads  as  follows  : 

"  Saturday,  Dec.  6.  Up  this  morning  betimes.  Prayers.  Break- 
fast. Heard  Kate  read  a  little.  To  town  in  omnibus.  Morning 
somewhat  interrupted  by  callers,  and  a  good  deal  frittered  away. 
Eead  President's  message — able,  clear,  and  firm  ;  erroneous,  I  think, 
as  to  Texas  and  postage,  but  creditable  to  the  author  as  a  whole." 

In  a  previous  entry  (under  date  Nov.  26th),  occurs  the  sentence  : 

"Mr.  Lewis  called.  Talk  about  his  being  candidate  for  Governor 
of  Liberty  men.     He  coyly  willing." 

Samuel  Lewis  was  a  very  able  man,  and  as  an  orator  he  had  few 
equals.  But  he  seemed  to  me  not  without  jealousy.  Perhaps  he 
never  felt  quite  at  ease  with  our  hero — one  of  the  least  jealous  men 
I  ever  knew. 

It  is  necessary  henceforth  to  give  our  chief  attention  to  the  public 
life  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase.  In  studying  his  private  life  so 
closely  up  to  this  time,  our  chief  object  has  been  to  ascertain  his  char- 
acter and  tendencies  as  a  public  man. 

Thus  far  we  have  bad  reason  to  regard  him  with  esteem  and 
admiration.  He  appears  to  have  been  in  1845  an  eminently  con- 
scientious man.  The  type  of  his  religiousness  is  not  the  type  that 
I  most  love;  but  it  is  true  and  noble.  Public  virtue  appears  in  him 
associated  with  private  virtue. 

In  Chase,  it  seems  to  me  that  public  virtue  shone  most  lustrously 
in  combination  with  most  precious  private  virtue,  down  to  the  days 
when  he  was  busy  toward  assembling  the  so-called  Southern  and 
Western  Liberty  Convention.  That  convention  was  actually  held 
at  Cincinnati,  June  11  and  12,  1845.  It  was  early  in  the  spring  of 
that  year  that  Mr.  Chase,  with  Samuel  Lewis,  Dr.  Wm.  H.  Bris- 
bane, of  Ohio,  and  Judge  Stevens,  of  Indiana,  began  to  obtain  sig- 
natures to  the  call,  which  contains  the  words: 


304  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"It  is  not  designed  that  the  convention  shall  be  composed  exclu- 
sively of  the  Liberty  party,  but  of  all  who,  believing  that  whatever 
is  worth  preserving  in  republicanism  can  be  maintained  only  by 
eternal  and  uncompromising  war  against  the  criminal  usurpations 
of  the  slave  power,  are  resolved  to  use  all  constitutional  and  honor- 
able and  just  means  to  effect  the  extinction  of  slavery  in  the  respec- 
tive States,  and  its  reduction  to  its  constitutional  limits  in  the  United 
States.  We  therefore  earnestly  invite  all  who  desire  to  cooperate 
for  the  deliverance  of  our  beloved  and  otherwise  glorious  country 
from  its  greatest  curse  and  most  appalling  danger,  by  speech,  by  the 
pen,  by  the  press,  and  by  the  ballot,  to  give  to  the  convention  the 
sanction  of  their  personal  presence  and  to  aid  in  its  proceedings  by 
their  counsels.  Our  fellow-citizens  also,  of  all  parties,  slaveholders 
and  non-slaveholders,  who  desire  to  acquaint  themselves  with  the 
true  nature  and  probable  results  of  the  Liberty  movement  in  the 
United  States,  are  cordially  invited  to  come  and  see  and  hear.  And 
may  God's  blessing  help  the  good  cause." 

I  do  not  wish  to  exaggerate  the  distinctions  of  the  address  drawn 
up  by  Mr.  Chase  for  the  convention,  actually  held  as  already  hinted. 
I  hold  in  my  hand  a  little  volume,  published  at  London,  in  1867, 
on  the  title-page  of  which  appear  the  words,  "Anti-Slavery  Addresses 
o/1844  and  1845.  By  Salmon  Portland  Chase  and  Charles  Dexter 
Cleveland."     In  a  note,  Prof.  Cleveland  says  : 

"  Of  the  two  addresses  I  place  the  Philadelphia  first,  simply  be- 
cause it  was  the  first  in  the  order  of  time.  Had  I  placed  them  ac- 
cording to  their  merits,  the  Cincinnati  address  would,  of  course,  come 
first ;  and  the  other  next,  indeed,  but  in  the  expressive  language  of 
Milton,  'long  after  next.'  " 

I  can  imagine  Mr.  Chase  according  the  palm  to  the  address  to 
which  beyond  all  question  that  prepared  by  him  was  under  so  much 
obligation.  It  was  at  a  convention  of  delegates  of  the  Liberty  party 
of  the  eastern  section  of  Pennsylvania,  held  in  Philadelphia,  Febru- 
ary 22,  1844,  that  Prof.  Cleveland  was  made  the  chairman  of  a 
committee  to  prepare  the  address  which  he  afterward  actually,  so 
ably,  did  prepare.  In  some  respects  this  paper  is  inferior  to  that  of 
Chase,  by  which  it  was  followed.  On  the  whole,  the  one  is  quite 
equal  to  the  other,  in  my  judgment. 

In  the  Chase  address  are  these  words : 

"What,  then,  is  the  position  of  the  political  parties  of  the  country 
in  relation  to  this  subject?  One  of  these  parties  professes  to  be 
guided  by  the  most  liberal  principles.  '  Equal  and  exact  justice  to 
all  men;'  'equal  rights  for  all  men  ;'  'inflexible  opposition  to  oppres- 
sion,' are  its  favorite  mottoes.     It  claims   to  bo  the  true  friend   of 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  305 

popular  government,  and  assumes  the  name  of  Democratic.  Among 
its  members  are.  doubtless,  many  who  cherish  its  professions  as 
sacred  principles,  and  believe  that  the  great  cause  of*  freedom  and 
progress  is  to  be  served  by  promoting  its  ascendancy.  But  when  we 
compare  the  maxims  of  the  so-called  Democratic  party  with  its  acts, 
its  hypocrisy  is  plainly  revealed.  Among  its  leading  members  we 
find  the  principal  slaveholders  the  chiefs  of  the  oligarchy.  It  has 
never  scrupled  to  sacrifice  the  rights  of  the  free  States,  or  of  the 
people,  to  the  demands  of  the  slave  power.  Like  Sir  Pertinax 
licSycophant,  its  northern  leaders  believe  that  the  great  secret  of 
advancement  lies  in  '  bowing  well.'  No  servility  seems  too  gross,  no 
self-degradation  too  great  to  be  submitted  to.  They  think  themselves 
well  rewarded  if  the  unit}*  of  the  party  be  preserved  and  the  spoils  of 
victory  secured.  If,  in  the  distribution  of  these  spoils,  they  receive 
only  the  jackal's  share,  they  content  themselves  with  the  reflec- 
tion that  little  is  better  than  nothing.  They  declaim  loudly  against 
all  monopolies,  all  special  privileges,  all  encroachments  on  personal 
rights,  all  distinctions  founded  upon  birth;  and  compensate  them- 
selves for  these  efforts  of  virtue,  by  practicing  the  vilest  oppression 
upon  all  their  countrymen,  in  whose  complexions  the  slightest  trace 
of  African  derivation  can  be  detected. 

"Profoundly  do  we  revere  the  maxims  of  true  Democracy ;  they  are 
identical  with  those  of  true  Christianity,  in  relation  to  the  rights  and 
duties  of  men  as  citizens.  And.  our  reverence  for  Democratic  principles 
is  the  precise  measure  of  our  detestation  of  the  policy  of  those  who  are 
permitted  to  shape  the  action  of  the  Democratic  party.  Political  con- 
cert with  that  party,  under  its  present  leadership,  is,  therefore, 
plainly  impossible.  Nor  do  we  entertain  the  hope,  which  many,  no 
doubt,  honestly  cherish,  that  the  professed  principles  of  the  party  will,  at 
length,  bring  it  light  upon  the  question  of  slavery.  Its  professed  princi- 
ples have  been  the  same  for  nearly  half  a  centuiy,  and  yet  the  sub- 
jection of  the  party  to  the  slave  power  is,  at  this  moment,  as  com- 
plete as  ever.  There  is  no  prospect  of  any  change  for  the  better, 
until  those  Democrats  whose  hearts  are  really  possessed  by  a  gen- 
emus  love  of  liberty  for  all,  and  by  an  honest  hatred  of  oppression, 
shall  manfully  assert  their  individual  independence,  and  refuse  their 
support  to  the  panders  of  slavery. 

••There  is  another  party  which  boasts  that  it  is  conservative  in 
its  character.  Its  watchwords  are,  'a  tariff,'  'a  banking  system,' 
•the  Union  as  it  is."  Among  its  members,  also,  are  many  sincere 
opponents  of  slavery  :  and  the  party  itself,  seeking  aid  in  the  at- 
tainment of  power,  and  anxious  to  carry  its  favorite  measures,  and 
bound  together  by  no  such  professed  principles  as  secure  the  unity 
of  the  Democratic  party,  often  concedes  much  to  their  anti-slavery 
views.  It  is  not  unwilling,  in  those  States  and  parts  of  States  where 
anti-slavery  sentiment  prevails,  to  assume  an  anti-slavery  attitude, 
ami  claims  to  be  an  anti-slavery  party.  Like  the  Democratic  party, 
however,  the  Whig  party  maintains  alliances  with  the  slaveholder. 
It  proposes,  in  its  national  conventions,  no  action  against  slavery. 
It  has  no  anti-slavery  article  in  its  national  creed.  Among  its  lead- 
ers and  champions,  in  Congress  and  out  of  Congress,  none  are  so 
honored  and    trusted  as  slaveholders  in  practice  and  in  principle. 


306  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Whatever  the  Whig  party,  therefore,  concedes  to  anti-slavery,  must  be  re- 
luctantly conceded.  Its  natural  position  is  conservative.  Its  natural 
line  of  action  is  to  maintain  things  as  they  are.  Its  natural  bond  of  union 
is  regard  for  interests  rather  than  for  rights.  There  are,  doubtless, 
zealous  opponents  of  slavery,  who  are  also  zealous  Whigs  ;  but  they 
h-ave  not  the  general  confidence  of  their  party ;  they  are  under  the 
ban  of  the  slaveholders;  and  in  any  practical  anti-slavery  movement, 
as,  for  example,  the  repeal  of  the  laws  which  sanction  slaveholding 
in  the  District  of  Columbia,  would  meet  the  determined  opposition 
of  a  large  and  most  influential  section  of  the  party,  not  because  the 
people  of  the  free  States  would  be  opposed  to  the  measure,  but  be- 
cause it  would  be  displeasing  to  the  oligarchy  and  fatal  to  party 
unity.  We  are  constrained  to  think,  therefore,  that  all  expectation 
of  efficient  anti-slavery  action  from  the  Whig  party,  as  now  organ- 
ized, will  prove  delusive.  Nor  do  we  perceive  any  probability  of  a 
change  in  its  organization,  separating  its  anti-slavery  from  its  pro- 
slavery  constituents,  and  leaving  the  former  in  possession  of  the 
name  and  influence  of  the  party.  With  the  Whig  party,  therefore,  as 
at  present  organized,  it  is  as  impossible  for  us,  whose  mottoes  are  'Equal 
rights  and  fair  wages  for  all,'1  and  lthe  Union  as  it  should  be,'  to  act  in 
alliance  and  concert,  as  it  is  for  us  so  to  act  with  the  so-called  Democratic 
party.  We  can  not  choose  between  these  parties  for  the  sake  of  any 
local  or  partial  advantage,  without  sacrificing  consistency,  self-respect, 
and  mutual  confidence.  While  we  say  this,  we  are  bound  to  add, 
that  were  either  of  these  parties  to  disappoint  our  expectations,  and  to 
adopt  into  its  national  creed  as  its  leading  articles,  the  principles 
which  we  regard  as  fundamental,  and  enter  upon  a  course  of  unfeigned 
and  earnest  action  against  the  system  of  slavery,  we  should  not  hesitate, 
regarding,  as  we  do,  the  question  of  slavery  as  the  paramount  question  of 
our  day  and  nation,  to  give  to  it  our  cordial  and  vigorous  support,  until 
slavery  should  be  no  more.'" 

The  last  of  the  foregoing  sentences  opens  the  way  to  understand- 
ing of  the  following  extract : 

"  With  what  party,  then,  shall  we  act  ?  Or  shall  we  act  with 
none  ?  Act,  in  some  way,  we  must ;  for  the  possession  of  the  right 
of  suffrage,  the  right  of  electing  our  own  law-makers  and  rulers, 
imposes  upon  us  the  corresponding  duty  of  voting  for  men  who  Avill 
carry  out  the  views  which  we  deem  of  paramount  importance 
and  obligation.  Act  together  we  must,  for  upon  the  questions 
which  we  regard  as  the  most  vital  we  are  fully  agreed.  We  must 
act  then;  act  together;  and  act  against  slavery  and  oppression. 
Acting  thus,  we  necessarily  act  as  a  party;  for  what  is  a  parti/, 
but  a  body  of  citizens,  acting  together  politically,  in  good  faith,  upon 
common  principles,  for  a  common  object?  And  if  there  be  a  party 
already  in  existence,  animated  by  the  same  motives  and  aiming 
at  the  same  results  as  ourselves,  we  must  act  with  and  in  that 
party- 

"  That  there  is  such  a  party  is  well  known.  It  is  the  Liberty  party  of 
the  United  States.     Its  principles,  measures,  and  objects  we  cordially 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  307 

approve.  It  founds  itself  upon  the  great  cardinal  principle  of  true  Democ- 
racy and  of  true  Christianity,  the  brotherhood  of  the  Human  family.  It 
avows  Us  purpose  to  wage  war  against  slaveholding  as  the  direst  form  of 
oppression,  and  then  against  every  other  species  of  tyranny  and  injustice. 

Its  views  on  the  subject  of  shivery  in  this  country  arc,  in  the  main, 
the  same  as  those  which  we  have  set  forth  in  this  address.  Its 
members  agree  to  regard  the  extinction  of  slavery  as  the  most  im- 
portant end  which  can,  at  this  time,  be  proposed  to  political  action  ; 
and  they  agree  to  differ  as  to  other  questions  of  minor  importance, 
such  as  those  of  trade  and  currency,  believing  that  these  can  be 
satisfactorily  disposed  of,  when  the  question  of  slavery  shall  he 
settled,  and  that,  until  then,  they  can  not  be  satisfactorily  disposed 
of  at  all. 

"  The  rise  of  such  a  party  as  this  was  anticipated  long  before  its 
actual  organization,  by  the  single-hearted  and  patriotic  Charles 
Follen,  a  German  by  birth,  but  a  true  American  by  adoption  and 
in  spirit.  '  If  there  ever  is  to  be  in  this  country,1  he  said,  in  1836,  '  a 
party  that  shall  take  its  name  and  character,  not  from  particular 
liberal  measures  or  popular  men,  but  from  its  uncompromising  and 
consistent  adherence  to  freedom — a  truly  liberal  and  thoroughly 
republican  party,  it  must  direct  its  first  decided  effort  against  the 
grossest  form,  the  most  complete  manifestation  of  oppression  ;  and, 
having  taken  anti-slavery  ground,  it  must  carry  out  the  principle 
of  liberty  in  all  its  consequences.  It  must  support  every  measure 
conducive  to  the  greatest  possible  individual,  and  social,  moral,  in- 
tellectual, religious,  and  political  freedom,  whether  that  measure 
be  brought  forward  by  inconsistent  slaveholders  or  consistent  free- 
men. It  must  embrace  the  whole  sphere  of  human  action,  watch- 
ing and  opposing  the  slightest  illiberal  and  anti-republican  tendency, 
and  concentrating  its  whole  force  and  influence  against  slavery 
itself,  in  comparison  with  which  every  other  species  of  tyranny  is 
tolerable,  and  by  which  every  other  is  strengthened  and  iusti- 
fied.'  .. 

"Thus  wrote  Charles  Follen  in  1836.  It  is  impossible  to  express 
better  tic  want  which  enlightened  lovers  of  liberty  felt  of  a  real 
Democratic  party  in  the  country — Democratic,  not  in  name  only,  but 
in  deed  and  in  truth.  In  this  want,  thus  felt,  the  Liberty  party 
had  its  origin,  and  so  long  as  this  want  remains  otherwise  unsatis- 
fied, the  Liberal  party  must  exist,  not  as  a  mere  abolition  party, 
but  as  a  truly  Democratic  party,  which  aims  at  the  extinction  of 
slavery,  because  slaveholding  is  inconsistent  with  Democratic  prin- 
ciples ;  aims  at  it,  not  as  an  ultimate  end,  but  as  the  most  important 
present  object ;  as  a  great  and  necessary  step  in  the  work  of  reform  ; 
as  an  illustrious  era  in  the  advancement  of  society,  to  be  wrought 
out  by  its  action  and  instrumentality.  The  Liberty  party  of  1845  is, 
in  truth,  the  Liberty  party  of  1776  revived.  It  is  more:  it  is  the  party  of 
Advancement  and  Freedom,  which  has,  in  every  age,  and  with  varying  suc- 
cess, fought  the  battles  of  Human  Liberty,  against  the  party  of  False  Con- 
servatism and  Slavery." 

We  hear  and  read  that  the  man  who  could  so  express  himself  in  1845, 
21 


308 


THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


when  lie  was  thirty -seven  years  of  age,  was  inordinately  ambitious. 
I  can  not  believe  it. 

I  have  not  forgotten  that  it  was  his  pen  that  wrote  these  words  in 
1845: 

"  No  question  half  so  important  as  that  of  slavery  engages  the 
attention  of  the  American  people.  All  others,  in  fact,  dwindle  into 
insignificance  in  comparison  with  it.  The  question  of  slavery  is, 
and  until  it  shall  be  settled,  must  be,  the  paramount  moral  and 
political  question  of  the  day.  We,  at  least,  so  regard  it,  and,  so  re- 
garding it,  must  subordinate  every  other  question  to  it. 

"  It  follows,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  that  we  can  not  yield 
our  political  support  to  any  party  which  does  not  take  our  ground 
upon  the  question." 

So  said  Mr.  Chase  as  the  author  of  the  "  Cincinnati  Address," 
before  referred  to.  Was  he  faithful  to  the  doctrine  which  we  have 
just  seen  ?  I  answer  that  I  confidently  expect  to  show  that  he 
always  wished  and  endeavored  to  be  faithful  to  that  view  of  action, 
in  and  with  the  parties  of  his  day. 


OF   SALMON  PORTLAND   CHASE.  309 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

THE  WATSON  CASE — THE    THIRD    MARRIAGE — POLITICS. 

BEFORE  one  of  the  ablest  judges  ever  commissioned  in  Ohio — 
before  Judge  Read — of  whom  we  have  already  seen  a  little  in 
our  notice  of  the  Gedney  Case1 — our  hero  argued  the  well-known 
Watson  Case,  in  1845. 

I  heard  that  argument.  I  heard  the  judgment  it  called  out. 
Never  were  Bench  and  Bar  more  finely  illustrated. 

In  that  case,  as  in  the  Matilda  Case,2  Mr.  Chase  argued,  among 
other  propositions,  that  a  slave,  by  being  brought,  by  the  master, 
within  the  limits  of  free  soil,  was,  ipso  facto,  set  at  liberty. 

Here  is  a  very  interesting  letter  on  the  subject : 

''March  19. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  : — The  case  of  Watson  is  so  fully  stated  in  the 
pamphlet  annexed  to  this,  that  I  do  not  think  it  worth  while  to  re- 
write its  history.  You  will  observe  that  the  logic  of  Judge  Read's 
position,  namely,  that  a  slave  taken  beyond  the  influence  of  the  laws 
which  create  the  relation  of  slavery,  must  be  free,  led,  inevitably,  to 
the  conclusion  that  Watson  was  a  free  man,  and  entitled  to  be  dis- 
charged from  restraint.  But  the  judge  avoided  this  conclusion  b}~  de- 
claring that  the  Ohio  River  was,  for  the  purposes  of  navigation,  under 
the  slave  laws  of  Kentucky  as  much  as  under  the  free  laws  of  Ohio, 
and  overlooked  the  fact  that  Watson,  when  arrested,  was  not  upon  the 
boat,  but  upon  the  landing,  and  was  not  seeking  to  escape.  Had  the 
general  public  opinion  favored  as  decidedly  the  rights  of  men  as  it 
aid  the  claims  of  masters,  Watson  would  have  been,  probably,  dis- 
charged. The  fact  that  during  the  pendency  of  his  case,  Mr.  Polk. 
then  recently  elected  President,  passed  through  Cincinnati,  and  was 
Welcomed  by  Judge  Read,  who  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  same 
party,  had,  also,  it  is  likely,  some  influence  on  the  result. 

"Ten  years  afterward,  1  was  myself  a  candidate  for  the  office  of 
Governor  of  Ohio.  The  part  which  I  took  in  the  Watson  case,  and 
the  speech  1  made  on  receiving  the  testimonial  presented  to  me  by 
the  colored  people,  were  used  as  potent  electioneering  arguments 
against  me.  The  editor  of  one  of  the  leading  presses  advocating  my 
election,  but  far  from  sympathizing  with  my  anti-slavery  views,  was 


'Ante,  Chapter  XVII.  2  Ante,  Chapter  XVII. 


310  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

a  good  deal  exercised  about  the  effect  of  these  appeals  to  prejudices. 
I  wrote  him  to  tell  the  leading  paper  making  these  attacks  that  I 
valued  the  gratitude  of  an  oppressed  people,  manifested  by  the  testi- 
monial presented  to  me,  more  than  I  did  any  office,  even  that  of 
Governor  of  Ohio,  and  to  bid  him  put  that  in  his  pipe  and  smoke  it. 
The  result  showed  that  prejudice  was  not  so  powerful  as  it  had  been. 
•After  my  election.  I  took  a  great  interest  in  the  organization  of 
the  military  system  of  the  State,  thinking  it  wise  to  be  prepared  for 
all  contingencies,  though  I  little  dreamed  of  the  contingencies  which 
have  since  arisen.  The  military  men  of  the  State  took  my  efforts  in 
good  part.  They  held  a  convention  at  Columbus,  to  aid  in  obtaining 
such  legislation  as  was  essential.  During  its  sitting,  the  members 
called  upon  me.  Among  the  refreshments  of  the  occasion,  the 
pitcher  was  kept  filled  with  lemonade  for  such  as  chose  to  partake 
of  it.  Most  of  them  had  been  opposed  to  my  election,  and  recognized 
the  pitcher  from  the  prints  of  it  which  had  been  circulated.  Gen- 
erally they  took  this  quiet  declaration  of  adhesion  to  my  principles 

in  good  part,  but  some  refused  to  drink  any  thing  from  that  

pitcher,  characterizing  it  in  terms  more  emphatic  than  polite.  This 
I  heard  afterward,  for  nobody  indulged  in  any  expressions  of  that 
sort  when  I  was  present.     Yours,  very  truly, 

"S.  P.  CHASE. 
"  J.  T.  Trowbridge,  Esq.,  Somerville,  Mass." 

Here  is  another  letter,  relating  to  the  life  of  our  hero,  agitating, 
as  a  legist,  against  "  the  slave  power  :  " 

"March  19. 

"Dear  Sir: — Francis  D.  Parish  was  a  lawyer  of  Sandusky,  Erie 
County,  Ohio,  of  unblemished  character  and  good  abilities,  and  well 
informed  in  his  profession.  He  enj'03'ed,  in  an  unusual  degree,  the 
respect  and  esteem  of  the  community  in  which  he  resided. 

"  In  February,  1845,  a  woman  named  Jane  Garrison  was  living  in 
his  house  as  a  servant,  and  with  her  her  little  boy,  Harrison,  about 
five  years  old.  In  the  latter  part  of  that  month,  a  man,  named 
Mitchell,  made  his  appearance  in  Sandusky,  claiming  the  woman 
and  her  child  as  fugitive  slaves.  He  went  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Parish, 
and.  meeting  that  gentleman  near  his  residence,  inquired  if  Jane 
Garrison  and  her  son,  Harrison,  were  at  his  house.  He  replied  that 
they  were,  and,  returning  with  Mitchell,  went  into  the  house  and 
brought  Jane  out.  After  some  conversation,  Mitchell,  with  Driskell, 
son  of  the  claimant,  went  away.  Suit  was  subsequently  brought 
against  Mr.  Parish  for  obstructing  the  arrest  of  the  woman  and 
her  child,  and,  also,  for  harboring  and  concealing  them.  Upon  the 
trial.  I,  with  Mr.  J.  AY.  Andrews,  of  Columbus,  defended  Mr.  Parish. 
Mr.  Henry  Stanbery  and  J.  H.  Thompson  appeared  against  him. 
There  was  no  evidence  in  the  case  againts  Mr.  Parish  except  that  ot 
Mitchell  and  Driskell,  and  the  whole  of  it  related  to  the  transaction  at 
Mr.  Parish's  house.  Mitchell  stated  that  he  attempted  to  arrest  Jane 
and  the  child  in  virtue  of  a  power  of  attorney,  which  Parish  said  he 
did  not  wish  to  see,  for  he  wanted  judicial  authority  for  such  an  act. 
Mitchell  insisted  upon  arresting  them,  but  Parish  said  he  could  not 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  311 

arrest  them  there,  and  pushed  the  woman  and  child  into  the  house, 
and  went  in  himself.  Several  gentlemen,  who  were  present  during 
some  proceedings  growing  out  of  the  arrest  of  other  children  in 
which  Mr.  Parish  was  called  as  a  witness,  stated  that,  in  his  testi- 
mony then  given.  Mr.  Parish  said  that  at  the  interview  between 
himself  and  Mitchell,  lie  had  only  claimed  for  the  alleged  slaves  that 
they  should  have  a  fair  trial,  after  which,  if  Mitchell  should  estab- 
lish his  legal  right  to  do  so,  he  could  take  them  ;  to  which  Mitchell 
said  that  he  did  not  wish  to  take  them  otherwise;  and  that,  after 
some  conversation  with  the  woman,  Mitchell  and  Driskell  went 
away  without  taking,  or  attempting  to  take,  the  alleged  fugitives. 
These  witnesses  also  stated  that  Mitchell,  on  this  occasion,  made  a 
statement  in  which  he  agreed  substantially  with  Mr.  Parish,  saying 
nothing  about  any  attempt  or  claim  to  arrest,  or  any  pushing  or 
ordering  the  slaves  into  the  house,  and  nothing  even  of  any  refusal 
by  Mr.  Parish  to  give  them  up  without  judicial  authority.  Upon 
this  evidence,  after  argument  and  charge  by  the  court,  the  case  went 
to  the  jury,  who  found  Mr.  Parish  guilty  of  harboring  and  conceal- 
ing the  alleged  fugitives,  and  obstructing  their  arrest,  and  assessed 
against  him  two  penalties  of  $500  each.  It  seems  incredible  now 
that  such  a  verdict  upon  such  evidence  could  ever  have  been  ren- 
dered, but  it  was  rendered,  and  the  court  refused  to  set  it  aside,  and 
the  money  and  costs  were  actually  collected  from  Mr.  Parish. 

"  I  cannot  help  feeling  great  mortification  when  I  reflect  how  little 
my  services,  in  this  and  other  like  cases,  availed  the  defendants.  My 
consolation  is,  that  they  contributed  something  towai'd  the  prepara- 
tion of  a  better  state  of  opinion  and  feeling  concerning  the  whole 
subject  of  slavery.     Very  truly  3'ours, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  J.  T.  Trowbridge,  Esq.,  Somerville,  Mass." 

It  was  in  October,  1845,  that  Mr.  Chase  addressed  to  the  Liberty 
Convention,  which  was  then  in  session  at  Boston,  a  characteristic 
letter.  Here  we  find  him  stating  the  object  of  the  Liberty  party 
to  be  the  denationalization  of  slavery;  pointing  out  the  means  by 
which  it  may  be  accomplished,  and  exhibiting  the  hostility  of  the 
slaveholding  interest  to  Democracy  and  all  liberal  measures. 

Under  the  head,  "Family  Memoranda,"  a  document  already  more 
than  once  referred  to  has  this  entry  : 

"  S.  P.  Chase  married,  November  6,  1846,  Sarah  Bella  Dunlop  Lud- 
low, daughter  of  James  C.  Ludlow,  and  granddaughter  of  Israel 
Ludlow,  one  of  the  founders  of  Cincinnati;  born  April  20,  1820; 
married,  at  Mr.  Justice  McLean's,  Fourth  Street,  Cincinnati,  by  Rt. 
Rev.  C.  P.  Mcllvaine." 

Here  is  another  entry  in  the  same  document,  under  the  same  head  : 

"  Sarah  Bella  D.  L.  Chase,  died  at  Clifton,  near  Cincinnati,  where 
she  was  then  residing,  January  13,  1852." 


312  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

And  here  is  another  of  happier  tenor : 

"  Janette  Ralston  Chase,  born  September  19,  1847." 

The  last  entry  records  the  birth  of  the  present  Mrs.  Hoyt— a  lady 
whose  delightful  letters  and  whose  genius  have  been  already  men- 
tioned. 

But  there  is  another  little  entry  which  is  not  to  bo  overlooked. 
It  reads  : 

"  Josephine  Ludlow  Chase,  born  July  3,  1849;  died  at  Morris- 
town,  New  Jersey,  July  28,  1850." 

"  Ah!  no  ye  lovelie  blossoms,  ye 
Telle  us  how  soone  things  have 
Their  ende  though  sweete  and  brave,"  * 

Is  the  sum  of  all  that  one  can  say  about  such  death,  and  yet  to 
parents — but  the  theme  is  difficult  as  well  as  delicate.  Let  us  pass 
to  others. 

To  Hon.  John  P.  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire,  Mr.  Chase,  on  the 
12th  of  May,  1847,  wrote  as  follows: 

"You  will  no  doubt  think  it  somewhat  strange  that  I  have  so 
long  delayed  an  acknowledgment  of  your  very  kind  letter  of  the 
2d  ult. ;  but  I  am  not  so  much  to  blame  as  I  seem  to  be.  1  wrote 
you  a  long  letter  within  three  or  four  days  after  receiving  yours, 
and  supposed,  until  recently,  that  it  was  duly  mailed ;  but  within 
the  last  few  days  I  found  it,  mislaid,  among  the  papers. 

"You  received,  I  suppose,  numbers  of  the  morning  Herald,  con- 
taining some  extracts  from  your  letter.  I  took  the  liberty  of  hand- 
ing to  the  printer  your  letter  with  the  extracts  marked,  but  with 
instructions  to  omit  all  the  rest.  By  a  blunder,  partly  of  his,  and 
partly  of  mine,  in  not  being  quite  so  explicit  as  I  might  have  been, 
the  data  of  letter,  '  Dover,  New  Hampshire,  April  2,'  went  into 
print.  This,  of  course,  revealed  the  writer,  which  was  contrary  to 
my  intention,  and  vexed  me  not  a  little.  I  explained  the  whole 
matter  in  a  letter  which  was  mislaid,  fearing  you  might  think  I 
had  taken  an  unwarrantable  liberty  with  your  letter,  though  there 
was  nothing  in  the  extract  which  you  would  not  publicly  say,  or 
which  is  not  in  m}T  judgment  fully  vindicated  by  the  facts.  I  hope, 
however,  you  may  not  have  been  as  much  chagrined  by  the  circum- 
stance as  I  was. 

"  I  am  very  much  gratified  by  the  very  kind  and  favorable  notice 
which  my  argument  for  poor  old  Vanzandt  was  received.  I  hail  it 
as  an  auspicious  augury  of  approaching  deliverance  from  the  des- 
potism of  the  slave  power  and  of  pro-slavery  construction.  Among 
the  friendly  letters  I  have  received  none  has  given  me  more  satis- 


1  Quoted  from  memory.     Perhaps  wrong. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  313 

faction  than  yours,  unless  I  make  an  exception  in  favor  of  Seward's, 
which  was  kind,  cordial,  and  generous  beyond  measure. 

"It  is  strange  that  the  pro-slavery  construction  of  the  constitu- 
tion, so  utterly  indefensible  upon  history  or  by  reason,  should  be  so 
tamely  acquiesced  in  by  the  courts,  and  I  agree  with  you,  that  at 
the  bar,  and  elsewhere,  we  should  be  open,  bold,  indignant,  and  em- 
phatic in  our  denunciation  of  it.  It  can  not  stand  exposure  and  re- 
buke. If  it  rinds  sanctuary  in  courts  of  justice  it  must  be  dragged 
out  and  denounced  before  the  people.  In  the  result  it  must  tall. 
If  courts  will  not  overthrow  it,  the  people  will,  even  if  it  be  neces- 
sary to  overthrow  the  courts  also. 

'•Your  remark  on  the  policy  of  the  slave  power,  that  when  'they 
want  any  thing  peculiarly  infamous  done  in  favor  of  the  peculiar  in- 
stitution, to  put  it  on  some  suppliant  and  servile  northerner  to  do 
it,  rather  than  do  it  directly  themselves,'  only  expresses  a  sentiment 
common  to  many  in  all  parties.  I  received,  a  day  or  too  since  only, 
a  letter  from  a  leading  Democrat  in  the  south-eastern  part  of  the 
State,  which  contained  this  passage:  'The  task  of  delivering  an 
opinion  against  law  and  right  fell  upon  fitting  shoulders.  The  dirty 
work  of  the  South  has  always  found  northern  hands  to  perform  it,  and 
I  can  well  imagine  the  deep  scorn  and  contempt  swelling  in  the 
bosoms  of  the  southern  judges,  as  they  behold  Levi  on  his  belly 
crawling  through  that  opinion.'  There  are  a  great  many  in  this 
State  would  say  amen  to  this.  I  regretted  very  much  to  learn 
that  in  my  native  State  the  pro-slavery  democracy  was  permitted  to 
triumph.  I  should  regret  it  less,  however,  if  the  returns  did  not 
show  a  diminution  of  the  independent  vote.  It  affords  me  some 
consolation,  however,  to  know  that  the  pro-slavery  folks  themselves 
were  compelled  to  come  so  far  upon  the  right  ground  as  to  assume 
the  defense  of  the  Wilmot  proviso. 

"I  notice,  what  can  not  fail  to  have  attracted  your  own  attention, 
that  a  great  diversity  of  sentiment  exists  among  anti-slavery  men 
as  to  the  best  course  to  be  pursued  hereafter.  Upon  this  subject  I 
should  be  very  glad  to  have  your  views ;  and,  by  way  of  example, 
will  candidly  give  j'ou  my  own  impressions.  I  have  acted  with  the 
Liberty  party  in  the  State  for  more  than  six  years.  We  nominated 
our  first  candidate  for  Governor  in  December,  1841,  and  issued  a 
declaration  of  principles  and  measures.  Our  candidate,  Judge 
King,  was  one  of  the  ablest,  and,  as  a  Whig,  one  of  the  most  popu- 
lar men  in  the  State.  He  received,  in  a  vote  exceeding  250,000, 
5,000  votes.  Our  candidate  last  year  was  Mr.  Lewis,  formerly 
Superintendent  of  our  Common  Schools  for  the  State,  a  man  able, 
indefatigable,  and  universally  respected.  He  received  less  than 
11,000  votes.  I  see  no  prospect  of  greater  future  progress,  but  rather 
of  less.  As  fast  as  we  can  bring  public  sentiment  right,  the  other 
parties  will  approach  our  ground,  and  keep  sufficiently  close  to  it 
to  prevent  any  great  accession  to  our  numbers.  If  this  be  so,  the 
Libert}'  party  can  never  hope  to  accomplish  any  thing  as  such,  but 
only  through  it.  an  indirect  action  upon  the  other  parties.  In  other 
words,  it  takes  the  position  of  an  expounder  of  a  theory,  which 
others  are  to  reduce  to  practice.  Now,  it  seems  to  me,  we  can  do 
a  better  work  than  this.     If  an  anti-slaveiy  league  can  be  organized 


314  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE   AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

nationally,  with  divisions  in  each  State,  and  county,  so  far  as  the 
States  are  prepared,  the  fundamental  principle  of  which  shall  be  to 
vote  for  no  man  who  is  not  reliably  known  to  be  opposed  to  the  ex- 
tension of  slavery,  and  in  favor  of  expelling  it  from  the  grounds 
which  it  now  unconstitutionally  holds,  and  of  discouraging  and  dis- 
countenancing it  by  example  and  recommendation,  where  constitu- 
tional power  will  not  reach,  and  where  no  such  man  is  nominated 
by  existing  parties,  to  nominate  candidates  of  their  own  on  inde- 
pendent grounds,  but  not  permanent  party  grounds,  it  seems  to  me 
that  we  shall  be  able  to  carry  forward  the  anti-slavery  work  much 
more  vigorously  and  efficiently  than  we  now  do.  To  build  up  a 
new  party  is  by  uo  means  so  easy  as  to  compel  old  parties  to  do  a 
particular  work.  It  is  quite  true,  that  if  the  anti-slavery  Whigs 
and  anti-slavery  Democrats  had  come  boldly  out  upon  a  common 
platform  of  opposition  to  slavery,  at  the  date  of  the  organization 
of  the  Liberty  movements,  properly  so-called,  in  1841,  a  great,  pow- 
erful, and  victorious  party  could  have  been  created.  But  they  did 
not  choose  to  do  so,  and  I  see  nothing  in  the  past  to  warrant 
the  expectation  that  they  will  act  differently  in  future.  These 
things  being  so,  it  seems  to  me  that  an  anti-slavery  league,  operat- 
ing upon  both  parties  from  without,  aided  by  the  anti-slavery  men 
already  in  the  ranks  of  the  two  parties,  and  who  would  come  in 
from  the  Liberty  party,  would,  in  the  best  manner,  and  in  the  short- 
est time,  accomplish  the  great  work  of  overthrowing  slavery.  Many 
anti-slavery  men  look  with  most  hope  to  the  Whig  party.  I  do  not. 
At  the  present  moment  there  are,  doubtless,  more  abolitionists  in 
the  Whig  party  than  in  the  Democratic  party ;  but  I  fear  that  the 
Whig  party  will  always  look  upon  the  overthrow  of  slavery  as  a 
work  to  be  taken  up  or  laid  aside,  like  other  measures,  as  expediency 
may  suggest;  whereas,  if  we  can  once  get  the  Democratic  party  in 
motion  regarding  the  overthrow  of  slavery  as  a  legitimate  and  nec- 
essary result  of  principles,  I  would  have  no  apprehension  at  all  of 
the  work  being  laid  aside  until  accomplished.  The  approaching 
presidential  contest  will,  probably,  involve  the  slave  question  to  an 
unprecedented  extent.  The  South,  or  rather  the  dominant  slave- 
holding  faction  in  the  South,  is  preparing  to  do  battle  against  the 
Wilmot  Proviso.  This  had  its  origin  among  the  Democrats,  and  is 
looked  upon  with  no  favorable  eye  by  many  leading  Whigs,  who, 
while  the}'  dare  not  openly  take  ground  against  it.  are  willing  to 
have  it  smothered  by  the  cry  of  no  territory,  which  is  the  merest 
delusion,  and  the  most  palpable  delusion  in  the  world. 

••The  Whigs  and  the  entire  South  will  probably  unite  on  General 
Taylor,  though  some  of  the  northern  Whigs  may  make  a  stand  for 
Scott.  General  Taylor,  in  my  humble  judgment,  will  have  the  nomi- 
nation if  he  will  take  it.  Now  what  is  the  obvious  policy  of  the 
Democrats?  Is  it  not  to  bring  out  some  man — on  Wilmot  Proviso,  or 
constitutional  opposition  to  slavery  ground  (and  what  man  more  fit 
than  Silas  Wright?)  and  rally  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  against  the 
hero-sentiment?  Mr.  Schenck,  remonstrating  with  a  leading  editor 
here,  against  the  nomination  of  Taylor,  said  that  should  he  be  nomi- 
nated, the  Democrats  Avould  unite  on  Silas  Wright  and  carry  every 
free  State. 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  315 

"I  had  some  conversation  with  Eobcrt  Dale  Owen,  the  other  day, 
who  seems  to  be  much  impressed  with  this  view. 

"I  shall  be  very  glad  to  have  your  views  upon  it  and  the  other 
topics  of  this  letter.  How  would  it  do  to  issue  a  call  for  a  national 
convention  to  form  a  national  anti-slavery  league?  A  call  might 
be  prepared  here  or  with  }'OU,  and  sent  to  all  the  leading  anti- 
slavery  men  in  all  parties  tor  signatures,  and  then  issued  simul- 
taneously in  different  parts  of  the  Union.  I  inclose  such  a  call  us  I 
would  like  to  see  issued.  Can  you  not  visit  us  in  the  West  this  sum- 
mer? Our  railroad  is  now  so  far  completed  to  Sandusky  that  there 
are  but  32  miles  land  travel.  iTou  can  come  in  four  days  from  Dover. 
You  would  be  most  cordially  welcomed. 

"  Very  truly  your  friend, 

"S.  P.  CHASE. 

"Do  you  know  Preston  King  and  Silas  Wright,  or  either?  If  so, 
can  you  not  learn  their  views  ?  " 

The  biographic  sketch  furnished  me,  as  elsewhere  stated,  and  for, 
which  I  suppose  Mr.  Chase  himself  to  be  responsible,  contains  this 
language : 

"  In  the  autumn  of  18-17,  Mr.  Chase  attended  the  National  Conven- 
tion of  the  Liberty  party  at  Buffalo,  of  which  he  acted  as  presiding 
officer.  In  view  of  the  agitation  of  the  prohibition  by  Congress  of 
slavery  in  the  territories,  in  the  shape  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  created 
by  the  proposed  organization  of  the  territory  of  Oregon,  and  the 
contemplated  acquisition  of  territory  from  Mexico,  as  part  of  the 
treaty  of  peace.  Mr.  Chase  anticipated,  as  close  at  hand,  a  new  and 
more  general  anti-slavery  movement,  which  would  attract  large 
numbers  who  had  hitherto  acted  with  the  Whig  and  Democratic 
parties.  Xo  calm  observer  of  political  events  could  reasonably 
expect  that  either  of  those  parties  would,  in  their  coming  National 
Conventions,  proclaim  themselves  in  favor  of  the  constitutional  pro- 
hibition of  slavery  in  the  national  Territories ;  on  the  contraiy,  it 
was  more  probable  that  they  would  be  induced  by  their  southern 
wing,  to  place  themselves  in  hostility  to  it,  either  in  their  platforms 
or  their  nominations.  Such  a  policy  was  not  likely  to  be  acquiesced 
in  by  thousands,  in  the  free  States,  who  clung  with  fast  affection  to 
the  illustrious  ordinance  of  17S7,  which  shielded  the  north-west  ter- 
ritory from  the  curse  of  slavery,  and  nurtured  to  unshackled  man- 
hood live  mighty  commonwealths.  Mr.  Chase,  desirous  of  promoting 
the  free  action  of  such  new  movements,  opposed  the  presentation  of 
any  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  In  his  opinion,  the  position  of 
John  P.  Hale,  on  whom  all  eyes  were  centered  as  the  standard-bearer 
of  the  Liberty  party,  during  the  coming  campaign,  would  be  injuri- 
ously affected  before  a  convention  which  combined  these  large  and 
fresh  accessions,  by  a  nomination  at  that  time.  Tluy  were  likely  to 
out-number  the  Liberty  party,  and  would  naturally  desire  candi- 
dates whose  recent  political  relations  had  a  nearer  resemblance  to 
their  own. 

"  The  action  of  the  Buffalo  Convention  of  1848  justified  these 
views  of  Mr.  Chase.     If  Mr.  Hale  had   not  been   presented  by  the 


316  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Liberty  Convention,  and  if  his  party  relations  had  not  been  thus 
distinctly  declared,  he  would  have  commanded  a  fuller  support  from 
those  members,  who  had  hitherto  acted  with  the  Whig  party — 
enough,  probably,  to  have  secured  his  nomination. 

"The  agitation  of  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  instead  of  subsiding,  in- 
creased till,  in  the  spring  of  1848,  it  appeared  destined  to  be  the 
controlling  issue  of  the  next  presidential  election.  It  had  absorbed 
the  deliberations  of  Congress,  then  occupied  in  discussing  territorial 
governments  for  Oregon  and  the  vast  regions  to  be  acquired  from 
Mexico.  By  no  political  casuistry,  and  by  no  partisan  diplomacy, 
could  it  be  excluded  from  the  contest.  Mr.  Chase  was  desirous  that 
the  anti-slaveiy  sentiment,  to  which  the  rejection  of  the  Wilmot 
Proviso  by  the  Whig  and  Democratic  Conventions  would  give  new 
force,  should  have  means  already  provided  for  organizing  it  into 
vigorous  action. 

"Accordingly,  in  the  spring  of  1848,  he  originated  a  call  for  a  con- 
vention of  the  people  of  Ohio,  to  be  held  at  Columbus  on  the  20th 
and  21st  da}Ts  of  June.  Its  declared  purpose  was  to  consider  the 
political  condition  of  the  countiy,  and  in  case  candidates  for  the 
Presidenc}7,  who  were  unworthy  of  the  confidence  of  the  free  States, 
either  on  account  of  their  active  cooperation  with  the  slave  power, 
or  silent  acquiesscence  in  its  designs,  extend  slavery  over  the  terri- 
tories to  be  acquired  from  Mexico,  should  be  nominated  at  the 
approaching  conventions — take  such  action  as  the  exigency  should 
require.  The  call  was  signed  by  three  thousand  voters,  Whigs, 
Democrats,  and  Liberty  Party  men,  in  almost  every  county  in  the 
State." 

On  the  8th  of  January,  1848,  was  held  at  Columbus  in  Ohio, 
one  of  the  most  important  State  Conventions  ever  assembled  by  the 
Democracy  of  Ohio  in  its  best  days.  How  proud  one  could  then  be 
of  adherence  to  that  party  ! 

Hon.  David  T.  Disney,  of  whom  we  have  already  seen  a  little, 
was  permanent  president  of  that  convention.  My  friend  and 
partner,  Henry  Roedter,  also  of  Cincinnati,  was  first  vice-president. 

Mr.  Disney  said  that  the  convention  was  composed  of  the  best 
material  in  Ohio;  and,  if  the  remark  be  read  with  application  to  the 
Democrats  alone,  he  spoke  the  simple  truth  in  that  behalf. 

Mr.  Thurman,  of  Ross,  (now  Senator  Thurman — what  a  marked 
illustration  of  the  saying,  tempora  mutantur  et  nos  mutamur  in  Mis!) 
was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  resolutions.  He  has  not  changed 
more  with  the  times  than  some  of  the  rest  of  us  have  changed  ;  but 
it  is  curious  to  read  of  him  as  offering,  among  other  resolutions, 
these : 

"Resolved,  That  the  people  of  Ohio,  now,  as  they  always  have  done, 
look  upon  the  institution  of  slavery,  in  any  part  of  the  Union,  as  an 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  317 

evil  and  unfavorable  to  the  full  development  of  the  spirit  and  prac- 
tical benefits  of  free  institutions;  and  that  entertaining  these  senti- 
ments, they  will,  at  all  times,  feel  it  to  be  their  duty  to  use  all  power, 
clearly  given  by  the  terms  of  the  national  compact,  to  prevent  its 
increase,  to  mitigate,  and,  finally,  to  eradicate  the  evil.  And  be  it 
further 

"Resolved,  That  the  Democracy  of  Ohio  do,  at  the  same  time,  fully 
recognize  the  doctrine  held  by  the  early  fathers  of  the  Republic,1  and 
still  maintained  by  the  Democratic  party  in  all  the  States,  that  to 
each  State  belongs  the  right  to  adopt  and  modify  its  own  municipal 
laws;  to  regulate  its  own  internal  affairs;  to  hold  and  maintain  an 
equal  and  independent  sovereignty  with  each  and  every  other  State; 
and  that,  upon  these  rights,  the  National  Legislature  can  neither 
legislate  nor  encroach." 

However  intended,  these  resolutions  were  received  with  something 
quite  like  rapture  by  young  Democrats  throughout  Ohio.  I  have 
heard  Judge  Spauldiug  publicly  narrate  the  inner  history  of  these 
resolutions.  According  to  him,  they  were  intended,  from  the  begin 
ning,  to  serve  the  Good-Lord-Good-Devil  policy.  Perhaps,  in  some 
measure,  he  was  mistaken  as  to  that — indeed,  I  am  quite  sure  he 
must  have  been  somewhat  in  error  in  that  statement.  Certainlv, 
however,  these  resolutions  and  their  reception  by  the  better  sort  of 
Democrats,  throughout  Ohio,  had  much  to  do  with  the  subsequent 
career  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase. 

The  National  Whig  Convention  of  that  year  would  have  none  of 
the  Wilraot  Provisio;  and  they  nominated  good  old  Rough-and- 
Ready — brave,  but,  in  the  matter  of  ideas,  rather  bald — a  born 
thrall,  moreover,  to  the  interests  of  slavery.  And  the  national  con- 
vention of  the  Democratic  party  did,  at  Baltimore,  a  work  even 
worse  than  that  of  the  Whigs  at  Philadelphia.  The  former  nomi- 
nated General  Cass,  a  northern  dough-face — one  of  those  men  who 
remind  one  of  the  verses  equally  intolerable  to  the  gods  and  un- 
pleasing  to  men.  The  Nicholson  letter  of  this  curiously  constituted 
phenomenon  of  politics  had,  in  the  ercpuseulum-Wke  action  of  its 
author's  intellections,  argued,  (almost  as  learnedly  as  the  grave-digger 
in  Hamlet  argued  questions  of  crowner's  quest  law,)  that  the  congres- 
sional prohibtion  of  slavery  in  the  Territories  was  invalid  on  account 
of  its  repugnance  to  the  constitution. 

Turn  we  now  to  a  convention  of  another  mold.  This  body  met 
at  Buffalo,  August  9,  1848.  It  continued  in  session  through  that 
and  the  next  dav.     Mr.  Chase  was  a  delegate.     He  wras  a  member 


1  Early  fathers  is  a  good  phrase — as  good  as  the  "  molded  queen." 


318  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

of  the  committee  to  report  a  plan  for  permanent  organization.  He 
was  the  president  of  the.  convention  of  delegates.  Many  urged  his 
nomination  for  the  vice-presidency.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
platform  committee;  and  it  is  related  that  the  platform  adopted  was 
substantially  drawn  by  him. 

Here  is  part  of  a  letter  relating  to  the  subject : 

" March  21. 

"Dear  Sir:  The  New  York  Convention,  which  was  in  session  at 
the  same  time,  adopted  resolutions  in  favor  of  the  exclusion  of 
slavery  from  the  Territories,  and  nominated  Mr.  Van  Buren  for  Pres- 
ident and  Gen.  Dodge,  of  Wisconsin,  for  Vice-President.  A  resolu- 
tion was  also  adopted  authorizing  the  delegates  of  the  New  York 
Democracy  to  the  convention  at  Baltimore  to  attend  and  take  part 
in  any  convention  of  the  free  States  which  might  be  called  for  the 
purpose  of  collecting  and  concentrating  the  popular  will  in  relation 
to  the  Presidency. 

"When  the  convention  of  the  9th  of  August  met,  the  New  York 
delegates,  under  this  resolution,  took  their  seats  as  members.  The 
attendance  was  very  large.  Eighteen  States  were  represented  by 
four  hundred  and  sixty-five  delegates,  and  there  was,  moreover,  an 
immense  mass  convention,  numbered  by  tens  of  thousands.  Gen. 
Dodge  had  declined,  or  rather  rejected  the  nomination  for  the  Vice- 
Presidency  tendered  him  by  the  New  York  Convention,  and  Mr.  Yan 
Buren  had  not  accepted  the  nomination  for  the  Presidency.  The 
whole  subject  of  national  nominations  was,  therefore,  considered  as 
open,  Mr.  Hale  having  placed  his  name  at  the  disposal  of  the  con- 
vention. It  was  the  pleasure  of  the  Ohio  delegation  that  I  should 
take  a  very  active  part  in  the  pi'oceedings  of  both  the  mass  conven- 
tion and  the  convention  of  delegates.  At  an  informal  meeting,  which 
preceded  the  organization  of  the  former,  there  were  indications  of  a 
division  as  to  platforms.  Knowing  Mr.  Preston  King's  sentiments,  I 
took  the  liberty  of  calling  upon  him  for  a  speech,  and  at  its  conclu- 
sion moved  that  he  be  requested  to  reduce  its  leading  propositions  to 
writing,  and  that  his  speech  should  be  considered  as  the  platform 
recommended  by  the  meeting.  This  motion  seemed  to  allay  all 
jealousies  on  the  part  of  the  New  York  Democrats,  and  was  unani- 
mously agreed  to.  The  next  day  the  mass  convention  assembled, 
and  Mr.  King  reported  resolutions  embodying  the  propositions  of 
his  speech.  The}T  declared,  1st,  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government  to  relieve  itself  of  all  responsibility  for  the  exten- 
sion or  continuance  of  slavery  wherever  it  had  constitutional  author- 
ity to  do  so,  and  was  responsible  for  its  existence;  2d,  that  it  had 
neither  responsibility  nor  constitutional  authority  to  interfere  with 
slavery  within  the  States;  and,  3d,  that  it  had  authority  and  should 
promptly  exercise  it  to  prevent  the  extension  of  slavery  into  free 
territoiy,  and  to  prohibit  its  existence  in  such  territory  by  an  act  of 
Congress.  These  resolutions  were  received  with  universal  approba- 
tion. Mr.  Adams  presided  over  the  mass  convention.  A  committee 
on  resolutions  were  appointed,  consisting  of  three  persons  from  each 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  319 

State  represented.  I  was  one  of  the  members  of  this  committee  from 
Ohio,  and  the  resolutions  reported  were  almost  entirely  drafted  by 
me.  They  were,  however,  very  carefully  considered  by  the  com- 
mittee, and  very  fully  discussed  before  they  received  its  sanction. 
The  resolution  on  the  tariff  was  adopted  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  White, 
of  New  York. 

'•The  delegate  convention  for  the  nomination  of  candidates  for  the 
Presidency  and  Vice- Presidency,  met  in  a  church  near  the  square  on 
which  the  mass  convention  was  assembled.  I  had  the  honor  to  pre- 
side over  this  convention.  To  ascertain  the  views  of  members  in  re- 
spect to  the  Presidency  an  informal  ballot  was  taken,  the  result  of 
which  showed  a  clear  majority  for  Mr.  Van  Buren  over  all  others. 
Mr.  Hale  received  nearly  the  whole  vote  not  given  to  Mr.  Van 
Buren.  After  the  preference  of  the  convention  had  thus  been  shown, 
Mr.  Lavitt,  of  Massachusetts,  moved  the  unanimous  nomination  of 
Mr.  Van  Buren,  and  was  earnestly  seconded  by  Mr.  Lewis,  of  Ohio. 
As  these  two  gentlemen  had  been  the  most  active  and  able  as  well 
the  most  zealous  friends  of  Mr.  Hale,  the  motion  was  adopted  with- 
out hesitation  and  by  acclamation.  Mr.  Adams  was  nominated  also 
by  acclamation  for  Vice-President.  The  nominations  thus  made  were 
announced  by  me,  as  President  of  the  convention  of  delegates,  to  the 
mass  convention,  and  were  received  with  the  most  enthusiastic  dem- 
onstrations. 

"  Thus  ended  the  work  of  this  great  convention,  to  the  assembling 
and  acting  of  which  is  attributed,  and  I  think  justly,  the  passage  of 
the  bill  organizing  the  Territory  of  Oregon  with  the  prohibtion  of 
slavery,  which  was  then  pending  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

"In  the  canvass  which  followed  I  took  a  very  active  part,  but  con- 
fined m}'  labors  almost  wholly  to  Ohio.  The  election  showed  both 
the  power  of  party  and  the  power  of  principles.  Except  in  Ohio  and 
Massachusetts,  the  Whig  party  almost  every-where  supported  the  nom- 
inees of  the  Philadelphia  Convention,  and,  except  in  New  York,  the 
Democratic  part}*  almost  every-where  supported  the  nominations  of 
the  Baltimore  Convention.  In  New  York,  the  recognized  organiza- 
tion of  the  Democratic  party  was  in  the  hands  of  the  friends  of  Mr. 
Van  Buren.  His  vote,  therefore,  in  that  State  was  very  large.  In 
Massachusetts  and  in  the  northern  counties  of  Ohio,  the  profound 
anti-slavery  convictions  of  the  people  made  it  impossible  for  them  to 
support  national  nominees  without  any  declaration  against  the  ex- 
tension of  slavery.  Mr.  Van  Buren  received  in  all  291,G78  votes  out 
of  2,882,121,  the  whole  number  given.  Of  these  votes,  120,000  were 
given  in  New  York,  38,133  in  Massachusetts,  and  35,494  in  Ohio. 
Gen.  Taylor  was  elected." 


320  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER     XXII. 

SENATOR   CHASE — EXCITING    STRUGGLES — TESTS   AND   TRIALS. 

ON  the  18th  of  February,  1848,  the  Whig  legislature  of  Ohio 
passed  a  supposed  law,  which  Democrats  generally  regarded  as  a 
nullity,  by  reason  of  its  repugnance  to  the  constitution  of  the  State. 
It  was  entitled,  "An  Act  to  fix  and  apportion  the  representation  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio."  It  purported  to  divide 
the  county  in  which  Mr.  Chase  then  lived — Hamilton  County — into 
two  election  districts.  Such  division  of  a  county,  Democrats  main- 
tained, was  not  within  the  constitutional  discretion  of  the  legislature. 
The  distinguished  George  E.  Pugh  and  Mr.  Alexander  IS.  Pierce 
received  from  Edward  C.  Roll,  Esq.,  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  for  Hamilton  County,  certificates  of  election,  which  treated  the 
supposed  legislation  as  invalid.  After  most  exciting  scenes  in  the 
House  to  which  they  were  elected,  that  House  decided  that  the  certif- 
icates were  well  given;  that  the  supposed  law  was  an  infraction  of 
the  constitution,  and  that  Messrs.  Pugh  and  Pierce  were  entitled  to 
the  seats  they  claimed.  One  consequence  of  all  this  was  the  sending 
of  Mr.  Chase  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

The  action  of  Mr.  Roll,  to  which  attention  has  been  called,  took 
place  under  the  advice  of  counsel,  and  I  was  (in  spite  of  my  age)  at 
that  time  his  chief  professional  adviser.  Afterward,  I  appeared  with 
Judge  Read1  and  Hon.  William  S.  Groesbeck,  as  his  counsel  in  a 
case,2  in  which  that  decision  of  the  House  of  Representatives  was 
drawn  into  discussion. 

It  is  not  my  purpose,  to  set  forth  the  whole  deeply  interesting 
history  of  that  discussion.  But,  with  reference  to  the  merits  of  it, 
and  to  its  particular  relation  to  the  course  and  character  of  Chase,  I 
wish  to  call  attention  to  a  letter,  in  which,  referring  to  the  facts  and 
law  involved  in  that  discussion,  the  new  Senator  expressed  himself 
as  follows: 


1  Ante,  Chapter  XVII. 

2  State  of  Ohio,  ex  rel.,  etc.  vs.  Edward  C.  Roll,  7  Western  Law  Journal,  p.  121. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  321 

"  Cincinnati,  August  15,  1849. 
"  Col.  John  F.  Morse,  Painesville,  0. 

"  My  Dear  Friend  :  I  read  your  letter  with  a  great  deal  of  in- 
terest, and  shall  look  for  your  letter  giving  the  results  of  the  con- 
vention with  anxiety.  I  hope  it  may  reach  me  before  I  have  home, 
which  I  shall  de  to-morrow,  and  be  absent  for  some  weeks  on  pro- 
fessional business. 

'•  I  still  adhere  to  the  opinion  I  expressed  long  ago,  that  the  true 
policy  as  weil  as  duty  of  the  Freesoilers  of  the  Reserve  on  the 
adjournment  of  the  Legislature,  was,  to  take  the  grounds  on  the 
questions  in  relation  to  the  apportionment  law,  and  the  Hamilton 
County  question,  which  you,  and  Townshend,  and  Swift,  and  Smart 
took  in  the  Legislature.  I  feel  so  entirely  confident  that  the  appor- 
tionment law  was  fraudulently  and  unconstitutionally  placed  on 
the  Statute  Book,  and  that,  even  if  regularly  passed  and  valid, 
it  could  not,  constitutionally,  have  the  effect  of  dividing  a  county, 
that  I  would  not  be  afraid  to  risk  our  hopes  of  success  upon  an  in- 
vestigation of  these  questions  before  any  body  of  men  who  have  no 
interest  in  deciding  them  in  favor  of  the  Whigs;  and  the  Free 
Democracy  have  certainly  no  such  interest.  Fearless  advocacy  of 
what  we  believe  to  be  right,  and  the  open  expression  of  opinions 
on  all  questions  which  the  representatives  of  the  people  must  be 
called  on  to  decide,  is,  always,  it  seems  to  me,  the  safest  as  well  as 
the  most  honorable  course.  It  may  cost  some  supporters — but  they 
can  be  spared,  and  their  places  filled  by  better  and  more  reliable 
men. 

"  Of  course,  if  I  were  upon  the  Reserve,  I  should  have  been  per- 
fectly willing  to  meet  the  Hamilton  County  and  apportionment 
questions,  and  should  have  been  far  from  willing  to  allow  these 
questions  or  differences  in  regard  to  them  to  be  made  grounds  for 
asking  men,  through  whose  self-sacrificing  spirit  all  was  gained  for 
Freesoil  that  was  gained,  to  stand  aside  at  the  coming  election. 

"  I  admire  the  spirit  you  manifest  in  your  letter.  I  know  right 
well  that  you,  who  made  far  greater  sacrifices  of  feeling  last  winter 
than  this,  would  never  urge  your  claims  as  a  candidate,  if  the 
cause  of  Free  Democracy  required  you  to  forbear.  It  may  be 
that,  under  the  existing  circumstances,  you  ought  to  decline  being 
a  candidate.  I  doubt  it,  however,  and  I  feel  quite  sure  that  no  cir- 
cumstances should  exist  which  should  so  operate  upon  you. 

"I  shall  hope  to  hear  that  you  are  a  candidate — nominated  as 
such  and  supported  by  the  entire  body  of  our  friends.  If.  however, 
you  are  not  brought  forward  now,  I  am  sure  that  Mr.  Giddings'  pre- 
diction that  you  will  not  be  forgotten  hereafter  will  be  fulfilled. 
The  people  hardly  ever  fail  to  discriminate  between  those  who  are 
faithful  to  a  great  cause  and  those  who  are  only  faithful  to  them- 
selves. In  haste,  yours  most  truly, 

«S.  P.  CHASE." 

Another  letter  of  great  interest  relating  to  the  same  affair,  reads 
thus : 


322  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"  Cincinnati,  October  15,  1849. 
"  John  Hutchings,  Warren,  Trumbull  Co.,  0. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  I  am  glad  to  hear  of  the  election  of  yourself  and 
friend  Riddle  by  such  decided  majorities. 

"  Here,  the  Democrats  who  voted  for  me  and  for  the  repeal  of  the 
Black  Laws  have  been  nobly  sustained.  The  Free  Democracy  met 
just  before  the  election,  and  resolved  to  nominate  no  ticket  under 
the  existing  apportionment  law  (so  called),  but  to  give  their  support 
to  the  Democrats  who  had  voted  for  the  repeal  of  the  Black  Laws, 
and  were  nominated.  These  gentlemen  were  opposed  by  those 
ultra-negro,  who  issued  the  most  disgusting  appeals  to  the  lowest 
prejudices  against  the  blacks,  and  were  adopted  by  the  Whigs  as 
their  candidates.  Neither  Whig  adoption  nor  anti-niggerism 
availed  them  any  thing,  however.  They  were  defeated  by  over- 
whelming majorities.  The  Free  Democracy  have,  almost  with  one 
mind,  denounced  the  apportionment  law  as  a  fraud  and  as  uncon- 
stitutional ;  and  this  conviction,  together  with  the  course  of  the 
Whigs,  will  account  for  the  course  they  pursued.  I  was  absent  for 
near  two  months  until  the  night  before  the  election,  and  saw  none 
of  our  friends  until  the  next  morning.  I  mention  this  that  the 
course  of  our  friends  may  not  be  ascribed  to  me.  I  had  nothing  to 
do  with  it  further  than  to  write  a  little  letter  to  a  young  friend  ad- 
vising against  the  nomination  of  a  ticket,  and  in  favor  of  adopting 
resolutions  expressing  the  sense  of  the  Free  Democracy  in  relation 
to  the  apportionment  scheme. 

"  I  understand  that  the  judges  of  election  and  the  clerk  have 
decided  in  favor  of  giving  certificates  of  election  to  the  Senator  and 
Representative  having  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  in  the  entire 
county.  I  suppose  the  representatives  will  be  allowed  to  take  their 
seats  without  question,  and  that  no  serious  contest  will  be  made 
afterward.  The  Old  Line  Democrats  will  have,  if  not  a  majority, 
so  near  a  majority  in  the  House,  that  their  votes  with  those  of 
Spellman  and  Thompson  will  render  opposition  unavailing.  Under 
these  circumstances  I  trust  that  our  friends  will  unanimously  agree 
to  respect  the  decision  of  the  last  House,  Avhich,  in  my  judgment, 
was  clearly  right,  and  admit  the  certificated  members  to  seats.  Such 
action  as  this  will  strengthen  us  every  way. 

"The  only  serious  question  will  be  that  which  will  arise  in  the 
Senate  in  respect  to  the  admission  of  Johnson.  He  will  present 
himself  with  a  certificate  showing  him  entitled  as  duly  elected  from 
Hamilton  County.  The  law,  admitting  its  validity  and  constitu- 
tionality, apportions  two  Senators  to  Hamilton  County,  and  although 
it  proceeds  to  provide  that  they  shall  be  elected  by  distinct  districts 
of  the  county,  yet  treats  them,  when  elected,  as  Senators  from  the 
county.  The  certificate  will  therefore  be  valid  on  its  face.  It  will 
be  just  such  a  certificate  as  Senator  Dubbs  was  admitted  under  last 
winter.  I  do  not,  therefore,  see  how  Mr.  Johnson  can  be  excluded  in 
the  first  instance. 

"  The  question  as  to  his  final  right  to  the  seat  in  contest  involves 
other  considerations. 

"  1st.  As  to  the  validity  of  the  apportionment  law.     Lpon  this 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  323 

point  I  have,  ever  since  I  examined  this  subject,  been  of  opinion 
that  the  apportionment  law  has  no  validity  except  as  a  rule  adopted 
by  common  consent,  in  the  absence  of  a  constitutionally  enacted 
statute.  Not  having  been  adopted  by  any  Buch  consent  as  to  the 
clauses  dividing  Hamilton  County,  it  is  not  valid. 

'•I'd.  As  to  the  constitutionality  of  the  division.  I  was  at  first 
induced  to  think  that  although  counties  could  not  he  divided  into 
smaller  election  districts  for  representatives,  yet  they  might  he  so 
divided  into  senatorial  districts.  On  more  reflection,  the  better 
opinion  seems  to  me  to  he  that  the  Legislature  can  not  divide  coun- 
ties into  senatorial  or  representative  districts.  Senatorial  districts 
spoken  of  by  the  constitution,  are  districts  composed  of  more 
counties  than  one,  not  of  a  part  or  parts  of  a  count}'  or  of  several 
counties. 

"  3rd.  As  to  the  true  construction  of  the  law  itself.  It  is  main- 
tained, with  much  force  of  reasoning,  that  the  law  having  appor- 
tioned two  Senators  to  the  entire  county,  the  subsequent  clauses 
providing  fur  the  election  by  districts,  must  be  disregarded  as  incon- 
sistent with  the  apportionment.  I  express  no  opinion  as  to  this, 
having  formed  none. 

"  I  shall  be  glad  to  learn  your  views  of  these  matters,  and  Riddle's. 
What  course  will  Randall  take  now?  Did  Brown  support  you  and 
Riddle,  or  the  Whig  ticket?  Where  does  he  stand  now.  and  what 
are  his  views  and  sentiments?  Give  my  best  regards  to  Judge 
King,  Hoffman,  our  friends  the  Sutlifife,  R.  Asher,  Parker,  and  my 
other  acquaintances,  and  believe  me 

"  Cordiallv  your  friend, 

"S.  P.  CHASE" 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Cincinnati  Bar,  held  on  the  occasion  of  our 
hero's  death,  Judge  Whitman  thus  expressed  himself: 

"  It  would  be  ill-fitting  and  entirely  out  of  place,  of  course,  in  the 
presence  of  so  many  gentlemen  who  were  the  early  companions  of 
Judge  Chase  in  youth,  in  manhood,  and  in  his  later  life,  for  me,  a 
comparative  stranger  here,  to  undertake  at  all  at  length  to  discuss 
the  character  or  attainments  or  position  of  the  Chief  Justice.  I 
rise  to  a  single  point,  and  had  it  not  been,  sir,  that  charges  have 
been  made  and  repeated  over  and  over  again  throughout  this  State 
and  elsewhere,  and,  I  am  very  sorry  to  say,  that  they  have  been  re- 
peated within  a  recent  period — charges  which  imputed  to  Mr. 
Chase  in  his  political  struggle,  dishonor,  want  of  principle,  mean- 
ness, and  trickery — I  say,  sir,  had  it  not  been  for  these  charges,  I 
would  in  this  presence  have  remained  silent.  It  happened  to  me 
many  years  ago  to  be  a  member  of  the  Legislature  which  elected 
Mr.  Chase  to  the  Senate,  and  to  have  the  honor  and  the  pleasure  of 
voting  for  him.  In  consequence  of  that  election,  which  happened 
under  very  peculiar  circumstances,  charges  were  made,  and  have 
been  continued  to  be  made,  that  Mr.  Chase,  in  making  then  his  first 
Btep,  for  that  was  his  first  prominent  step  in  public  lite,  acted  in  an 
underhand,  and  in  a  mean  and  trickv  way  to  secure  his  election.  1 
22 


324  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

was  intimate  with  Mr.  Chase,  and  I  have  here  to  say,  sir,  that  not 
one  word  of  truth  is  contained  in  any  such  charge.  There  are  other 
gentlemen  sitting  around  me — I  see  several  who  were  as  familiar 
with  the  facts  as  I  am — who  I  know  will  bear  me  out  in  the  remark, 
that  in  that  extraordinary  conjuncture  of  public  affairs,  when  an 
ordinary  man,  the  ordinary  demagogue,  the  third-rate  politician  of 
this  day  and  generation,  the  miserable  charlatan  of  public  affairs, 
who  lives  upon  intrigue,  upon  chicanery,  upon  management  devoid 
of  principle,  would  have  resorted  to  all  the  well  known  arts  of  low 
and  despicable  character ;  when,  if  there  ever  was  a  casa,  the  tempta- 
tion to  use  low  means  was  strong ;  when,  if  ever  there  was  a  case, 
outside  pressure  was  heavy  and  strong,  .and  it  was  at  such  a  time 
Mr.  Chase  was  brought  forward  as  a  candidate.  The  contest  lasted 
an  entire  winter,  or  nearly  so.  From  first  to  last,  in  every  thing 
that  was  said,  in  every  thing  that  was  done,  in  every  thing  that 
was  counseled  by  Mr.  Chase,  whether  to  his  immediate  friends  and 
representatives,  Dr.  Townshend,  of  Loraine,  and  his  colleague,  Mr. 
Morse,  or  any  of  the  thirteen  Freesoilers  holding  the  balance  of 
power,  or  in  his  conferences  and  communications  with  and  to  the 
Democrats  and  Whigs,  there  is  not  a  man  that  can,  with  truth,  say 
that  Mr.  Chase  either  sank  the  gentleman  or  the  man  of  honor  in 
the  slightest  degree.  And  I  can  say  here,  what  I  know  to  be  true, 
that  if  Mr.  Chase  had  been  the  kind  of  man  he  has  been  charged  to 
have  been,  upon  that  and  other  occasions,  he  never  could  have  been 
elected,  for  there  were  gentlemen  in  that  body  who  would  have 
been  utterly  disgusted  at  the  ordinary  arts  of  a  trickster.  Stand- 
ing as  Mr.  Chase  there  did,  as  the  representative  of  thirteen  dele- 
gates of  a  small  portion  of  the  people  of  the  State,  representing  as 
he  did  neither  the  Democracy  nor  the  Whigs,  neither  party  liking 
him,  neither  party  particularly  desiring  him,  if  it  had  not  been 
for  his  manly  course  from  beginning  to  end,  not  only  in  his  personal 
intercourse  with  the  members  of  that  Legislature,  but  in  the  coun- 
sels that  he  gave,  in  the  acts  he  did,  and  had  not  all  been  of  that 
high,  honorable,  frank,  and  manly  character  that  won  upon  the 
confidence  and  respect  of  his  opponents,  he  never  would  have  been 
elected;  and  I  say  here,  stating  what  I  know  to  be  the  case,  that 
these  very  elevated  qualities  which  my  friend,  Judge  Hoadhr,  has 
so  eloquently  and  so  beautifully  depicted  (together  with  other  gen- 
tlemen) those  innate  qualities,  honor  as  a  gentleman,  attachment 
to  principles,  firmness  in  what  he  believed  to  be  the  right;  if  it 
had  not  been  for  those  qualities,  he  never  could  have  been  elected; 
and  it  was  these  which  had  more  to  do  with  giving  him  that  step 
forward  in  public  life  than  all  the  other  curious  circumstances  at- 
tending that  strange  election.  It  may  be  out  of  place  here  to  say 
what  I  have  said,  but  I  like  to  hear  the  truth  spoken  at  all  times, 
and  particularly  of  the  dead.  Be  the  individual  high,  or  be  he  low, 
the  truth  should  be  told,  and  I  have  no  doubt,  sir,  that  there  are 
yet  in  our  State,  judging  from  what  I  have  seen  lately,  many  good 
men  and  true  who  have  been  misled  by  those  charges,  and  who, 
however  much  otherwise  they  may  admire  and  revere  the  character 
of  the  late  Chief  Justice,  still  have  hanging  about  them  the  rem- 
nants of  old  prejudices  and  of  old  partial  or  complete  beliefs  in  his 


OF    SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  325 

want  of  honor  and  principle  in  that  matter.  And  it  is,  if  possible. 
that,  speaking  here  from  personal  knowledge,  I  may,  in  some  faint 
degree,  if  such  partial  beliefs  and  prejudices  still  exist,  aid  in  dis- 
pelling them,  that  I  have  ventured  to  make  these  few  remarks.  I 
should  apologize,  also,  perhaps,  for  saying  them,  for  the  reason  that 
no  defense  of  Mr.  Chase  absolutely  is  necessary ;  and  yet  if  there  be 
the  faintest  stain  or  discoloration  on  a  beautiful  bust,  or  a  speck  of 
dust  that  by  accident  has  lodged  upon  a  portrait  or  petal  of  a  flower, 
that  is  drooping  through  accident,  it  is  surely  pleasant  and  proper 
to  brush  away  the  dust,  smooth  off  the  spot  or  raise  the  petal.  The 
bust  remains,  the  portrait  is  there,  of  course,  with  all  the  grand  and 
imposing  lineaments  not  permanently  defaced  by  such  a  spot,  yet 
perhaps  more  perfect  if  it  be  fully  understood  that  a  man  who  was 
maligned  for  a  long  time  for  a  supposed  want  of  principle  in  start- 
ing into  public  affairs,  was  unjustly  maligned  than  if  otherwise." 

On  the  same  occasion,  Mr.  Pugh  was  reported,  in  part,  as  follows  : 

"I  had  really  not  intended  to  have  said  any  thing  on  this  occa- 
sion, although  I  knew  Mr.  Chase  from  the  time  when  I  was  a  stu- 
dent at  law.  I  was  a  tenant  of  his  while  he  was  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  law,  before  we  had  a  law  library,  and  when  we  often 
resorted  to  each  other's  offices  to  borrow  books.  I  was  associated 
with  him  in  the  trial  of  cases,  and  appeared  in  opposition  to  him. 
If  the  vile  charge  to  which  Judge  Whitman  referred  has  been  re- 
vived, I  have  never  seen  such  an  article.  I  thought  Mr.  Chase  had 
lived  it  down  years  ago.  I  unite  with  my  friend  as  one  of  those 
who  voted  for  Mr.  Chase  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  pro- 
nouncing the  charge  utterly  false.  "What  more  shall  I  say?  lie 
was  the  Governor  of  our  State  for  two  terms,  and  discharged  the 
duties  of  the  office  in  such  a  manner  as  to  give  an  increase  to  his 
own  great  reputation.  He  entered  the  office  of  the  Treasury  at 
Washington,  and  I  really  did  begin  to  suppose  that  he  had  reached 
the  limit  of  his  ability ;  he  who  had  been  a  lawyer  and  a  states- 
man having  risen  to  the  height  of  financial  skill  with  which  he 
conducted  that  great  office  in  such  troublous  times.  I  am  glad,  sir, 
that  he  never  was  President.  I  would  rather  that  he  should  have 
been  where  he  was  on  the  day  of  his  death.  I  think  his  fame  will 
be  greater  in  the  future,  and  that  when  the  disappointment  of  his 
friends  has  passed  away,  and  they  look  along  the  record  of  his  life, 
it  will  be  prouder  for  them  and  prouder  for  his  family  that  he  died, 
not  only  in  the  great  office  of  Chief  Justice,  but  he  died  with  his 
harness  on." 

It  must  be  evident  enough  that,  very  close  attention  should 
be  given  to  the  question  whether  he,  whose  life  we  study,  made 
his  way  to  the  Senate  by  a  crime  only  less  appalling  than  the 
crime  of  John  Wilkes  Booth,  when  he  made  his  way  to  the  "  box  of 
state,"  in  Ford's  Theater,  and  slew  the  unsuspecting  President  of  the 
United  States. 


326  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

How  I  would  scorn  the  memory  of  Chase,  had  I,  with  the  already 
indicated  knowledge  of  the  facts,  the  slightest  reason  to  suspect  him 
of  a  willingness  to  slay  the  law  in  order  to  advance  his  lust  of  place 
and  power,  I  will  not  attempt  to  intimate  in  this  place  or  elsewhere. 
But,  thank  Heaven  !  no  man  living  knows  more  about  the  designs 
and  the  desires,  the  aspiration  and  ambition  of  Salmon  Portland 
Chase,  at  the  time  referred  to,  than  is  known  to  the  composer  of 
these  pages.  Of  the  transactions  in  question,  also,  I  knew  more 
than  a  little  at  the  time.  As  already  stated,  I  was  the  confidential 
counsel  of  Edward  C.  Roll,  in  taking  the  course  recited  in  the  case 
of  State  of  Ohio  ex  rel.  Broadwell  and  others  vs.  Roll,  reported  in  the 
Western  Law  Journal;1  and  Mr.  Roll,  in  giving  the  certificates  to 
Pugh  and  Pierce,  without  the  giving  of  which  Mr.  Chase  would  not 
have  gone  to  the  Senate,  acted  as  advised  by  me,  at  once  his  friend 
and  his  legal  adviser. 

I  do  not  conceal  that  there  were  timid  Democrats  who  reasoned  in 
this  fashion  :  Though,  in  their  opinion,  the  pretended  law  was  clearly 
no  law  at  all,  yet  Mr.  Roll,  in  spite  of  his  oath — in  spite  of  his  clear 
duty  as  a  citizen — would,  as  a  ministerial  officer,  be  safer  in  treating 
it  as  valid  till  its  invalidity  should  be  judicially  declared. 

I  do  not  intimate  that  Mr.  Roll  had  reason  to  have  great  regard 
for  my  opinions,  but  I  do  declare  that  he  actually  had  it;  and  I 
have  reason  to  believe  that,  had  I  judged  as  did  the  timid  Demo- 
crats just  referred  to,  he  would  not  have  pursued  the  course  that  he 
at  last  considered  as  required  by  his  official  duties  as  well  as  by  his 
obligations  as  a  private  citizen  toward  the  State  constitution.  I 
believe  he  had  no  consultation,  direct  or  indirect,  with  Mr.  Chase. 
I  believe  that,  had  he  consulted  Mr.  Chase,  the  latter  would  have 
advised  him  against  taking  the  responsibility  that  I  advised. 

But,  in  any  view,  did  Chase  and  his  associates,  on  the  occasion 
referred  to  by  those  letters — did  Judge  Read  and  others — undertake 
to  nullify  an  act  of  legislation  ? 

That  which  is  already  null  can  not  be  nullified.  That  which  is 
void  from  the  beginning  is  not  voidable  merely. 

So  I  had  the  honor  to  suggest,  by  propounding  to  Judge  Walker, 
in  the  course  of  the  discussion  of  State  of  Ohio  ex  rel.  Broadwell 
et  al.  vs.  Roll,  already  cited,  a  question  with  which  he  suffered  me 
to  interrupt  his  argument. 

i  Vol.  7,  p.  121 . 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  327 

He  was  arguing  that,  even  if  the  court  should  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  legislative  act  in  question  was,  as  Roll  alleged,  a 
violation  of  the  constitution,  the  court  must  still  find  him  guilty  of 
official  misconduct.  Why?  Because  he  was  merely  a  ministerial 
officer,  and  as  to  him  the  act  in  question  was  a  law,  no  matter  how 
repugnant  to  the  constitution. 

The  distinguished  advocate  who  so  insisted,  had  (as  I  have  already 
stated)  been  ray  legal  teacher,  after  Judge  Read  ceased  to  take  direc- 
tion of  my  legal  studies.  I  was  very  certain  that  he  would  receive 
kindly  the  scrap  of  paper  which  I  handed  him,  having  first  written 
on  the  same  the  words,  as  now  remembered  : 

"Will  Judge  Walker  suffer  me  to  interrupt  him  with  a  question, 
which  I  promise  shall  be  brief  and  pertinent  ?  " 

Judge  Walker  courteously  allowed  the  desired  interruption. 
Then  I  handed  him,  on  another  slip  of  paper,  the  question  : 

"  Is  an  unconstitutional  act  of  the  Legislature  voidable  only  when 
ascertained,  by  judicial  decision,  to  be  in  repugnance  to  the  consti- 
tution, or  is  it  void  ab  initio?" 

That  was  all  the  argument  I  wished  to  make ;  for  I  knew  how 
Judge  Walker  would  be  forced  to  answer.  He  responded,  promptly 
that  a  legislative  act  in  clear  violation  of  the  constitution  was  always 
held  to  be  absolutely  void,  from  the  beginning,  on  account  of  its 
repugnance  to  the  fundamental  law ;  but  still  he  argued,  that  the 
clerk  had  misbehaved,  in  any  view,  in  presuming  to  decide  a  ques- 
tion of  constitutional  law  for  himself! 

Mr.  Chase,  on  looking  thoroughly  into  the  matter,  came  to  a  dif- 
ferent conclusion.  He  considered  at  that  time,  that  a  legislative 
act  in  clear,  certain  violation  of  the  fundamental  law,  could  have 
no  legal  sanction  as  to  any  citizen  in  or  out  of  office. 

That  he  understood  the  dread  responsibility,  in  or  out  of  office,  of 
refusing  to  obey  a  pretended  law  on  account  of  its  clear  unconstitu- 
tionality, I  need  not  say.  He  always  understood  that  it  is  only 
where  there  is  no  reasonable  doubt  of  the  unconstitutionality  of  a 
pretended  legislative  act,  that  that  act  can  be  disregarded,  even  by  a 
court  of  justice.  But  his  mind  was  quite  too  clear  and  strong  to 
suffer  him  to  say,  that  an  act  of  the  legislature,  in  clear,  certain  re- 
pugnance to  the  constitution,  could  have  legal  force  for  any  purpose, 
as  to  any  person. 


328  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 

True,  there  came  a  time  when  he  seemed  to  distinguish  between  a 
construction  of  the  constitution  in  the  face  of  civil  war,  and  the  con- 
struction of  the  same  instrument  in  time  of  peace.  I  think  lie  erred 
in  that  respect,  and  I  do  not  feel  free  to  turn  away  from  the  indica- 
tions of  his  real  or  apparent  inconsistency  in  that  particular. 

Of  that,  however,  I  propose  to  speak  hereafter.  Here  I  wish  to 
keep  attention  fixed,  for  a  few  moments  longer,  on  the  subject  of  the 
course  pursued  in  1848-1849  by  Mr.  Chase,  with  reference  to  the 
attempted  division  of  Hamilton  County. 

Under  date  November  22,  1848,  in  a  register  of  Mr.  Chase,  ap- 
pear these  words — words  which  a  fraudulent  biographer  would  care- 
fully conceal : 

"  Saw  number  of  lawyers,  some  of  whom  mentioned  my  probable 
election  as  Senator.  Might  believe  it  myself  if  it  did  not  seem  so 
absolute^  out  of  the  question  whenever  I  seriously  think  of  it. 
Saw  Donn  Piatt,  of  Logan,  whosays  hewillbeat  Columbusat  opening  oj ses~ 
don.  He  reports  that  Judge  Read  says  the  Freesoilers  ma}r  have  the 
Senator  if  they  will  give  the  Democrats  the  other  offices.  Told  him 
I  hoped  the  Freesoilers  would  act  with  conscientious  regard  to  right, 
and  let  consequences  take  care  of  themselves." 

Who  "  Donn  Piatt,  of  Logan  "  was  and  is,  I  need  not  tell  the 
average  American  reader.  He  is  known  to  the  whole  country  as  the 
editor-in-chief  of  the  Capital,  having  first  attained  national  distinc- 
tion as  the  Washington  correspondent  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial. 

In  the  last  letter  written  to  rhe  author  of  this  volume,  by  its  hero, 
evidence  appears  that  Col.  Donn  Piatt  Avas  intimate  with  Salmon 
Portland  Chase  down  to  the  time  of  the  latter's  last  days.  He  was 
in  co-operation  with  our  hero  in  1848,  but  not  in  1852,  Again  in 
1856  they  were  together. 

Now,  a  word  about  Judge  Read.  He  seemed  to  me  the  greatest 
legist  in  Ohio,  even  while  our  hero  seemed  to  me  a  very  learned 
jurist  and  an  able  advocate.  In  Read,  one  did  not  see  the  stately 
presence,  the  commanding  manner,  the  peculiar  tone  of  Chase ;  but 
Read,  also,  was  a  man  of  noble  mien  when  he  was  most  himself;  and 
certainly  no  man  whom  I  have  ever  met  was,  all  things  considered, 
equal  to  him  as  a  legist,  and  on  the  bench. 

Now,  this  Judge  Read  was  a  brother-in-law  of  "Donn  Piatt,  of 
Logan,"  whom,  as  we  have  just  seen,  Chase  set  down,  on  the  22d  of 
November,  1848,  as  "  reporting"  that  Judge  Read  had  said  that  the 
Freesoilers  might  have  the  Senator  if  they  would  give  the  Demo- 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  329 

crats  the  other  offices  !  I  think,  my  friend  Donn  is  also  a  an  enigma;"1 
but  Judge  Bead  was  clearly  an  enigma,  if  Donn  had  rightly  under- 
stood him,  as  early  as  the  22d  of  November,  1848,  to  say  that  he 
was  willing  to  give  the  Freesoilers  the  Senator,  on  any  terms.  I 
think  Donn  Piatt  must  have  misunderstood  Judge  Head  or  been 
misunderstood  by  Chase. 

I  was  quite  intimate  with  Read.  He  always  Roberted  me ; 
always  talked  to  me  without  reserve.  He  talked  with  me  most 
freely,  at  the  time  referred  to.  He  had  set  his  heart  on  going  to  the 
Senate.  Afterward,  at  all  times,  he  excepted  to  the  course  of  Chase 
in  joining  in  the  arrangement  by  which  the  Senator  was  given  to 
the  Freesoilers.  Once,  not  long  afterward,  having  come  up  to 
"Billy  McDowell"  (afterward  Judge  McDowell,  of  Kansas)  and 
myself,  at  the  corner  of  Walnut  and  Fifth  Streets,  Cincinnati,  just 
as  we  were  left  by  Senator  Chase,  he  "  opened  up  "  in  this  fashion  : 

"  Boys  !  I  see  you  have  been  talking  with  Chase.  He  is  court- 
ing you  young  men.  Avoid  him.  He  is  a  political  vampire.  Xo ! 
He's  a  sort  of  moral  bull-bitch." 

Then  followed  a  few  words  which,  not  on  account  of  Chase,  nor 
on  account  of  Read,  but  on  account  of  other  persons,  I  will  not 
repeat,  though  I  have  often  repeated  them  in  private. 

I  defended  Chase  as  I  defend  him  now.  I  told  Judge  Read  then 
as  I  tell  my  readers  now,  that  what  I  knew  about  the  facts  con- 
nected with  the  senatorial  candidature  of  Mr.  Chase  would  not  allow 
me  to  believe  that  he  had  yielded  to  ambition  rather  than  observed 
a  due  regard  to  public  obligations,  in  participating  in  the  movement 
that  had  made  him  Senator. 

Let  me  now  invite  attention  to  these  entries  : 

"  January  1.  [1849].  Began  the  new  year  at  Columbus.  Engaged 
on  argument  in  Lane  Seminary  case,  but  subject  to  a  good  many 
interruptions.  The  argument  of  the  disputed  seats  from  Hamilton 
County  in  the  Ohio  House  of  Representatives  commences  to-day  : 
Geo.  E.  Pugh  for  himself  and  Pierce  ;  O.  M.  Spencer  for  himself 
and  Banyan. 

"  January  2.  Went  over  to  the  House  to-day  to  hear  Spencer  and 
Pugh.  At  noon,  "wrote  out  proposition,  or  rather  engagement,  to  be 
signed  by  such  gentlemen  of  the  Democratic  party  as  might  see  fit, 
to  the  effect,  that,  in  case  Pugh  and  Pierce  should  be  admitted,  no  at- 
tempt should  be  made  to  keep  in  Sheldon,  a  Democratic  member  from 
Portage,  having  the  clerk's  certificate  given  to  him  in  consequence 
of  a  mere   mistake,  through  which   a   number  of  votes,  making  a 


1  See  motto  of  this  volume. 


330  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

majority  for  his  opponent,  were  not  counted.  Saw  Judge  Smart,  of 
Highland,  in  company  with  Dr.  Townshend.  He  assured  us  that 
he  would  give  no  countenance  to  any  attempt  to  keep  Sheldon  in, 
but  would  unite  with  the  Freesoilers  against  the  Democratic  candi- 
date for  Speaker,  unless  be  would  pledge  himself  to  make  a  fai-r  com- 
mittee on  elections.  This  interview  was  before  the  House  met  in 
the  morning.  Handed  the  paper  written,  at  noon,  to  Dr.  T.,  just 
before  the  P.  M.  sitting.  Pugh  concluded  his  argument,  which  was 
both  able  and  eloquent.  Dr.  T.  moved  an  adjournment.  It  was  lost. 
I  told  Disney,  who  was  near  me,  that  if  the  question  on  the  right  to  seats 
should  be  taken  now,  Pugh  and  Pierce  would  be  excluded.  He  went  over 
to  speak  to  the  Democrats.  Breslin  consulted  Dr.  T.  He.  thinking  Van 
Doren  would  vote  for  P.  and  P.,  said  adjournment  unnecessary.  Ques- 
tion then  taken  on  P.  and  P.'s  right.  Ayes  35 ;  nays  35 — only  Towns- 
hend  voting  with  Democrats,  Van  Doren  voting  against  them.  Next,  on 
Spencer  and  Runyan's  right:  ayes  32,  nays  38.  Among  the  latter, 
Townshend,  Morse,  Van  Doren,  Piddle,  Smart.  The  Democrats  were 
much  excited — charged  bad  faith  on.  Freesoilers.  Several  came  to  see  me. 
Told  them  to  keep  cool.  Many  threatened  to  go  home  and  break  up 
Legislature,  but  finally  concluded  to  take  another  day  for  consideration, 
if  enough  Freesoilers  would  vote  with  them  to  adjourn  next  day  without 
electing  a  Speaker,  etc.,  which  they  agreed  to  do. 

"January  3.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  consultation  to-day.  The 
Democrats  still  much  excited  and  inclined  to  break  up  the  Legisla- 
ture. The  adjournment  look  place  as  agreed.  Starr  came  up  to- 
night, arriving  about  one,  A.  M. 

"  January  4.  This  morning  it  was  finally  understood  that  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate,  for  Speaker  should  be  elected,  Stanley  Matthews,  Free- 
soiler,  Clerk;  and  that  a  Committee  on  Priv.  and  Election  should  be 
constituted  of  one  Freesoiler,  two  Democrats,  and  two  Whigs.  The  House 
met  at  ten.  Breslin,  Democrat,  was  elected  Speaker ;  Matthews, 
Clerk ;  and  House,  after  several  ballots  for  Sergeant-at-arms,  ad- 
journed. I  was  not  present  at  either  morning  or  afternoon  session,  but 
busy  at  my  argument,  except  when  interrupted  by  callers.  Monfort  and 
Long  called  in  the  evening  to  ask  if  it  was  desired  to  elect  Purdy, 
Freesoil  nominee,  by  Democratic  votes.     I  could  not  tell." 

Enough  appears,  I  think,  to  satisfy  every  fa  if- minded  reader  that 
the  course  of  Chase  at  this  time  was  governed,  not  by  low  ambition, 
not  by  lust  of  power,  but  by  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  constitu- 
tional agitation  against  slavery. 

I  did  not  then  regard  that  devotion  as  well  guarded  and  restrained. 
As  I  review  it  even  now,  it  seems  to  me  much  as  it  then  appeared 
to  me.  But  even  then  it  seemed  to  me,  at  least,  sincere  and  con- 
scientious, and  it  seems  to  me,  after  so  many  years — after  so  many 
sorrows — after  so  many  trials — not  less  conscientious,  not  less  earnest, 
not  less  patriotic,  than  it  seemed  to  me  in  1848-1849. 

But  I  do  not  fancy  that  I  have  disposed  of  all  the  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  simple  justice  to  the  memory   of  Chase,  as  affected  by 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  331 

the  part  betook  with  the  Democratic  party  in  1848-1849,  and  down 
to  1852.  I  do  not  imagine  that  I  have  silenced  the  objection  that 
he  was  not  "a  loyal  party  man."  Nor  have  I  the  slightest  expec- 
tation of  disposing  of  that  objection  in  the  present  chapter.  But  the 
charge  has  been  made,  that  the  man  these  pages  name  so  often  was 
disloyal  as  to  church  and  party  both.  It  has  been  charged  that  he 
passed  over  from  the  church  in  which  he  was  educated  to  the 
Methodist  communion  in  the  interest  of  an  unholy  lust  of  power; 
and  it  has  been  charged  that  he  passed  from  the  Whig  party  to  the 
Liberty  party,  from  the  Liberty  party  to  the  Democratic  party,  from 
the  Democratic  party  to  the  Republican  party,  and  from  the  Repub- 
lican party  back  again  to  the  Democratic  party,  in  the  same  selfish, 
evil  interest. 

I  propose  to  say  something  about  these  charges ;  and,  first,  I  have 
something  farther  to  say  about  the  changes  from  party  to  party. 

In  a  letter  to  Lyman  W.  Hall,  Esq.,  under  date  August  6,  1849, 
Senator  Chase  said : 

"I  am  sure  I  had  no  idea  that  I  was  so  bad  a  man  as  I  have  dis- 
covered myself  to  be  since  my  election  to  the  Senate.  I  always  tried 
to  pursue  a  straight-forward,  frank  course,  conciliating  always  where- 
soever conciliation  did  not  involve  a  sacrifice  of  principle;  but  always 
ready  to  avow  and  maintain  whatever  principles  I  really  held  and  to 
abide  by  them  no  matter  how  small  the  minority. 

"/  was  educated  in  the  Whig  school,  and  as  a  lawyer  rather  than  as 
a  politician.  In  my  latter  capacity  I  was  always  tolerably  independent ; 
hut  I  held  in  the  main  the  views  which  are  now  generally  denominated 
Whig  (though,  at  tiie  time,  they  were  almost  equally  shared,  by  both 
parties)  up  till  1840.  In  that  year  I  supported  Harrison,  though  an 
advocate  myself  of  the  sub-treasury  system.  I  took,  however,  very 
little  part  in  politics  at  that  time.  In  1841,  having  become  satisfied 
that  the  Whig  administration  would  be  as  pro-slavery  as  the  Demo- 
cratic had  ever  been,  I  united  with  a  few  others  in  the  call  for  the 
Liberty  Convention  of  December  sin  that  year.  Convinced  now  that 
tlie  question  of  slavery  was  the  paramount  one,  and  satisfied  that  tin  great 
principle  of  equal  rights  was  correct,  I  began  to  test  opinions  by  tin's  stan- 
dard. I  was  thus  led  to  quite  different  views  on  the  questions  of  bank 
tariff  and  government,  frorti  those  I  had  taken  up,  in  trust  without  exam- 
ination, and  became  unreservedly  a  Democrat — with  Democratic  princi- 
ples too  strong  to  allow  of  any  compromise  with  slavery.  Holding  these 
principles,  I  icas  content  to  go  into  the  minority  of  the  Liberty  party  and 
labor  in  it.  when  men  counted  me  mad  for  so  doing. 

"These  principles,  however,  led  the  Democrats  to  consent  to  my  support 
last  winter,  and  I  now  hold  them  as  unreservedly,  and  as  absolutely,  with- 
out compromise,  as  ever.  All  1  desire  is  to  see  the  old  Democracy  follow 
out  their  principles  to  the  same  conclusions.  Then  we  can  all  stand  to- 
gether. 


332  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"For  these  views  I  am  reproached  and  vilified  beyond  measure; 
but  I  shall  go  straight  on.  I  rejoice  to  hear  that  in  Portage  and 
Summit  the  two  wings  of  the  Democracy  will  be  united  on  princi- 
ple. I  wish  it  could  be  so  every -where  throughout  our  State.  Then 
a  glorious  victory  would  surely  await  us." 

Here  is  the  copy  of  a  letter  written  by  him  to  a  Democratic  edi- 
tor at  a  very  critical  time : 

"  Cincinnati,  July  30,  1849. 
'•'Hon.  Asa  G.  Dimmock,  Millersburgh,  O. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  regretted  exceedingly  that  1  could  not  see  you 
at  Cleveland.  I  wished  very  much  to  have  a  full  conversation  with 
you  on  matters  and  things  in  general. 

"An  attempt  is  being  made,  I  see,  to  fasten  the  doctrine  of  non- 
intervention with  slavery  again  upon  the  Democratic  party.  The 
Washington  Union  takes  the  lead — General  Cass  follows  suit — divers 
papers  join  the  cry.  Now  it  does  seem  to  me  that  this  attempt 
should  be  honestly  and  decidedly  met  and  resisted.  The  Democratic 
party  was  wrecked  on  this  rock  last  fall.  Is  it  worth  while  to  run 
right  on  it  again? 

"For  General  Cass,  personally,  I  have  a  high  respect.  But  he 
made  a  grand  mistake  when  he  abandoned  his  original  Wilmot  Pro- 
viso ground,  and  promulgated  the  doctrines  of  the  Nicholson  letter 
— doctrines  condemned  by  all  our  history — by  the  action  of  every 
administration,  including  Mr.  Polk's  and  the  common  sense  construc- 
tion of  the  constitution.  To  leave  the  old  ground  now,  and  make 
these  indefensible  doctrines  the  platform  of  the  Democratic  party  is, 
I  think,  to  insure  defeat. 

"Such  a  course  makes  union  with  the  free  Democracy  impossible, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  drives  out  of  the  regular  ranks  a  great  num- 
ber of  the  truest  Democrats  in  them,  into  the  ranks  of  the  former. 

"In  this  State  I  have  been  inclined  to  believe  that  the  old  Democ- 
racy and  the  free  Democracy  would  succeed  in  carrying  the  Legisla- 
ture this  fall,  and  that  the  representatives  of  the  two  wings  would 
not  find  it  difficult  to  agree  on  a  common  platform,  as  they  have  done 
in  Vermont  and  Wisconsin.  But  if  the  Democratic  presses  which 
supported  General  Cass  insist  on  the  non-intervention  doctrine,  great 
difficulties  will  be  introduced  into  the  canvass  before  the  people,  a8 
well  as  into  action  in  the  Legislature,  supposing  the  two  parties  of 
the  Dcmocrac}"  again  to  have  a  majority. 

"Can  you  not  write  something  upon  this  subject?  My  general 
view  of  the  relation  of  slavery  to  our  National  Government  is  stated 
fully  in  my  argument  of  the  Vanzandt  case,  in  which,  also,  I  give 
some  account  of  the  ordinance  of  1787.  I  believe  I  have  sent  you  a 
copy  heretofore,  but  it  will  do  no  harm  to  send  you  another. 

"I  sec  Vaughan,  of  the  True  Democrat,  and  Gray,  of  the  Plain-Dealer, 
have  got  at  Avar.  Perhaps  it 's  nothing  very  serious,  but  I  am  sorry 
to  sec  it.  Gray  is  a  clever  fellow  and  an  able  writer,  and  his  sym- 
pathies, I  am  sure,  are  fully  with  the  free  Democracy.  Yaughan's 
article  in  eulogy  of  the  Whigs  of  Harrison  was  injudicious  and  per- 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  333 

haps  Avorse  ;  but  I  wish  Gray  had  spoken  to  him  privately  about  it 
instead  of  making  it  the  subject  of  annoying  comment. 

"Do  you  correspond  with  Medary?     What    is  his  disposition  in 
reference  to  the  future?     I  see  he  had  an  article  indorsing  the  Wash- 
ington Union  Platform,  but  of  late  he  has  said  nothing  about  it. 
"  I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  from  you,  and,  meanwhile,  remain, 

"Faithfully  yours, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

It  may  seem  strange  that  a  man  so  well  informed  about  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  as  the  writer  of  that  letter  might  have  been,  should 
have  expected  so  much  from  that  organization.  But  that  letter  was 
written  more  than  eighteen  months  after  the  representation  in  the 
State  convention  of  the  Democratic  party  in  Ohio,  passed  that  "mit- 
igate" and  "finally  eradicate"  resolution. 

Chase,  who  then  somewhat  idealized  the  Democratic  party  and  the 
members  of  that  party,  had,  no  doubt,  the  expectation  that  the  senti- 
ments of  the  eleventh  resolution  would  ere  long  become  almost  uni- 
versally prevalent  in  the  Democratic  party  of  Ohio. 

On  the  6th  of  August,  1849,  he  wrote  again  to  Mr.  Dimmock, 
who  was  then  editing  the  Ohio  Farmer.  The  letter  last  referred  to 
says : 

"  To  me  it  seems  clear  that  the  true  interest  and  duty  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party  in  the  free  States  points  to  union  with  the  free  Democ- 
racy, instead  of  alliance  with  the  slaveholders.  The  former  secures 
ascendancy  in  the  free  States — the  latter,  ascendancy  in  the  slave 
States.  The  former  may  throw  the  Democracy  into  minorities  in  the 
slave  States,  but  will  still  leave  them  strong  in  numbers  and  stronger 
in  character.  The  latter  will,  almost  certainly,  bj*  making  it  impos- 
sible for  the  free  Democrats  to  cooperate,  throw  the  Democracy  into 
minorities  in  almost  all  the  free  States,  and  thus  make  the  successful 
issue  of  a  presidental  contest  nearly  impossible,  while  the  striking 
contrast  between  the  maxims  and  the  practices  of  equal  rights  pro- 
fessing, but  slavery  supporting,  Democracy  must  rob  the  party  of  all 
moral  power." 

The  same  letter  contains  these  words: 

"  I  do  not  agree  with  you  that  the  question  as  to  the  division  of 
Hamilton  County  is  the  main  obstacle  to  a  union  between  the  Dem- 
ocrats and  Freesoilers.  The  true  difficulty  is  in  the  position  of 
Gen.  ('as-:  and  the  Washington  Union,  seconded  by  such  papers  as  the 
Democratic  Banner,  the  Georgetown  Standard,  the  Chillicothe  Advertiser, 
and  countenanced,  though  not  very  zealously,  by  the  Ohio  Statesman. 
Oh,  if  the  Democracy  of  the  State  would  just  repudiate  this  platform, 
and,  planting  itself  upon  the  resolution  adopted  by  its  last  guber- 
natorial convention,  and  boldly  proclaiming  as  the  true  meaning  of 


334  THE   PEIVATE   EIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SEEVICES 

that  resolution — prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  Territories  and  the 
separation  of  the  general  government  from  all  support  of  slavery — 
how  soon  you  would  find  the  free  Democracy  gathering  in  solid 
array  around  you,  resolved  to  conquer  with  you  for  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  freedom  and  equal  rights.  Then  you  would  find  the  frauds 
of  the  apportionment  law  and  the  iniquities  of  the  Hamilton  County 
division  scattered  like  chaff  before  the  tempest  of  popular  indigna- 
tion. Be  assured,  my  friend,  that  nothing  is  needed  to  the  com- 
plete triumph  of  the  Democracy  in  Ohio  except  fidelity  to  its  own 
glorious  principles  and  a  faithful  application  of  them  to  slavery." 

The  next  day  he  said  in  a  letter  to  C.  R.  Miller,  Esq.,  of  Toledo, 
Ohio: 

"  I  feel  solicitous  about  the  action  of  the  Freesoilers  on  the 
Reserve — especially  in  relation  to  Townshend  and  Morse.  These 
men  were  faithful  to  the  cause,  and  took  not  one  single  step  with 
any  personal  objects.  Without  any  interested  motive,  they  stood 
in  the  breach,  at  the  greatest  hazard  and  amid  an  unprecedented 
storm  of  obloquy.  But  for  them  the  Black  Laws  would  not  have  been 
repealed — and  but  for  them  no  permanent  advantage  to  the  free 
Democracy  would  have  accrued  from  its  representatives  in  the  Leg- 
islature.    If  any  men  ever  deserved  to  be  sustained,  they  do. 

"  For  myself,  Ihave  no  love  for  political  life  ;  1  am  in  it  from  necessity, 
not  choice  or  advantage.  Cheerfully  would  I  resign  my  position  to  any 
man  who  would  do  my  work  in  it.  I  am  not  insensible  to  its  honors  or 
advantages ;  but  in  my  judgment,  they  are  more  than  counterbalanced  by 
its  responsibilities  and  its  discomforts.  But  I  won't  bore  you  with  this, 
but,  finding  myself  at  the  bottom  of  the  second  page,  bid  you  fare- 
well. Yours  truly, 

"S.  P.  CHASE." 

Attention  is  next  invited  to  this  document : 

"  Cincinnati,  August  2,  1851. 

"  Dear  Sir  :  On  my  return  home,  after  an  absence  of  some  six 
weeks,  I  found  your  letter  of  July  25th,  for  which  I  beg  you  to  accept 
my  thanks. 

"  I  am  not  prepared  to  express  any  opinion  at  present,  in  relation  to 
the  next  presidential  election.  I  can  only  say  that,  while  I  greatly 
desire  the  union  and  harmony  of  the  Democracy,  I  shall  act,  when 
action  becomes  necessary,  as  my  principles  require. 

"  I  wish  that  Democrats  in  all  parts  of  the  Union  could  return  to 
the  simple  platform  of  the  father  of  American  Democracy,  and  be 
content  to  leave  slavery  and  the  extradition  of  slaves  to  the  several 
States  to  be  acted  upon,  under  the  obligations  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  according  to  their  own  discretion — thus  sever- 
ing the  National  Government  from  all  connection  with  these  mat- 
ters, and  leaving  to  it  only  the  duty,  so  far  as  this  subject  is  con- 
cerned, of  maintaining  all  persons,  where  its  jurisdiction  is  exclu- 
sive, in  the  enjoyment  of  personal  freedom.  This,  however,  is  hardly 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND   CHASE.  335 

to  be  hoped  for  at  present.  The  next  best  thing  would  be  cordial 
toleration  in  Congress,  and  out  of  Congress,  of  differences  of  opinion 

and  action  on  slavery  among  Democrats,  leaving,  in  good  faith,  the 
decision  of  the  questions  in  controversy  to  the  people  and  their  rep- 
resentatives, after  untrammelled  discussion.  Such  toleration,  per- 
haps, is  as  little  to  be  expected  as  agreement. 

"I  entertain  for  Gen.  Houston  a  very  sincere  regard.  His  kind- 
ness and  courtesy  toward  me  during  our  association  in  the  Senate 
could  not  fail  to  win  it.  Should  he  be  nominated  for  the  Presidency 
I  should  wish  to  support  him.  Whether  1  should  do  so  or  not,  how- 
ever, would  depend  upon  the  positions  which  he,  and  the  convention 
making  the  nomination,  should  think  proper  to  take. 

••  Should  you   return  to  the  South   through  this  city  I  shall  be 
happy  to  see  you,  and  if  you  will  remain  a  few  days  with  us,  will 
endeavor  to  make  your  stay  as  agreeable  as  possible. 
"  Very  respectfully  and  truly  yours,  etc., 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Let  me  next  invite  attention  to  this  letter : 

"  Cincinnati,  November  23,  1849. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Looking  over  some  old  papers  this  evening,  I 
find  the  inclosed  receipt,  which  I  forward  to  you.  You  will  remem- 
ber the  remittance  of  the  $10  for  the  Colored  Orphan  Asylum  which 
the  receipt  acknowledges. 

"What  changes  have  occurred  since  our  last  exchanged  letters! 
Your  position  is  greatly  advanced  since  then.  My  own  remains 
unchanged.  I  have  been  looking  over,  this  evening,  some  of  the 
papers  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  which  I  wrote  in  1841-2,  and  have 
been  really  surprised  by  the  exact  agreement  in  purport  and  ex- 
pression with  my  most  recently  published  views.  Very  possibly 
you  will  think  this  stationary  position  not  creditable  to  me.  Per- 
haps you  are  right,  but  I  have  never  been  able  to  persuade  myself 
of  the  validity  of  the  arguments  used  to  urge  an  advance  from  it  to 
the  ground  you  occupy.  And  I  have  now  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
a  large  body  of  the  people  occupying  the  platform  which  I  once 
stood  upon  with  few  associates ;  and  of  believing  that  the  time  is 
not  distant  when  the  support  of  the  National  Government  will  be 
withdrawn  from  slavery.  My  efforts  shall  not  be  wanting  to  hasten 
the  time.  With  great  regard,  I  am,  as  ever  truly  your  friend. 
"  Gerritt  Smith,  Esq.,  Petersboro,  N.  Y.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


336  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

THE  SENATORIAL  SERVICE  OF  THE  HERO — CHASE  AND  DOUGLAS — BLEED- 
ING  KANSAS. 

THE  letter  to  Mr.  Trowbridge,  giving  account  of  the  Buffalo 
Convention,  contains  also  the  following  paragraphs : 

"  Immediately  after  the  election,  the  northern  Democracy,  which 
had  supported  General  Cass,  claiming  that  under  the  doctrines 
maintained  by  him,  slavery,  though  not  prohibited  by  law.  could 
find  no  ingress  into  the  Territories,  passed  by  an  easy  transition  into 
the  profession  of  the  doctrines  entertained  by  the  Independent 
Democracy  which  had  supported  Mr.  Van  Buren.  Every-where  in- 
dications became  visible  of  a  disposition  to  unite  upon  the  platform 
of  slavery  prohibition.  Besolutions  were  adopted  in  many  of  the 
States,  both  by  the  old  line  and  Independent  Democrats,  uniting  the 
two  organizations,  and  in  others,  where  actual  union  did  not  take 
place,  there  was  more  or  less  concert  of  action.  In  Ohio,  I  was  elected 
to  the  Senate  by  the  united  votes  of  the  old  line  and  independent 
Democrats,  and  took  mjT  seat  in  that  hod}'  in  March,  1849.  I  was 
not,  however,  satisfied  that  the  union  between  the  two  organizations 
could  be  perfect  or  permanent  until,  in  a  national  convention,  the 
old  line  Democracy  of  the  free  States  should  either  succeed  in  ob- 
taining the  adoption  of  a  national  platform,  declaring  the  party  in- 
dependent of  slaveholding  dictation,  or  by  breaking  the  bond  of 
adhesion  to  the  slave  interest  by  open  separation. 

"I,  therefore,  declined  to  go  into  the  Democratic  caucus  of  the 
Senate,  or  commit  myself  to  the  organization  otherwise  than  by  sup- 
porting its  candidates  in  Ohio  so  long  as  the  party  in  that  State 
should  maintain  an  anti-slavery  position.  The  event  justified  my 
apprehensions.  It  soon  became  evident  that  the  leaders  of  the 
Democratic  party  were  not  prepared  to  surrender  the  supposed  ad- 
vantages of  their  slaveholding  alliance.  In  1850.  the  compromise 
measures,  including  the  fugitive  slave  act,  were  supported  by  almost 
the  entire  party  in  Congress,  though  opposed  by  a  majority  of  the 
Ohio  Representatives.  They  were  almost  universally  denounced  by 
the  Democratic  press  in  Ohio,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  possible  that 
they  might  be  repudiated  by  the  northern  Democracy. 

"  When  the  convention  met  at  Baltimore,  however,  it  soon  became 
apparent  that  no  such  hope  was  to  be  realized.  Besolutions  were 
adopted  approving  the  compromise  measures,  and  denouncing  all 
agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  by  which  was  understood  all  re- 
sistance to  the   pretensions   of  slaveholders.      General    Pierce  was 


OF    SALMON    TORTLAND    CHASE.  337 

nominated  for  President,  and  Mr.  King,  of  Alabama,  for  Vice-Presi- 
dent. The  Whig  Convention  nominated  General  Seott  tin-  President, 
and  Mr.  Graham,  of  North  Carolina,  for  Vice-President.  Its  plat- 
form was  almost  identical  in  spirit  and  substance  with  that  of  the 
Democratic  Convention.  After  these  nominations  and  declarations  I 
did  not  hesitate  what  course  to  take.  I  addressed,  at  once,  a  letter 
to  Mr.  Butler,  of  New  York,  declaring  my  own  determination  to 
adhere  to  principles  announced  at  Buffalo,  and  to  act  with  the  only 
party  faithful  to  them;  that  is  to  say,  with  the  Independent  Demo- 
cracy which  had  maintained  its  organization,  and  had  called  a  con- 
vention to  meet  at  Pittsburg.  I  earnestly  urged  him,  and  the  Jk-mo- 
crats  who  had  acted  with  him  at  Buffalo,  to  maintain  the  ground 
they  had  then  taken. 

••  I  shall  ever  lament  that  this  appeal  was  not  heeded.  The  party 
of  freedom  had  given,  while  unorganized,  in  1840,  one  vote  in  every 
350  of  all  the  votes  cast  in  the  United  States,  for  its  candidates.1 
In  1844  it  had  given  one  vote  in  forty-four,  and  in  1848  it  had 
given  one  vote  in  ten,  and  almost  one  in  nine.  This,  it  must  be 
remembered,  was  the  proportion,  in  the  free  States,  of  the  whole 
vote  of  the  United  States.  The  proportion  in  the  free  States  con- 
sidered by  themselves  must,  of  course,  have  been  much  larger.  It 
can  not  be  doubted,  I  think,  that  had  the  New  York  Democracy 
adhered  to  the  principles  avowed  in  1848,  and  refused  to  support 
the  Baltimore  nominations  upon  a  platform  repugnant  to  the  senti- 
ments and  convictions  of  a  large  majority  of  the  northern  people, 
a  vote  would  have  been  given  for  the  nominees  of  the  Independent 
Democracy,  which,  if  not  sufficient  to  elect  its  candidates,  would 
have  insured  the  election  of  General  Scott,  and,  consequently,  the 
union  of  nearly  the  wdiole  Democratic  party  in  the  course  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  upon  the  principles  of  the  Independent  Democracy. 
The  Democracy  of  the  Union,  united  upon  these  principles,  would 
have  been  invincible,  and  slavery,  excluded  from  the  national  Terri- 
tories, would  have  been  ameliorated,  diminished,  and,  finally,  abol- 
ished in  the  States  by  State  action.  The  Bebellion,  in  all  probability, 
would  have  been  avoided,  and  the  Union  would  have  been  preserved 
unbroken,  and  preserved  not  for  slavery,  but  for  freedom.  I  took  great 
pains  to  explain  these  views  to  many,  and  a  good  deal  of  apprehension 
was  manifested  by  certain  slave  State  Senators  lest  they  should  be 
adopted. 

"  The  New  York  Democrats,  however,  saw  the  matter  otherwise 
than  I.  They  went  over,  almost  unanimously,  to  the  support  of  Mr. 
Pierce,  who  was,  of  course,  elected.  Their  defection,  and  that  of 
those  influenced  by  their  example,  in  other  States,  reduced  the  vote 
of  the  Independent  Democracy  from  291,678,  in  1848,  to  157,296,  in 
L852.  The  whole  number  given  was  157.29G,  and  the  Independent 
Democratic  vote  was  one  in  twenty.  Near  three-fourths  of  the 
whole  defection  was  in  New  Y'ork. 

''The  agreement  of  the  two  old  parties  upon  substantially  the 
same  platform,  and  the  election  of  General  Pierce,  devolved  upon 
the  Democratic  party  the  whole  responsibility  of  that  platform.     The 


1  American  Almanac,  1860,  p.  201. 


338  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

reorganization  of  parties  became  inevitable,  and,  as  the  platform  of 
the  Independent  Democracy  alone  represented  antagonism  to  the 
compromise  Democracy,  it  was  also  evident  that  the  principles  of 
that  party  must  form  a  basis  of  opposition  to  the  administration, 
which  must  inevitably  be  driven  into  new  concessions  to  the  slave 
power. 

"It  was  not  long  before  this  logic  of  events  exhibited  its  natural 
consequences,  in  the  introduction  of  the  Nebraska  bill  into  the  Sen- 
ate, with  its  clauses  repealing  the  Missouri  prohibition.  At  first 
there  was  great  uncertainty  among  Whig  Senators  and  Representa- 
tives as  to  the  course  which  ought  to  be  pursued.  The  entire  body 
of  southern  Whigs  in  Congress  went  over  to  the  administration  upon 
this  question,  and  very  few  Democrats,  either  north  or  south,  ven- 
tured to  oppose  the  repeal  of  the  prohibition.  A  few  of  the  inde- 
pendent Democrats  conferred  together,  and  resolved  to  draw  up  an 
appeal  to  the  people,  to  be  signed  by  all  those  opposed  to  the  repeal. 
An  appeal  was,  accordingly,  drawn  up  by  me — the  same  which  was 
afterward  printed  and  widely  circulated — but  it  was  found  impossi- 
ble to  procure  the  signatures  desired.  Almost  all  seemed  to  dread 
committing  themselves  against  slavery.  It  was  then  proposed  to 
issue  the  appeal  with  the  signatures  of  the  Ohio  Senators  and  Repre- 
sentatives alone.  Some  were  ready  to  sign  it,  but  others  were  un- 
willing. So,  finding  unanimity,  even  in  Ohio,  unattainable,  the 
paper  was  signed  by  the  Independent  Democratic  Senators  and  Rep- 
resentatives alone,  and  sent  forth  as  their  appeal  to  the  people 
against  the  meditated  wrong." 

In  order  to  appreciate  this  language  it  is  necessary  to  go  back  a 
little. 

Senator  Chase  prepared  a  draft  of  a  platform  for  the  "  Free  Demo- 
cracy," at  Pittsburg,  in  1852.  It  was  substantially  the  platform 
adopted  at  the  convention  held  at  that  time,  in  that  city.  Passing 
mention  may  be  made  of  the  fact  that,  "  against  his  own  expressed 
wishes,"  his  name  was  brought  before  that  body  as  a  presidential 
candidate. 

In  1853,  he  "  took  the  stump"  in  Ohio,  with  the  more  eloquent 
Samuel  Lewis,  the  candidate  of  the  Free  Democracy  for  Governor 
of  Ohio.  He  was  afterward  the  legislative  nominee  of  the  same 
party  for  reelection  to  the  Senate  of  the  Union,  but,  as  indicated  in 
his  letter  to  Mr.  Prentiss,  of  New  Hampshire,1  he  was  not  success- 
ful.    Hon.  George  Ellis  Pugh  was  chosen  his  successor. 

Plight  is  one  of  the  most  finished,  fluent,  forcible  of  speakers.  As 
an  orator  he  has,  and  he  has  had,  few  equals,  either  at  the  bar  or  "  on 
the  stump."     But  he  was   not   a  senatorial  character.      He   rather 


1  Ante. 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  339 

diminished  than  increased  the  lustre  of  his  reputation,  in  the  Senate. 
In  the  stormy  House,  he  would  have  made  himself  world-famous; 
in  the  Senate  he  was  more  out  of  place  than  Brougham  in  the  House 
of  Lords. 

We  must  go  back  a  little.  We  must  look  at  Chase  as  he  appeared, 
"  every  inch  "  a  Senator  of  the  United  States. 

Among  the  men  whom  he  encountered  in  his  own  characteristic 
fashion  was  "the  Little  Giant/'  Stephen  Arnold  Douglas. 

Douglas  was,  in  many  things  the  very  opposite  of  Chase.  He 
was,  as  I  have  elsewhere  shown  and  said,  an  ultimately  patriotic 
demagogue.  He  knew  the  people  well.  Here  is  a  fine  account  of 
his  oratory  by  Rev.  Mr.  Milburn : 

"  The  first  time  I  saw  Mr.  Douglas  was  in  June,  1838,  standing  on 
the  gallery  of  the  Market  House,  which  some  of  my  readers  may 
recollect  as  situate  in  the  middle  of  the  square  at  Jacksonville. 
He  and  Colonel  John  J.  Hardin  were  engaged  in  canvassing  Morgan 
County  for  Congress.  He  was  upon  the  threshold  of  that  great 
world  in  which  he  has  since  played  so  prominent  a  part,  and  was 
engaged  in  making  one  of  his  earliest  stump  speeches.  I  stood  and 
listened  to  him,  surrounded  by  a  motley  crowd,  of  backwoods  farmers 
and  hunters,  dressed  in  homespun  or  deerskin,  my  boyish  breast 
glowing  with  exultant  joy,  as  he,  only  ten  years  my  senior,  battled 
so  bravely  for  the  doctrines  of  his  party  with  the  veteran  and  ac- 
complished Hardin.  True,  I  had  been  educated  in  political  senti- 
ments opposite  to  his  own,  but  there  was  something  captivating  in 
his  manly  straightforwardness  and  uncompromising  statement  of 
his  political  principles.  He  even  then  showed  signs  of  that  dex- 
terity in  debate,  and  vehement,  impressive  declamation,  of  which 
he  has  since  become  such  a  master.  He  gave  the  crowd  the  color 
of  his  own  mood  as  he  interpreted  their  thoughts  and  directed  their 
sensibilities.  His  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  people,  and  his 
power  to  speak  to  them  in  their  own  language,  employing  arguments 
suited  to  their  comprehension,  sometimes  clinching  a  series  of 
reasons  by  a  frontier  metaphor  which  refused  to  be  forgotten,  and 
his  determined  courage,  which  never  shrank  from  any  form  of  diffi- 
culty or  danger,  made  him  one  of  the  most  effective  stump-orators 
I  have  ever  heard." 

I  heard  Chase  often,  Douglas  only  thrice,  in  public.  Frequently 
I  talked  with  the  former;  seldom  had  I  opportunity  to  talk  with 
the  latter.  But  my  recollections  of  them  both  are  very  clear  and 
vivid.  Mr.  Milburn's  account  of  Douglas  would  be  perfect,  if  it 
only  noticed  his  hard  voice,  sometimes  a  little  harsh,  and  often  coarse. 


1  Ten  Years  of  Preacher  Life. 

23 


340  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE   AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

The  very  difference  between  voice  and  voice  made  a  great  contrast 
between  Chase  and  Douglas.  Chase  was  not  a  fluent,  easy  speaker. 
Some  impediment  affected  his  delivery  when  I  first  heard  him  at  the 
Cincinnati  bar,  and  it  continued  to  affect  his  utterance  to  the  end  of 
his  days.  But  his  organ  was,  in  some  respects,  a  finer  one  than  the 
voice  of  Douglas.  It  was  more  manifestly  the  voice  of  thoughtful- 
ness — of  a  thought-fond  spirit — if  I  may  so  express  myself.  On  the 
other  hand,  while  he  had,  (perhaps  as  teacher,)  gained  the  power  of 
speaking  to  the  people,  if  not  "  in  their  own  language,"  at  least  in 
language  easily  intelligible  to  them — the  power  of  popularization, 
it  may  be  called,  perhaps — his  "  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  people  " 
was  far  more  limited  than  that  of  Douglas ;  and  he  could  not  please 
the  crowd  as  could  the  latter,  either  "  on  the  stump,"  or  at  the  bar, 
or  in  the  legislative  hall. 

He  was  the  greater  man,  but  Douglas  was  the  greater  orator. 

Such  are  some  of  my  conceptions  of  two  men  who  were  made 
almost  combatants  by  the  mad  crime  of  one  of  them  in  1854. 

Yes !  I  must  consider,  now,  that  Douglas  committed  a  mad  crime 
in  January,  1854,  when,  in  the  interest  of  his  then  base  ambition, 
he  took  the  initiative  in  repealing  the  Missouri  Compromise. 

That  Compromise  was,  indeed,  itself  an  unwise  measure  ;  but  the 
motive  of  its  undoing  was  as  bad  as  bad  could  be. 

The  history  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  is  known  to  school-boys. 
It  purported  to  prohibit  involuntary  servitude  forever  in  all  the  ter- 
ritory acquired  from  France  north  of  36°  parallel  of  north  latitude. 
That  territory  was  a  far-reaching  tract  of  land,  some  parts  of  which 
were  singularly  favored  by  the  hand  of  nature,  singularly  fit  for 
human  habitation.  Some  have  calculated  its  area  as  twelve  times  as 
large  as  Ohio  and  equal  in  extent  to  the  combined  Territories  of 
France,  Spain,  and  Italy. 

The  Senator  who  had  written  the  historical  sketch  of  Ohio,  else- 
where mentioned  ;  who  had  so  laboriously  and  skillfully  compiled 
the  legislation  of  that  great  State  ;  who  had  so  deeply  studied  the 
relation  of  the  Ordinance  of  '87  to  the  growing  glory  and  the  empire- 
like power  of  that  member  of  the  Union  ;  was  to  be  expected  to  take 
prominence  in  opposition  to  that  mad-guilty  scheme  of  Douglas. 

Chase  was  very  prominent,  indeed,  in  the  debates  occasioned  by 
that  scheme,  and  in  the  other  action  that  it  caused  or  provoked. 

Let  us  now  go  back  to  the  last-quoted  Trowbridge  letter.  After 
having  mentioned,  as  we  have  already  seen,  the  appeal  of  the  Inde- 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  341 

pendent  Democratic  Senators  and  Representatives  alone,  that  letter 
thus  goes  forward  : 

"It  was  copied  every-wherc  and  read  every-whore.  The  people, 
always  in  advance  of  the  politicians  upon  questions  of  principle. 
took  the  alarm,  and  their  potential  voice  was  heard  in  Congress.    The 

doubting  were  decided,  and  the  timid  took  courage.  The  alliance  of 
the  administration  Senators  and  Representatives  with  the  whole 
body  of  the  southern  Whigs,  secured,  it  is  true,  the  passage  of  the 
bill ;  but  the  Senators  and  Representatives  who  voted  against  it, 
represented  a  majority  of  the  people  of  the  free  States.  It  was  no 
longer  doubtful  upon  what  ground  the  reorganization  of  parties 
would  take  place.  It  must  necessaril}-  find  its  only  bond  of  union  in 
opposition  to  the  extension  of  slavery." 

Let  me  anticipate  somewhat  by  now  offering  this  letter: 

"Columbus,  May  11th,  1857. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  need  not  say  to  }'ou  that  I  felt  a  very  great 
satisfaction  in  hearing  of  your  success  as  Mayor  of  Leavenworth. 
To  the  pleasure  which  every  friend  of  freedom  derived  from  the  elec- 
tion of  a  free  State  mayor,  I  added  that  which  the  success  of  a  per- 
sonal friend  always  gives. 

"Very  little  direct  intelligence  has  reached  me  from  the  Territory 
for  some  time  past.  I  learned  from  a  gentleman  connected  with  the 
committee  at  Chicago,  that  active  efforts  would  be  made  to  canvass 
the  State  and  ascertain  the  exact  position  and  amount  of  free  State 
strength,  with  a  view  to  the  adoption  of  a  plan  of  action  somewhat 
akin  to  that  which  1  explained  lo  }'on  in  conversation;  and  I  had 
some  advice  to  a  similar  effect  from  Lawrence.  Lane,  also,  wrote 
me  upon  his  arrival  in  the  Territory,  saying  that  he  soon  would  write 
again  ;  but  I  have  since  heard  nothing  from  him. 

"  I  wish  you  would  write  me  and  let  me  know  exactly  the  true 
state  of  things.  At  in}'  distance,  it  looks  as  if  the  free  State  men  of 
Kansas  were  to  be  left  to  their  own  care,  so  far  as  the  General  Gov- 
ernment is  concerned.  Nothing,  in  my  judgment,  can  be  safely 
hoped  either  from  Walker  or  Stanton,  unless,  what  is  very  possible, 
the  administration  has  been  buying  '//'Woodson,  Emery,  and  the  rest, 
to  a  course  of  fairness  and  liberality  by  their  late  appointments.  I 
do  not  think  such  a  purchase  impracticable,  but  I  doubt  the  willing- 
ness or  rather  the  liberty  of  the  administration  to  make  it.  The 
slave  power  is  not  yet  prepared  to  let  go  its  hold  upon  Kansas. 

"It  still  seems  to  me  that  the  free  State  men  ought  to  organize  in 
view  of  the  coming  election  for  Constitutional  Convention.  If 
such  an  organization  were  made  as  1  suggested  to  yon,  1  do  not  think 
that  Walker  could  refuse  the  proposition  which  the  Lawrence  men 
are  reported  to  have  made  to  Stanton,  with  a  view  to  a  fair  election. 

"For  example,  suppose  the  free  State  men  should  hold  a  conven- 
tion and  there  resolve  : 

"1.  That  the  acts  of  the  self-styled  Legislature  were  acts  of  usur- 
pation without  law.  and  therefore  null,  except  so  far  as  they  may  be 
hereafter  confirmed  by  a  duly  and  freely  chosen  Legislature. 


342  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

"  2.  That  the  Topeka  Constitution  is  a  true  expression  of  the  will 
of  the  people  of  Kansas,  and  that  Kansas  has  a  right  to  be  admitted 
as  a  State  under  it. 

"3.  That  the  two  foregoing  propositions  being  denied  by  the  pro- 
slavery  party,  the  free  State  men  of  Kansas  in  convention  accept  the 
act  of 'the  usurping  legislature,  as  a  challenge  to  a  trial  of  strength  at 
the  polls;  and  so  accej)ting,  insist  that  the  trial  shall  be  a  fair  one. 

"4.  That  all  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  have  been  actual 
residents  of  Kansas  for,  say  60  or  30  days  preceding  the  election, 
and  who  intend  permanently  to  reside  therein  shall  be  allowed  to 
vote,  and  no  others. 

"5.  That  the  judges  and  clerks  of  election  shall  be  so  arranged  as 
to  exclude  the  probability,  if  not  possibility,  of  unfairness. 

"  6.  That,  to  guard  against  the  possibility  that  no  such  arrange- 
ment of  judges  and  clerks  can  be  had,  judges  and  clerks  should  be 
appointed  provisionally  by  the  convention,  or  upon  a  plan  to  be  pro- 
posed by  it,  who  should  receive  the  votes  of  all  voters  qualified 
according  to  the  fourth  proposition,  and  register  the  name  of  each 
voter,  his  residence,  and  the  facts  constituting  his  qualification, 
which  register  should  be  duly  authenticated  by  the  oaths  of  the 
judges  and  clerks,  and  carefully  preserved. 

"  You  will  recognize  this  as  the  outline  of  the  plan  which  I  sug- 
gested to  you.  My  impression  is  strong  that  the  adoption  of  the 
plan,  with  an  active  and  thorough  organization,  would  secure  such 
practical  concessions  as  would  give  the  free  State  men  a  fair  oppor- 
tunity to  test  the  relative  strength  of  parties  at  the  polls;  should 
this  be  the  case,  and  the  free  State  men  prove  to  be  the  most  numer- 
ous, the  Topeka  Constitution  could  be  re-adopted  and  the  past  action 
of  the  free  State  men  be  thus  fully  vindicated.  On  the  other  hand, 
should  no  such  concessions  be  made,  the  provisional  organization 
would  enable  the  free  State  men  to  show  their  whole  strength,  and 
give  their  friends  in  the  States  a  full  answer  to  all  charges  of  frac- 
tiousness,  and  clear  proofs  of  the  unfairness  of  the  pro-slavery  party, 
and  of  its  contemptuous  disregard  of  the  real  voice  of  the  people. 

"  Such  were  my  views  as  expressed  to  you  and  others,  and  I  have 
seen  no  occasion  to  change  them.  Still  I  am  far  from  believing  that 
we  at  a  distance  can  judge  as  well  of  the  proper  course  to  be  adopt  ed 
as  }^ou  who  are  upon  the  spot ;  and,  for  one,  I  feel  disposed  to  sustain 
those  on  whom  the  immediate  responsibility  of  decision  and  action 
is  cast,  whether  they  agree  with  me  or  not.  But  I  shall  be  glad  to 
know  from  you  what  has  been  actually  determined  on,  and  what  the 
prospects  are. 

"  With  best  regards  to  our  friends,  I  remain  yours  faithfully. 

"  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"Hon.  H.  J.  Adams,  Leavenworth,  K.  T." 

On  the  11th  of  March,  1858,  Governor  Chase  wrote  as  follows  to 
William  H.  Seward ; 

"It  gave  me  great  pleasure  to  read  your  speech.  It  was  worthy 
of  yourself  and  of  the  occasion.  It  illustrates  the  nature  of  the  in- 
ter-communication which  makes  us  one  people  and  interdicts  dis- 


OP  SALMON  "PORTLAND   CHASE.  343 

union,  that  I  read  your  speech  here,  within  forty-eight  hours  after 
delivery,  in  a  paper  printed  more  than  two  hundred  miles  from  the 
place  where  you  spoke.  You  and  1  have  long  labored  together, 
though  in  somewhat  different  relations,  for  the  same  great  cause  of 
enfranchisement  and  progress.  1  shall  distrust  your  devotion  to  it, 
when  1  distrust  my  own.  Having  this  confidence  in  you,  may  I  not 
say,  that  I  regretted  the  apparent  countenance  3011  gave  to  the  idea 
that  the  Douglas  doctrine  of  popular  sovereignty  will  do  for  us  to 
stand  upon  for  the  present.  The  true  doctrine  of  popular  sov- 
ereignty I  accept  as  cordially  as  any  man,  hut  I  can  not  give  my 
adhesion  to  that  notion  of  it  which  sanctions  the  enslavement  of  man 
by  his  fellow-man,  provided  only  the  majority  agree  to  it,  or  to  any 
party  based  upon  it.  It  seems  to  me  that  in  the  regular  process  of 
mental  and  political  developments,  working  singly  and  irresistibly, 
a  transition  and  transformation  of  parties,  the  Republican  organiza- 
tion has  grown  up,  not  so  much  by  choice  as  by  necessity.  Our  true 
policy  and  true  wisdom  is  to  adhere  to  it,  instead  of  changing,  to 
strengthen  its  base.  Another  course  may  seem  to  give  greater  im- 
mediate accessions  of  strength,  but  will  result,  I  verily  believe,  in 
defeat.  Yours  faithfully, 

"  Hon.  William  H.  Seward.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


344  THE    PRIVATE  TJFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

RELATIONS   OP    CHASE    TO    THE    KNOW  NOTHINGS GOVERNOR   OF   OHIO. 

"ATEXT,  attention  is  invited  to  this  letter: 

"Washington,  March  19,  1864. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  In  March,  1855,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dennison,  of  Louis- 
ville, Ky.,  requested  a  friend  to  take  charge  of  Eosetta,  a  colored 
girl,  of  sixteen  yeai*s  of  age,  and  convey  her  from  Louisville  to 
Virginia.  This  friend  brought  Eosetta  to  Cincinnati,  and  started 
with  her,  by  railroad,  to  Wheeling.  While  remaining  at  Columbus, 
she  was  taken  before  a  judge  upon  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  declared 
free,  and,  being  a  minor,  was  placed  under  the  guardianship  of  a 
gentleman  named  Yanslyke.  While  under  this  guardianship,  she 
was  seized  by  a  deputy-marshal,  who  surreptitiously  gained  admis- 
sion to  the  house  in  which  she  was  employed,  seized  the  girl,  and 
hurried  her  to  the  depot,  and  started  at  once  for  Cincinnati.  For- 
tunately, her  guardian  was  promptly  notified  of  her  capture,  and, 
hastening  to  the  depot,  entered  the  cars  just  as  they  were  moving  off, 
and  went  on  the  same  train  with  the  girl  and  her  captor  to  Cincin- 
nati.    This  was  on  the  23d  or  24th  of  March. 

"  It  was  the  plan  of  Dennison  and  the  captor  of  Eosetta  to  take 
her  at  once  to  Pendery,  the  commissioner,  have  an  immediate  exam- 
ination, and  carry  her  off  at  once  into  Kentucky.  Mr.  Yanslyke 
defeated  this  plan  by  obtaining  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  under  my 
counsel,  upon  which  writ  Eosetta  was  brought  before  Judge  Parker, 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  I  appeared  in  behalf  of  Eosetta; 
Judge  Timoth}1-  Walker,  one  of  the  most  eminent  and  respected  mem- 
bers of  the  bar,  and  Mr.  E.  B.  Hayes,  a  young  lawyer  of  great  prom- 
ise, appeared  with  me  ;  while  Mr.  Pugh  and  Judge  Flynn  appeared 
on  behalf  of  Mr.  Dennison. 

'■The  case  was  very  thoroughly  argued,  and  the  court  ordered 
that  Eosetta,  having  been  brought  into  Ohio  by  the  master  or  his 
agent,  was  free,  and  should  be  delivered  to  the  custody  of  her  guar- 
dian. As  there  was  some  danger  that  the  girl,  if  delivered  in  the 
court-room,  would  be  immediately  seized  again  by  the  marshal,  I 
applied  to  the  court  for  an  order,  that  the  sheriff  should  protect  her 
until  put  into  the  charge  of  her  guardian  at  some  safe  place.  The 
order  was  made,  and  Eosetta  was  taken  to  the  Woodruff  House  by 
the  sheriff,  and  there  restored  to  Mr.  Vanslyke.  Shortly  afterward, 
she  was,  as  was  feared,  again   arrested  by  the  marshal,  and  taken 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  345 

before  the  commissioner,  Pendery,  who  heard  arguments  for  and 
against  the  claim  of  her  alleged  master.  Fortunately,  in  this  ease, 
the  commissioner,  though  notoriously  venal,  did  not  venture  to  con- 
front the  public  indignation  certain  to  be  aroused  by  an  order  for 
her  surrender,  after  she  had  been  declared  entitled  to  freedom  by 
the  decisions  of  two  courts.  He  accordingly  discharged  her  from 
custody. 

"  While  this  proceeding  before  him  was  going  on,  Mr.  Walker  and 
myself  asked  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  process  in  contempt 
against  the  marshal.  The  court  issued  its  writ  accordingly,  and 
the  marshal  was  taken  into  custody  by  the  sheriff.  In  his  turn,  he 
applied  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  Judge  McLean,  and  was  dis- 
charged by  him  upon  the  ground  that  the  State  Court  had  no 
jurisdiction  to  protect  the  liberty  of  any  person  claimed  and  seized 
as  a  fugitive  slave  under  process  authorized  by  the  fugitive  slave 
act.  This  decision  of  Judge  McLean  attracted  a  great  deal  of 
attention,  and  received  general  condemnation.  As  Rosetta  was  at 
liberty,  however,  the  interest  excited  by  it  was  less  general  and  less 
intense  than  it  would  have  been,  had  the  decision  been  followed  by 
practical  results. 

"  In  the  argument  upon  the  habeas  corpxis  before  Judge  Parker  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  in  the  application  for  an  attach- 
ment for  contempt  against  the  marshal  when  he  re-arrested  Rosetta, 
and  in  the  argument  of  the  haJ>eas  corpus  for  the  liberation  of  the 
marshal,  I  argued  the  questions  involved  on  the  side  of  freedom 
with  all  the  earnestness  and  all  the  ability  I  possessed.  I  was 
most  ably  supported  by  Judge  Walker,  while  Mr.  Hayes  acquitted 
himself  with  great  distinction  in  the  defense  of  Rosetta  before 
Pendery.  Mr.  Pugh  and  Mr.  Wolf,  of  Louisville,  represented  the 
first,  the  marshal,  and  the  second,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Dennison,  the  slave 
claimant. 

••Mr.  Pugh  had  been  elected  as  my  successor  in  the  Senate.  My 
term  had  just  expired,  and  I  was  again  among  the  people.  It  was 
remarked  by  many  that  the  ex-Senator  was  as  ready  to  defend 
rights  as  the  new  Senator  was  ready  to  attack  them. 

"  Yours  truly, 

"J.  T.  Trowbridge,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

"A  vain  attempt,"  says  our  hero  to  Mr.  Trowbridge,  "was  made 
to  turn  the  current  of  public  sentiment  into  other  channels,  by  the 
organization  of  the  American,  or  'Know  Nothing'  party,  but  its 
first  national  convention  was  broken  up  by  a  division  upon  the  slav- 
ery question,  and  the  party,  after  a  brief  existence,  disappeared 
from  political  contests." 

If  Chase  trimmed,  he  generally  trimmed,  not  to  policy,  but  to 
principle.  But  I  do  not  attempt  to  vindicate  his  coalition  with 
the  Know  Nothings.  Then  he  seemed  to  me  most  dangerously 
wrong;  and  now  I  find  no  reason  for  supposing  that  my  judgment, 
then,  did  him  injustice. 


346  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

He  continues  in  this  fashion  : 

"While  the  American  party  was  yet  powerful,  I,  though  not  a 
member  of  the  organization,  was  nominated  for  Governor  of  Ohio  by 
an  Anti-Nebraska  Convention,  in  which  the  Americans,  so-called, 
had  a  decided  majority.  Opposition  to  slavery,  however,  was  so 
much  stronger  in  their  hearts  than  zeal  for  the  principles  of  the 
organization,  that  my  nomination  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  nearly 
two  to  one.  The  canvass  which  followed  was  unusually  sharp.  A 
considerable  number  of  Whigs,  retaining  the  animosities  excited  by 
my  election  to  the  Senate,  refused  their  support,  and  joined  in  stren- 
uous efforts  to  defeat  me  by  withdrawing  enough  votes  from  the 
Anti-Nebraska  force  to  secure  the  election  of  the  administration 
candidate.     Their  efforts  were  unsuccessful,  and  I  was  elected. 

"I  at  once  addressed  m}-self  to  the  duties  of  my  new  position.  I 
sought  to  promote  all  practicable  reforms;  encouraged,  by  all  the 
means  in  my  power,  the  interests  of  education  ;  endeavored  to  re- 
organize the  military  system  of  the  State  ;  and  omitted  no  oppor- 
tunity of  making  the  voice  of  Ohio  heard  on  the  side  of  freedom 
and  justice.  At  the  same  time,  I  endeavored,  as  far  as  practicable, 
to  conciliate  opposition  founded  on  misapprehension,  and  succeeded, 
finally,  in  organizing  a  compact  and  powerful  party,  based  on  the 
great  principles  of  freedom  and  free  labor." 

The  next  document  I  wish  to  offer  reads  as  follows : 

"Washington,  March  13,  1864. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  The  Garner  case  comes  next  in  order,  and  is  in- 
vested with  a  peculiar  interest  by  its  tragic  circumstances. 

"It  is  impossible  to  state  the  facts  except  in  the  merest  outline; 
but  even  an  outline  will  convey  a  pretty  accurate  idea  of  the  whole 
transaction. 

"On  the  night  of  the  27th  of  January,  1856,  a  party  of  slaves 
escaped  from  Boone  County,  in  Kentucky,  into  Storrs  Townshi}),  ad- 
joining Cincinnati,  on  the  Ohio  River.  Among  the  persons  compos- 
ing the  party  were  an  old  man,  named  Simon  Garner,  and  his  wife — 
so  far  as  a  slave  woman  could  be  a  wife — Mary;  a  son  of  the  old  man, 
also  named  Simon,  and  Margaret,  his  wife,  and  their  four  children. 

"They  took  refuge  in  a  colored  man's  house,  near  the  river  bank, 
below  Millcreek,  a  stream  which  divides  Storrs  from  Cincinnati. 
They  were  tracked  immediatel}',  and  a  warrant  for  their  apprehen- 
sion was  obtained  the  next  morning,  Monday,  the  28th,  from  one 
Pendery,  a  commissioner  appointed  by  Judge  McLean,  under  the 
fugitive  slave  act  of  1850.  Provided  with  this  warrant,  the  United 
States  Marshal — named  Robinson — with  a  gang  of  officers  and  the 
slave  claimants,  hastened  to  the  house  where  the  fugitives  had  taken 
refuge.  Their  entrance  was  resisted.  Young  Simon,  who  was  armed 
with  a  six-shooter,  fired  four  shots  on  the  party  of  official  and  un- 
official slave-hunters,  before  he  and  his  companions  were  seized. 
While  this  was  going  on,  his  wife,  Margaret,  who  was  naturally  of 
a  violent  disposition,  and  now  frenzied  by  excitement,  seized  a 
butcher  knife  and,  declaring  she  would  kill  all  the  children  before 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  347 

thoy  should  be  taken  across  the  river,  actually  succeeded  in  killing 
one,  a  little  girl  of  three  years  of  age,  named  Mary. 

'•The  survivors  were  taken  in  custody  and  conveyed  to  the  Police 
Station  House. 

"  The  friends  of  the  slaves  procured  the  same  day  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  returnable  before  the  Probate  Judge  of  the  county,  which  was 
executed  by  the  sheriff  so  far  as  to  take  the  slaves  into  custody  and 
convey  them  to  the  county  jail. 

'•The  Probate  Judge  immediately  proceeded  to  Columbus  to  con- 
fer with  me  as  to  the  proper  course  of  procedure. 

"The  hostility  to  abolitionism,  under  which  name  men  included 
all  earnest  anti-slavery  action,  was  at  this  time  intense  in  southern 
Ohio,  and  nowhere  more  intense  than  in  Cincinnati.  At  the  elec- 
tion which  had  been  held  for  Governor,  only  three  months  before,  I 
had  received,  in  Hamilton  County,  which  includes  Cincinnati,  only 
forty-five  hundred  and  sixteen  votes  out  of  twenty-three  thousand 
two  hundred  and  eight}*.  The  rest,  divided  between  the  Democratic 
and  Know  Nothing  candidates,  represented  hostility  to  my  political 
and  especially  to  my  anti -slavery  opinions  and  principles. 

"  I  had  been  Governor  just  fourteen  days  when  the  Probate  Judge 
called  to  confer  with  me.  It  was  not  necessary  for  me  to  inform 
him  that  in  my  judgment  the  fugitive  slave  act  was  unconstitu- 
tional and  void;  it  had  been  proclaimed  on  too  many  occasions  to 
leave  in  ignorance  a  man  so  well  informed.  Nor  did  I  think  it 
right  to  make  any  suggestions  to  a  magistrate  concerning  a  decision 
to  be  made  by  him.  What  he  naturally  desired  to  know,  and  had  a 
right  to  know,  wTas,  whether  the  Executive  of  the  State  would  sus- 
tain the  process  of  the  State  in  the  midst  of  a  community  in  which, 
by  most  persons,  any  decision  against  the  claims  of  masters  would 
be  regarded  as  little  better  than  treason  to  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union. 

"  I  did  not  hesitate  to  assure  him  that  the  process  of  the  State 
Courts  should  be  enforced  in  every  part  of  the  State,  whether  in 
Hamilton  or  any  other  county,  and  authorized  him  to  say  to  the 
sheriff  that  in  the  performance  of  his  duties  he  would  be  sustained 
by  the  whole  power  at  the  command  of  the  executive. 

"The  case,  for  some  reasons  satisfactory  to  the  friends  of  tho 
slaves,  was  not  brought  to  a  hearing  before  the  Probate  Judge  on 
the  writ  then  issued.  Proceedings  under  it  were  abandoned,  and  the 
sheriff  had  already,  on  Tuesday,  and  upon  the  return  of  the  judge, 
notified  the  Federal  marshal  that  he  did  not  regard  the  fugitives  in 
his  custody  (though  they  might  remain  in  jail),  but  as  in  that  of  the 
officers  of  the  United  States. 

'•The  slave  act  commissioner,  under _ whose  warrant  the  seizure 
had  been  made,  then  declared  his  purpose  to  hear  the  case  on  the 
claim  for  surrender;  but  delays  of  various  kinds  were  interposed 
until,  on  Friday,  February  8th,  the  grand  jury  reported  an  indictment 
against  the  two  Garners  and  their  wives  for  the  murder  of  the  child 
Mary,  and,  all  four  being  still  in  jail,  they  were  again  taken  in  cus- 
tody by  the  sheriff.  The  three  children  remained  in  jail  also,  and 
were  regarded  as  in  the  custody  of  the  marshal. 

"Matters  remained  in  this  condition  for  some  days,  until  the  mar- 


348  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

shal  applied  to  United  States  District  Judge  Leavitt  for  a  habeas 
corpus  against  the  sheriff  for  the  four  fugitives,  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  them  before  him  to  determine,  not  whether  they  were  un- 
lawfully deprived  of  liberty,  but  whether  the  sheriff  was  entitled  to 
their  custody  under  the  criminal  process  of  the  State  rather  than  the 
marshal  under  the  slave  act  commissioner's  warrant.  It  was  a  man- 
ifest abuse  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  thus  to  convert  it  into  a  sum- 
mary replevin  ;  but  the  counsel  for  the  sheriff,  one  of  whom,  in  con- 
versation with  the  judge,  had  heard  him  express  the  opinion  that  the 
prisoners  could  not  be  removed  from  custody  under  arrest  for  crime 
by  any  proceeding  under  the  fugitive  slave  act,  made  no  opposition 
to  the  allowance  of  the  writ.  It  was  accordingly  granted,  and  a 
hearing  was  had  on  Tuesday,  the  26th  of  February,  upon  the  re- 
turn of  the  sheriff  that  he  held  the  four  persons  indicted  under  the 
process  of  this  State  to  abide  their  trial  on  the  charge  of  murder. 

"After  the  argument  before  Judge  Leavitt  was  closed,  the  judge 
allowed  the  fugitive  slave  act  commissioner  to  take  his  seat  and  an- 
nounce his  decision  in  the  proceeding  commenced  by  his  warrant. 
As  was  expected,  he  denied  to  the  fugitives  the  claims  to  freedom 
asserted  in  their  behalf,  and  ordered  that  all  should  be  delivered  to 
their  respective  claimants. 

';  The  slave  act  commissioner  in  this  case  was  a  weak,  mercenary 
fellow;  but  his  decision  is  written  in  judicial  style,  and  bears  the 
marks  of  a  very  different  order  of  intellect  from  his.     Who  wrote  it? 

"Meanwhile  another  writ  of  habeas  corpus  had  been  issued  by 
Judge  Burgoyne,  the  probate  judge,  for  the  three  children,  on  which 
a  hearing  was  had  before  him  on  the  same  day,  Tuesday,  February 
26th.  in  which  Pendery,  the  slave  act  commissioner,  delivered  his  de- 
cision as  just  stated.  After  arguments  on  the  constitutionality  of  the 
slave  act,  and  particularly  that  part  of  it  which  United  States  Com- 
missioners Judges  in  cases  arising  under  it,  he  deferred  his  judgment 
until  Saturday  following,  having  made  a  special  order  that  the  chil- 
dren should  not  be  removed  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  until 
final  decision. 

"  On  Thursday  morning,  however,  Judge  Leavitt  announced  his 
decision  in  the  case  which  had  been  argued  before  him.  He  de- 
clared, to  the  surprise  of  every  one,  unless  some  had  foreknowledge 
of  his  conclusions,  that  the  custod}-  of  the  sheriff  as  against  the 
claims  of  the  marshal  under  the  fugitive  slave  act  was  unlawful,  and 
ordered  the  former  to  deliver  the  indicted  prisoners  to  the  latter. 

"  With  this  order  the  marshal  at  once  proceeded  to  the  jail  where 
the  sheriff  delivered  to  him,  not  only  the  four  indicted  prisoners,  but 
also  the  three  children,  notwithstanding  the  order  of  the  probate 
judge  as  to  the  latter.  All  the  fugitives  were  immediately  hurried 
into  an  omnibus,  which  was  surrounded  by  a  number  of  special 
deputy-marshals — there  were  five  hundred  of  these  specials  ap- 
pointed, the  purchase  of  whose  claims  for  fees,  it  is  said,  afforded  good 
chances  for  speculation  to  the  marshal  and  his  regular  deputies  and 
the  slave  act  commissioner — and  immediately  driven  to  the  river, 
and  taken  across  in  the  ferryboat  to  Kentucky.  Hardly  one  hour 
elapsed  after  Judge  Leavitt  had  made  his  order  before  the  fugitives 
were  lodged  in  a  Kentucky  jail. 


OF    SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  349 

"I  had  observed  the  proceedings  in  these  eases  with  great  interest 
and  with  deep  solicitude  for  the  late  of  the  slaves.  All  that  I  could 
do  in  their  behalf,  under  the  circumstances  then  existing,  was  done. 

They  were  represented  by  able  counsel,  and  the  power  of  the  State 
was  pledged  to  maintain  the  process  of  the  State.  No  one  imagined 
that  any  judge  could  be  found  who  would  undertake  to  transfer  by  a 
proceeding  in  habeas  corpus,  prisoners  indicted  under  a  State  law 
to  Federal  custody  under  the  fugitive  slave  act.  Nor  did  any  one 
imagine  that  persons  held  under  an  order  of  a  State  Court  during 
the  pendency  of  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  would  be  carried  off 
beyond  the  jurisdiction  and  in  violation  of  that  order.  But  such  a 
judge  was  found,  and  such  an  abduction  was  perpetrated. 

"  I  could  not  prevent  this  any  more  than  I  could  prevent  the  com- 
mission of  other  outrages.  I  could  not  foresee  such  transactions,  and 
if  I  could  have  foreseen.  I  had  no  more  power  to  prevent  them  than 
any  private  citizen  possessed,  except  in  the  single  contingency  that 
the  sheriff  might  need  the  powrer  of  the  State  to  enforce  the  execution 
of  process  in  his  hands.  Except  in  that  contingency,  I  had  no  power 
other  than  that,  the  whole  weight  of  which  was  given  to  the  side  of 
the  fugitive,  in  every  form  of  encouragement,  counsel,  and  support  to 
those  engaged  in  their  defense.  I  was  not  in  Cincinnati  during  the 
proceedings.  The  legislature  was  in  session.  I  had  only  a  fortnight 
before  the  seizure  of  the  fugitives  entered  an  office,  wholly  without 
experience  in  its  duties,  and  my  constant  presence  was  required  at 
Columbus.  Had  I  been  at  Cincinnati,  I  do  not  now  see  that  I  should 
have  been  likely  to  add  any  thing  to  the  ability  or  the  zeal  with 
which  the  cause  of  the  fugitives  was  defended,  or  to  suggest  any  thing 
which  did  not  occur  to  them.  And  certainly,  if  they  on  the  spot 
could  devise  no  way  to  prevent  the  surrender  and  carrying  off  of  the 
fugitives  under  the  unanticipated  circumstances  of  that  da}',  it  is  not 
wonderful  that  I  could  devise  none,  while  a  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  off  and  wholly  uninformed  of  the  outrage  which  was  heing 
enacted. 

'•Some  abolitionists  distant  from  the  scene  have  blamed  me  since, 
because  I  did  not  in  some  way  prevent  the  carrying  back  to  slavery 
of  Margaret  Garner.  The}*  saw-  the  tragic  circumstances  of  her  case 
and  felt  peculiar  sympathy  for  her;  but  they  did  not  see  the  extra- 
ordinary efforts  made  to  save  her.  That  these  efforts  were  unsuc- 
cessful all  humane  persons  must  lament;  but  how  more  effort  could 
have  been  made,  or  with  what  more  likelihood  of  success,  no  one 
has  yet  pointed  out.  And  no  one  conversant  with  the  circumstances 
and  concerned  in  the  efforts  made  in  her  behalf,  has  found  fault  with 
what  I  did.  All  those  approved  my  action  and  were  grateful  for  my 
support.  It  must  be  remembered  that  Margaret  Garner  was  but  one 
of  seven  fugitives,  each  of  whom  was  entitled,  if  not  to  equal  sympa- 
thy, certainly  to  equal  rights  and  equal  efforts  for  their  protection. 
None  of  them  were  forgotten  or  neglected. 

"After  they  were  surrendered  the  prosecuting  attorney  sent  mo 
Copies  of  the  indictment  and  proceedings,  and  suggested  that  though 
the  indicted  prisoners  could  hardly  be  considered  as  having  fled  from 
justice  in  Ohio,  yet  it  might  he  proper  to  regard  them  as  having 
constructively  done  so,  and  to  issue  a  requisition  for  their  delivery 


350  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

to  an  agent  of  the  State,  to  be  brought  back  within  its  jurisdiction. 
T  felt  keenly  the  humiliation  of  being  reduced  to  this  mode  of  assert- 
ing the  right  of  the  State  to  the  custody  of  persons  indicted  under 
the  laws.  It  was  obvious  that  when  returned  to  the  custody  of  the 
sheriff  they  would  be  in  precisely  the  same  relations  as  when  they 
were  taken  from  his  custody  by  Judge  Leavitt's  order,  and  there 
would  be  no  legal  obstacles  which  did  not  exist  to  the  original  order 
to  a  repetition  of  it.  A  friend,  however,  volunteered,  if  I  Avould 
issue  a  requisition,  to  go  with  the  agent  and  purchase  the  freedom  of 
the  three  children;  and  it  seemed  probable,  if  the  others  could  be 
brought  back,  that  an  arrangement  might  be  made  also  with  their 
claimants  for  the  relinquishment  of  their  claims  on  them.  So  I  over- 
came my  reluctance  to  adopt  the  theory  of  constructive  escape  and 
issued  the  requisition. 

"  My  agent  and  the  gentleman  Avho  had  volunteered  to  accompany 
him,  immediately  departed  on  their  mission  and  obtained  a  warrant 
of  extradition  from  the  Governor  of  Kentucky,  who  doubtless  gladly 
embraced  the  opportunity  of  making  a  precedent  of  constructive 
escape,  which  he  hoped  would  be  useful  to  claimants  of  slaves  found 
in  Ohio,  but  not  actual  fugitives  from  a  slave  State. 

"  With  the  warrant  thus  obtained  the  agent  proceeded  to  Louisville, 
but  the  slave-masters  continued  to  evade  him,  and  the  slaves  were 
sent  South  notwithstanding  all  efforts  to  recover  them. 

"  Subsequently,  hearing  that  Margaret  had  been  brought  back  to 
Covington,  I  wrote  to  the  prosecuting  attorney  to  go  over  and 
demand  her.  He  went,  and  was  told  she  had  been  there,  but  was 
again  sent  South.  It  is  doubted  whether  she  was,  in  fact,  ever 
brought  there. 

"Nothing  has  been  heard  of  the  Garner  family  since.  Perhaps 
the  Eebellion  has  restored  the  liberty  of  which  the  cause  of  the 
Rebellion  caused  the  loss;  and  we  may  yet  hear  of  these  slaves  as 
among  those  rejoicing  in  the  new-found  freedom  which  God's  Provi- 
dence has  given  to  so  many." 

Another  of  the  Trowbridge  letters  reads  as  follows : 

"  March  19,  1864. 
"  My  Dear  Sir  :  In  May,  1857,  a  slave-hunt  was  conducted  b}7  some 
deputy-marshals  and  Kentuckians  in  Champaign  County.  Their  suc- 
cess did  not  equal  their  expectations.  They  went  to  Cincinnati  and 
procured  warrants  for  the  arrest  of  four  citizens  of  Ohio,  whom  they 
accused  of  defeating  their  enterprise.  Under  these  warrants  they 
arrested  several  citizens,  whereupon,  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was 
obtained  by  their  friends,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  sheriff. 
The  execution  of  this  writ  was  resisted  by  the  slave-hunters,  who 
beat  and  fired  pistols  at  the  sheriff.  Another  writ  was  procured  in 
the  next  county — Greene — through  which  they  passed,  and  placed  in 
the  hands  of  its  sheriff,  who,  with  a  posse,  pursued  the  slave- 
catchers,  and  overtook  them.  One  of  the  deputy-marshals  fired 
upon  the  sheriff's  party,  and  several  of  his  men  also  fired.  They 
were,  however,  taken  into  custody,  and  brought  back  to  Xenia,  the 
county  seat.     The  two  deputies  gave  bail  for  their  appearance,  and 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  351 

their  associates  were  committed  to  jail  for  trial.    Judge  Leavitt;  at 

Cincinnati,  then  issued  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  directed  to  the  sheriff, 
requiring  him  to  produce  his  prisoners.  The  writ  was  obeyed,  and 
application  was  made  to  me  to  have  the  case  represented  upon  the 
hearing.     I   at   once  directed  the  attorney-general  to  appear,  who 

did  so,  and  argued  the  questions  arising  in  the  case  with  great 
ability.  Mr.  i'ugh  and  Mr.  Yallandigham  appeared  on  the  Bide  of  the 
Slave-catchers.  The  result  was  what  was  indeed  foreseen — an  order 
by  Judge  Leavitt  discharging  the  prisonei'S. 

••  The  leading  administration  paper  denounced  my  action  as  a 
declaration  of  war  on  the  part  of  Chase  and  his  abolition  crew 
against  the  United  States.     I  was  indifferent  to  it. 

"In  this  case,  as  in  the  Garner  case,  I  exerted  all  the  power  the 
constitution  gave  me,  for  the  vindication  of  the  rights  which  the 
constitution  guaranteed. 

"The  decision  of  Judge  Leavitt  in  this  case,  like  that  in  the  Gar- 
ner case,  denied  the  right  of  the  State  to  execute  its  own  criminal 
process,  or  civil  process,  where  that  execution  interfered  with  the 
claims  of  masters  under  the  fugitive  slave  act. 

"These  transactions  made  a  profound  impression  upon  the  public 
mind,  and  no  doubt  contributed  much  to  the  political  revolution 
which  took  place  in  1860.  Yours  truly, 

"  Mr.  J.  T.  Trowbridge,  Somerville,  Mass.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

In  an  elsewhere-quoted  letter,  of  the  same  series,  our  hero  relates 
as  follows  : 

"One  of  my  most  trying  duties  arose  from  the  misconduct  of  the 
State  treasurer.  He  succeeded  a  brother-in-law  who  had  misap- 
plied nearly  half  a  million  dollars  belonging  to  the  State.  The 
defalcation  was  concealed  from  me,  and  from  all  the  State  officers, 
almost  a  year  and  a  half.  The  treasurer  had  accomplished  this  by 
representing  the  money  as  having  been  actually  received  from  his 
predecessor,  and  as  being  actually  in  the  treasury,  and  by  deceiving 
the  legislative  committees  and  the  officers  of  the  State  who  examined 
its  condition.  At  length,  finding  it  impossible  to  procure  sufficient 
funds  to  pay  the  July  interest  of  1857,  he  disclosed  the  existence  of 
the  defalcation  to  the  State  auditor,  who  communicated  the  fact  to 
me.  1  at  once  called  upon  the  treasurer,  and,  after  some  conver- 
sation, insisted  upon  his  resignation.  He  denied  my  authority  to 
require  it.  I  admitted  1  had  no  such  authority,  but  said  to  him  that, 
as  he  had  represented  the  money  which  had  been  abstracted  as 
being  actually  in  the  treasury,  and  as  he  now  admitted  it  was  not 
there,  he  was  by  his  own  showing  a  defaulter,  and  I  could  not 
assume  his  explanation  of  the  defalcation  to  be  true,  until  estab- 
lished by  proof.  I  went  on  to  say  that  the  constitution  authorized 
the  governor  to  fill  any  State  office  made  vacant  by  disability,  and 
that  I  should  take  the  responsibility,  if  he  did  not  resign,  of  assum- 
ing a  defalcation,  and  instituting  a  prosecution  against  him  as  the 
author  of  it,  the  first  step  in  which  would  be  his  own  fraud  of  con- 
sidering  his    arrest    as   creating   a    disability,   and     thereupon    of 


352  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

appointing  his  successor.  He  then  asked  time  to  consider  and  to 
confer  with  his  legal  advisers,  to  which  I  readily  assented,  and 
appoiuted  2  o'clock  as  the  hour  at  which  I  would  call  and  learn  his 
decision.  I  left,  and  called  again  at  the  hour  agreed  upon.  He  at 
once  handed  me  his  resignation,  and  his  successor  was  appointed, 
gave  bond,  and  entered  upon  his  office  the  same  afternoon. 

"  Few  things  have  ever  given  me  greater  pain  than  the  necessity 
of  this  action.  The  treasurer  was  a  generous,  open-hearted  man,  of 
fine  talents,  and  greatly  beloved  by  his  friends,  among  whom  there 
were  few  who  cherished  for  him  a  warmer  regard  than  I  did  myself. 
Excepting  this  transaction,  I  do  not  know  that  his  fidelity  to  any 
trust  was  ever  questioned.  He  has  since  served  the  country  faith- 
fully at  the  head  of  an  Ohio  regiment  in  the  field.  Duty  required 
the  action  which  I  took.  It  was  necessary  to  protect  the  interests 
of  the  State,  and  to  defend  the  party  which  had  intrusted  to  me  the 
executive  power  of  the  State  from  virtual  responsibility  for  the  de- 
falcation. The  credit  of  the  State  was  saved,  and  means  were 
promptly  provided  for  the  payment  of  the  July  interest. 

"Against  my  wishes,  I  was  soon  after  renominated  for  governor 
by  acclamation.  The  election  of  Mr.  Buchanan  in  the  preceding 
year,  the  lassitude  and  depression  which  usually  follows  ill  success 
in  a  presidential  canvass,  and,  above  all,  the  defalcation,  which  the 
opponents  of  the  State  administration  did  not  hesitate  to  charge 
upon  me,  made  the  canvass  for  re-election  peculiarly  disagreeable 
and  difficult.  I  was  obliged  to  go  through  the  whole  State  and 
explain  the  facts  to  the  people  every-where.  There  was  no  con- 
gressional election  to  awaken  an  interest  in  national  topics  and 
secure  the  aid  of  candidates  for  Congress  pleading  their  own  cause 
before  their  constituencies.  Notwithstanding  all  disadvantages, 
however,  I  was  reelected,  though  by  a  small  majority,  and  re- 
mained in  office  two  years  longer,  pursuing  the  same  general  course 
as  hitherto." 

June  15,  1857,  the  governor  wrote  to  Mr.  Stone  as  follows : 

"Dear  Sir:  Mr.  Gibson,  your  predecessor,  sent  to  my  office,  after 
1  had  left  it  on  Saturday  night,  the  two  inclosed  statements.  They 
did  not  come  to  my  hands  until  last  evening.  I  avail  myself  of  my 
earliest  opportunity,  this  morning,  of  placing  them  in  your  posses- 
sion. Yours  truly, 

"Hon.  A.  P.  Stone,  Treasurer  of  State.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Of  all  the  errors  committed  by  our  hero,  one  of  the  very  worst 
was  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Stone  State  treasurer.  There  never 
was  a  more  unfortunate  appointment.  Mr.  Stone  was  totally  unfit 
to  be  a  public  officer  of  any  grade  or  kind  whatever.  But  1  have 
no  reason  for  supposing  that  the  governor  discerned  his  real  char- 
acter, or  knew  how  the  people  of  Columbus  generally  regarded  Mr. 
Stone. 

"The  author" — what  a  wretched  aflWation  is  that  manner  of  ex- 


OF   SALMON  PORTLAND   CHASE.  35S 

pression  ! — thought,  not  long  ago,  there  was,  for  him,  occasion  to 
employ  these  words : 

"According  to  the  wittiest  of  lecturers  on  moral  philosophy,  there  is 
a  word  more  powerful  than  the  cry  of  fire  in  the  crowded  play-house 
when  Belvidera  is  left  to  weep  unheeded  on  the  stage,  and  all  the 

audience  seek  exit  in  hot  haste.  That  more  alarming  word  is  not 
economy;  it  is  a  word  of  still  more  formidable  magnitude.  'T  is 
metaphysics.  But  there  is  a  word  more  formidably  fearful  than  that 
dreadful  polysyllable — more  alarming,  far,  than  economy — much 
more  terrible  than  the  cry  of  fire  in  the  crowded  play-house.  Yet 
it  is  a  very  little  word — a  matter  of  a  monysyllable,  an  uni literal 
word — a  very  little  word,  indeed.  On  one's  own  lips,  indeed,  it  often 
if  not  always  makes,  to  one's  own  ear,  delightful  music ;  but,  emitted 
by  the  lips  or  by  the  pen  of  one's  neighbor,  it  becomes  at  once  in- 
vested with  most  terrible  repulsive  force.     That  little  word  is  I." 

A  shrewd  gentleman  I  know,  but  must  not  name,  has  been  heard 
proposing  to  amend  these  words  of  David  Hume: 

"  It  is  difficult  for  a  man  to  speak  long  of  himself  without  vanity.'' 

The  proposed  amendment  would  have  the  tenor  : 

"It  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  speak  long  of  himself  without 
lying." 

Shrewdness  is  not  wisdom.  Wisdom  would  not  second  that 
amendment.  Hume  is  clearly  right,  and  the  shrewd  gentleman, 
who  would  improve  Hume's  just-quoted  saying,  is  as  clearly  wrong. 
It  is  not  impossible  for  one  to  speak  long  about  himself  without 
lying;  but  it  is  quite  difficult  for  any  man  to  say  much  about  him- 
self without  displaying  vanity. 

In  spite  of  my  desire  to  pay  all  due  regard  to  this  considera- 
tion, I  have  felt  compelled  to  use  the  first  personal  pronoun  more 
than  once  in  the  foregoing  pages.  In  endeavoring  to  do  simple  jus- 
tice to  our  hero,  as  to  the  events  of  1848  and  1849,  I  felt  obliged 
to  say  something  of  myself  in  the  course  of  that  endeavor.  Now, 
I  see  occasion,  again,  to  speak  of  my  own  action,  with  strict  refer- 
ence, however,  to  the  object  of  properly  setting  forth  the  course  of 
our  hero.  But  here  I  must  be  suffered  to  declare  with  emphasis, 
that  the  sole  object  of  this  work  has  been,  and  still  is,  to  give  a 
proper  account  of  the  life  and  character  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase. 
It  is  not  the  object  of  these  pages  to  serve  any  party.  It  is  not 
their  object  to  serve  any  living  person's  interests,  except  as  that  sort 
of  service  may  be  rendered,  in  a  due  devotion  to  the  common  weal. 


354  THE    PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

The  author,  for  example,  has  not  felt,  and  does  not  feel,  at  liberty 
to  use  this  opportunity,  either  to  indicate  or  to  vindicate  his  own 
ideas,  save  as  an  occasional  indication  and  vindication  of  them  is 
required  by  simple  fairness  toward  readers,  or  by  simple  justice  to 
the  life  whose  tenor  he  has  undertaken  to  set  forth. 

This  explanation  made,  however,  let  me  be  allowed  to  speak  with 
proper  freedom  of  the  things  to  which  I  am  about  to  ask  attention. 
Very  soon  their  intimate  relation  to  the  body  of  this  volume  must 
distinctly  manifest  itself. 

Here  is  a  document  to  which  I  must  refer,  in  order  that  what 
follows  may  be  clearly  comprehended. 

In  a  diary  of  Governor  Chase,  I  find  the  words :  "  Mr.  "Wade, 
Senator,  and  Judge  Warden,  alone  (except  Judge  Welker,  who 
visited  few  [places]  with  me),  accepted  opportunity  to  speak  in  the 
different  counties."  Thus  my  memory  is  called  upon  to  review  the 
special  opportunities  I  had  in  1857  to  learn  more  and  more  of  the 
man  who  had  so  long  been  to  me  an  object  of  so  much  interest, 
although  I  had  so  seldom  found  myself  of  his  opinion,  either  in 
religion  or  in  politics. 

Already  I  had  been,  from  time  to  time,  quite  intimate  with  him,  if 
intimacy  may  exist  between  a  man  who  loves  the  thing  that  calls 
itself,  par  excellence,  society,  and  a  man  who  early  learned  almost  to 
hate  that  thing,  and,  perhaps,  never  can  regard  it  with  affectionate 
esteem.  But  in  1857  he  revealed  himself  to  me  most  thoroughly, 
as  to  his  politics  at  least. 

Referring  to  the  canvass  of  that  year,  the  diary  last  quoted  has 

preserved  this  record  : 

"  The  canvass  of  1857  was  somewhat  remarkable.  I  had  been 
nominated  for  reelection  by  acclamation,  and  with  remarkable 
manifestations  of  enthusiasm  and  confidence.  But  we  were  sur- 
rounded by  great  difficulties.  We  were  responsible  for  all  the  ac- 
tion of  a  legislature,  b}~  no  means  harmonized  by  devotion  to  a 
common  principle  or  unanimous  in  their  views  of  public  meas- 
ures. The  Whig  and  American  elements  were  largely  preponder- 
ant over  the  Democratic  and  anti-slavery,  even  among  those  who 
acted  together  as  Eepublicans.  Hence,  amid  much  legislation  that 
was  wise  and  beneficial,  was  some  which  was  neither  wise  nor 
beneficial,  resulting  from  demands  on  one  side,  and  compliance,  in 
fear  of  alienating  needed  support  from  anti-slaveiy  measures,  on 
the  other.  Of  all  these  mistakes,  real  or  imputed,  our  adversaries 
were  prepared  to  take  every  advantage.  Then  the  defalcation,  com- 
mitted by  one  of  their  own  party,  was  to  be  charged  upon  ours, 
under  cover  of  the  false  representations  of  Gibson,  for  whose  acts  I 
was  to  be  held  responsible." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  355 

Among  the  somewhat  various  and  almost  numerous  considera- 
tions which  may  be  supposed  to  have  influenced  the  hero  of  this 
work  in  so  unreservedly  placing  in  my  hands  his  diaries  and  let- 
ters, in  order  to  enable  me  to  do  the  present  service  to  his  memory, 
was  the  fact  that  I  was  one  of  Mr.  Gibson's  counsel.  But  that 
diary  goes  on  as  follows : 

'•  Then  the  cry  of  negro  equality,  amalgamation,  and  the  like, 
were  to  be  employed  to  the  uttermost  to  prejudice  us  with  the 
ignorant;  then  the  financial  troubles,  which  arose  soon  after  the 
nomination,  were  also  pressed  into  the  service.  These  things  pre- 
sented formidable  difficulties,  and  it  soon  became  apparent  that  I 
was  to  have  little  aid  in  the  canvass.  Is"o  man  had  been  nominated 
who  was  a  speaker.  The  members,  of  Congress  on  our  side,  by  the 
policy  of  the  State  committee,  were  directed  to  labor  in  their  re- 
spective districts,  which  operated  in  most  instances  as  a  direction 
not  to  labor  at  all.  Several  presses  and  many  of  the  electors  re- 
pudiated one  of  the  nominations  of  the  State  committee,  that  of 
Mr.  Blickensderfer." 

Then  we  have  the  already-quoted  statement  as  to  Senator  Wade 
and  the  author  of  this  work,  as  cooperating  with  our  hero  "  on 
the  stump  "  throughout  the  State.  In  some  instances  I  went  with 
the  governor,  and  spoke  with  him,  as,  for  example,  at  Marietta, 
Pomeroy,  and  Cincinnati;  but,  in  general,  I  was  entirely  unaccom- 
panied. The  governor  seemed  very  anxious  to  have  me  represent 
him  accurately  to  the  audiences  I  was  to  address  in  his  behalf.  He 
furnished  me,  therefore,  with  "documents"  and  oral  explanations, 
very  carefully  presented  on  his  part. 

The  next  year  he  caused  me  to  be  invited  to  attend  a  conference 
held  in  the  office  of  the  State  treasurer.  I  heard  him,  in  that  con- 
ference, deliver,  with  a  boldness  as  remarkable  as  the  clearness  of 
his  language,  a  most  carefully  considered  exposition  of  his  uncom- 
promising views  as  an  anti-slavery  Democrat. 

Again,  next  year,  when  the  action  of  the  party  he  continued  to 
support,  and  his  own  action,  in  connection  with  that  party,  seemed 
to  me  to  border  on  mere  insurrection,  he  explained  to  me  in  private 
his  ideas,  his  aspiration,  and  ambition  as  to  public  service. 

I  need  hardly  say  that,  being  one  of  Mr.  Gibson's  counsel,  I  did 
not  discuss  the  question,  so  constantly  started,  "  Who  stole  the  peo- 
ple's money?"  Governor  Chase  did  not  expect  me  to  discuss  that 
question.  He  preferred  me  to  explain,  if  I  would,  his  own  distinc- 
tions as  a  political  agitator,  his  political  ideas,  his  ambition,  if  you 
please,  his  aspirations  as  a  public  man.  He  furnished  me  with 
24 


356  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

documents  to  prove  that,  except  as  to  pro-slaveryism  and  pro- 
southernism,  lie  was  of  the  Democrats.  He  explained  to  me  his 
purpose  to  labor  for  what,  I  suppose,  may  well  be  called  the  Demo- 
cratization of  the  Republican  party,  notwithstanding  the  vast  num- 
bers of  original  Whigs  within  its  memberhood.  He  called  on  me, 
most  earnestly,  to  labor  with  him  to  that  end. 

I  listened  most  attentively,  but  then  intimated  neither  opinion 
nor  intention.  He  was  evidently  disappointed ;  but  he  knew  that 
whether  I  thought  well  or  ill,  I  was  an  independent  thinker.  So 
he  did  not  urge  me  overmuch. 

On  my  return  from  one  of  my  tours,  he  questioned  me  as  to  the 
reception  of  the  documentary  matter  he  had  given  me  with  the 
indicated  object.  Some  of  his  almost  habitual  imperiousness  ap- 
peared aroused  on  my  quietly  reporting  that  I  had  not  used  those 
documents  at  all,  or  even  referred  to  them.  But  I  said  to  him, 
without  excitement,  as  I  now  remember,  something  like  this: 

"  Governor,  you  know  me  quite  too  well  to  think  that  I  will 
suffer  any  man  to  put  words  into  my  mouth,  or  to  call  me  to 
account,  in  any  form,  for  words  by  me  spoken  to  the  people.  I  did 
not  use  the  matter  you  refer  to  for  two  very  simple  reasons.  In  the 
first  place,  you  had  failed  to  convince  me,  myself,  that  you  were  ever 
really  a  Democrat  of  the  Democrats.  I  think  that  you  idealize  as 
well  the  Democratic  party  as  your  own  brief  relation  to  that  party. 
In  the  next  place,  I  can  see  no  expediency  whatever  in  the  handling 
of  such  a  theme  by  me,  at  present." 

Then  I  went  on  to  make  explanations,  which  I  do  not  consider 
sufficiently  of  interest  to  be  set  forth  in  any  chapter  of  this  volume. 
I  was  most  attentively  heard,  and  the  explanation  seemed  to  be 
satisfactory. 

Then  and  afterward,  I  related  to  the  hero  of  this  work,  that  at 
a  little  place,  the  name  of  which  I  have  forgotten,  I  made  a  speech, 
not  set  down  in  the  original  programme  of  my  appointments.  Was 
it  at  Russellville?  I  rather  think  that  was  the  name.  I  spoke  in  a 
church  to  fanatical  abolitionists,  who  had  resolved  not  to  vote  for 
Chase  because,  as  they  alleged,  he  had  not  been  true  to  his  convic- 
tions. They  assumed  that  he  had  been  an  abolitionist,  and  had 
fallen  from  grace  in  order  to  get  office.  Yet,  strangely  enough, 
they  had  expressed  a  particular  desire  to  hear  me,  who  had  never 
been  supposed  to  be  an  abolitionist.  I  did  my  best,  for  some  time, 
without    any    demonstration   whatever  on  the  part  of  my  male  and 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  357 

female  hearers,  though  they  seemed  attentive.  Now  and  then,  the 
tallow-candle  lights  burned  dim,  and  my  discourse  seemed  to  burn 
dim  in  sympathy.  But  a  tall,  angular  figure  went  about,  from  time 
to  time,  and  snuffed  the  candles  and  my  speech  at  the  same  moment. 
I  was  very  thankful  to  this  man,  who  seemed  to  be  a  sort  of  select- 
man, or  head-centre,  when  he  rose  and  thus,  in  nasal  tone,  addressed 
the  speaker: 

"Friend,  I  understand  that  you  were  always  a  Democrat;  is 
that  so  ?  " 

The  speaker  said  that  he  had  been  a  Democrat  ever  since  his 
fifteenth  year.  Whereupon  the  interrogator  pronounced,  more 
nasally  than  ever: 

"Wal!  friend,  for  a  man  of  your  an  -te-ce-  dents,  you  talk 
remarkably  well ;  but  haow  do  you  defend  Salmon  P.  Chase,1  who, 
having  seen  the  light,  hath  departed  therefrom?  " 

I  could  hardly  keep  my  face  or  use  my  voice  in  attempting  to  re- 
spond. There  was,  however,  a  murmur  of  evident  sympathy  with  the 
questioner;  and  I  had  to  answer  seriously.  What  the  answer  was 
it  is  not  necessary  to  set  forth.  It  was,  however,  made  the  pretext 
of  a  resolution,  after  all,  to  vote  for  Chase.  I  say  the  pretext,  for, 
in  my  opinion,  those  fanatical  hearers  of  mine  only  wanted  a  good 
excuse  for  abandoning  their  ill-considered  opposition  to  the  man 
whose  opposition  to  slavery  had  made  him  known  to  the  whole 
country. 

I  must  now  present  another  matter,  which,  at  first,  may  seem 
intended  rather  to  display  the  author  than  to  set  forth  the  hero  of 
these  pages.  But  I  promise,  very  soon,  to  show,  quite  plainly,  that 
here  again  the  object  is  legitimate  and  otherwise  wholly  unexcep- 
tionable. 

I  felt  bound  to  decline  an  invitation  to  attend  a  mass  conven- 
tion of  the  "  Foes  of  Slavery  and  Despotism,"  to  be  held  May  24, 
1859. 

The  agitation  I  refused  to  countenance,  on  that  occasion,  was 
directed  against  the  fugitive  slave  law.  But  the  great  objection 
to  such  agitation  was  (I  considered)  that  it  attempted  to  direct,  or 
to  overawe,  judicial  action.  It  was  soon  followed  by  the  politi- 
cal  beheading   of  Judge  Swan,  of  the    Supreme   Court  of  Ohio, 


1 1  never  heard  him  called   Salmon   Portland  Chase  till  after  he  became  Chief 
Justice. 


358  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

on  account  of  his  judicially  pronouncing  an  opinion,  following 
the  settled  doctrine  of  the  courts,  on  the  subject  of  the  legislation 
by  Congress  under  the  constitutional  provisions  for  the  extra- 
dition of  fugitives  from  service.  I  had  been  in  service  as  a  judge; 
and  I  had,  as  I  trust  I  may  always  have,  a  hearty  hatred  of  all 
attempts  to  influence  judicial  action  by  the  utterances  of  impassioned 
public  meetings.  Having  done  all  that  was  possible  to  me,  within 
the  Republican  party  of  that  period,  against  the  agitation  just  re- 
ferred to,  I  made  known  my  purpose  to  oppose  that  party,  as  I 
honorably  might,  by  speech  and  pen. 

At  the  City  Hall,  Columbus,  I  delivered  a  highly  applauded  and, 
certainly,  rather  vigorous  and  vehement  denunciation  of  the  course 
of  Chase  in  reference  to  the  agitation  that  appeared  to  me  so  lawless 
and  so  perilous.  A  few  days  afterward,  I  met  him  at  White  Sul- 
phur Springs,  in  presence  of  many  gentlemen  well  acquainted  with 
us  both.  He  called  me  up,  and,  at  once,  most  courteously  and  feel- 
ingly expressed  his  deep  regret  that  my  sense  of  duty — for  he  said 
he  knew  it  must  have  been  a  sense  of  duty — had  compelled  me  to 
rejoin  the  Democratic  party.     He  subjoined,  as  I  remember: 

"  We  need  such  men  as  you  in  the  Republican  party.  No  party 
is  infallible ;  and  it  may  be,  you  are  right  and  we  are  wrong.  But, 
however  that  may  be,  we  need  such  earnest  and  outspoken  think- 
ers as  you  in  our  new  party.  But  I  have,  nevertheless,  a  crow  to 
pick  with  you  on  my  personal  account." 

I  answered,  thanking  him  for  his  good  opinion  of  my  motives, 
and  assuring  him  that  I  was  ready  for  the  crow- picking,  then  and 
there.  He  intimated  that  he  wished  to  make  a  private  explanation ; 
and  I  took  a  seat  with  him  alone. 

His  explanation  was  to  the  eifect  that  he  regarded  the  Cleveland 
meeting  very  much  as  I  regarded  it,  except  that  he  considered,  per- 
haps more  than  I  did,  the  good  intentions  of  the  men  by  whom  that 
meeting  had  been  called.  He  told  me  that  he  still  adhered  to  the 
ideas  which  he  had  explained  to  me  in  1857,  when,  as  already  stated, 
we  went  out  together  on  a  tour  as  public  speakers,  and  which  I  had 
heard  him  less  at  large  explain  in  an  informal  conference  of  leading 
Republicans  in  1858. 

A  marked  feature  of  the  governor's  administration  was  the  spirit 
in  which  he  exercised  the  power  to  pardon,  vested  in  his  office  by 
the  laws. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  359 

Here  is  a  letter  that  affords  some  indication  of  that  spirit,  though 
the  case  is  one  of  commutation  only  : 

"  Columbus,  March  10,  1857. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  I  inclose  to  you  an  envelope  containing  my  war- 
rant to  the  sheriff  in  the  case  of  Summons,  and  a  letter  to  the 
prosecuting  attorney,  requesting  him  to  deliver  it  to  that  officer, 
and  to  see  that  the  proper  steps  are  taken  in  compliance  with  it. 

"  It  gives  me  real  satisfaction  to  find  myself  able  to  comply  with 
your  wishes  in  this  matter,  and to  find  my  conscientious  con- 
victions of  duty  so  fully  in  accordance  with  my  sympathies  with 

the  afflicted  friends  of  the prisoner.1     I  shall  immediately  give 

my  reasons  for  this  act  to  the  press,  that  all  may  see  that  1  have 
been  governed  by  no  capricious  impulse,  but  by  well-considered  and 
sufficient  facts  and  reasons.  I  can  not  doubt  that  my  conclusion 
will  be  approved  by  the  vast  majority  of  those  who  were  interested 
in  it.  Very  sincerely  your  friend, 

"  Col.  F.  T.  Chambers,  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Well  do  I  remember  the  censure  with  which  that  act  of  clemency 
was  now  and  then  spoken  of;  but  the  governor  was  generally 
deemed  to  have  regarded  only  right  considerations.  If  he  erred, 
his  error  was,  for  the  most  part,  ascribed  to  a  mistake  of  judg- 
ment. 

Summons  was  a  poisoner,  and,  above  all,  a  parricide. 

On  the  29th  of  April,  1857,  we  find  the  governor  addressing 
Adjutant-General  Harris  and  Quartermaster-General  Glenn  about 
the  arms  of  the  State,  and  appointing  a  few  days  afterward  Jonathan 
F.  Neeramer  to  collect  all  arms  belonging  to  the  State,  in  Franklin 
County,  except  those  in  the  possession  of  organized  volunteer  com- 
panies, and  to  convey  the  arms  so  collected  to  the  State  arsenal  in 
Columbus. 

A  letter  to  Wm  T.  Nealis,  Esq.,  at  St.  Joseph's  College,  near 
Somerset,  Ohio,  in  relation  to  the  proposed  arming  of  a  college  com- 
pany of  soldiers,  breathes  the  careful  and  considerate  spirit  so  char- 
acteristic of  the  whole  administration  under  view.  It  points  out 
difficulties,  but  it  also  shows  the  path  to  obviation. 

We  have  considerable  correspondence  about  military  matters. 
Brigadiers  and  major-generals  of  the  "Milish"  were  greedy  of 
glory  in  those  pacific  days,  as  brigadiers  and  major-generals  were 
to  be  greedy  of  distinction  and  some  other  things,  during  the 
rebellion. 


1  The  copy  shows  the  blanks  just  indicated,  if  that  is  not  a  hull. 


360 


THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  A3TD  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


The  subject  of  extradition  more  than  once  and  more  than  slightly 
occupied  the  cares  and  called  into  play  the  legal  learning  of  the 
governor. 

A  letter,  addressed  May  8,  1857,  to  Timothy  A.  O'Conner,  Esq., 
(then  prosecuting  attorney,  now  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of 
Cincinnati),  reads  as  follows: 

'•  Dear  Sir  :  I  have  written  to  Mr.  Ruffin  expressing  the  opinion 
that  the  pardoning  power  can  not  properly  be  exerted  for  the  pur- 
pose of  exercising  the  power  of  extradition.  I  know  of  no  instance 
in  which  it  has  been  so  employed. 

''  The  proper  course  will  be  to  obtain  a  requisition  in  the  usual 
form  from  the  governor  of  Louisiana,  upon  the  presentation  of 
which  I  will  issue  my  warrant  of  extradition  to  the  sheriff  of  Ham- 
ilton, to  be  executed  immediately  upon  the  expiration  of  the 
present  sentence  of  the  fugitive,  by  delivering  him  to  the  agent  of 
the  governor  of  Louisiana.  It  would  be  a  reflection  upon  the  ad- 
ministration of  criminal  justice  in  Hamilton  County  to  defeat  the 
execution  of  a  sentence  by  a  pardon  upon  the  ground  that  the  pris- 
oner may  otherwise  escape  before  its  expiration,  and  thus  defeat  the 
effect  of  a  warrant.  Very  truly  yours, 

i:T.  A.  O'Conner,  Esq.,  Pros.  Atty.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  letter  to  Mr.  Ruffin  contains  the  words : 

"  Columbus,  May,  8,  1857. 

"  My  Dear  Sir:  On  reference  to  the  act  of  Congress  relating  to 
extradition,  you  will  see  that  it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  executive 
to  surrender  criminals  on  requisition,  and  to  secure  such  surrender, 
to  cause  then  to  be  detained  for  six  months  in  custody;  but  the 
uniform  practice  is  not  to  issue  a  warrant  of  extradition  to  operate 
upon  a  fugitive  from  another  State,  actually  undergoing  punishment 
in  this,  for  a  violation  of  our  laws,  until  the  expiration  of  his  sen- 
tence; and  I  think  it  would  be  an  abuse  of  the  pardoning  power  to 
exercise  it  for  the  simple  purpose  of  extradition.  It  will  always  be 
my  pleasure  as  it  is  my  duty  to  reoperate  with  the  officers  of  justice 
in  their  praiseworthy  endeavors  to  bring  offenders,  either  against  our 
own  laws  or  against  the  laws  of  sister  States,  to  justice.  I  regret 
that  I  can  not  consistently,  with  my  views  of  public  duty,  interpose 
in  this  case,  in  the  mode  suggested  by  you. 

"  Very  respectfully  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

•■James  L.  Ruffin,  Esq.,  Chief  of  Police,  Cincinnati,  Ohio." 

Let  me  now  invite  attention  to  another  extract  from  the  last- 
quoted  Trowbridge  letter.     That  document  contains  these  words  : 

"  In  the  last  year  of  my  second  term,  John  Brown's  famous  raid 
upon  Harper's  Ferry  occurred,  and  reports  were  spread  through  Vir- 
ginia that  large  bodies  of  men  were  being  organized  in  Ohio  with  a 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  361 

view  to  rescue  him  from  his  Virginia  captors.  Governor  Wise  ad' 
dressed  a  letter,  remonstrating  against  the  organization  and  threat- 
ening to  pursue  any  invaders  of  Virginia  into  the  State  of  Ohio.  I 
replied  that  his  apprehensions  of  military  organizations  in  Ohio 
were  unfounded,  and  that  I  trusted  he  would  not  undertake  to  follow 
into  Ohio  any  alleged  offenders  against  Virginia,  for  the  legislation 
of  Ohio  was  adequate  to  the  fulfillment  of  all  her  duties  to  her  sister 
State,  and  the  executive  of  Ohio  was  bound  to  repel  any  aggression 
upon  her  soil." 

I  can  not  even  try  to  justify  the  bearing  of  our  hero  toward  the 
Brown  raid.  But  what  I  have  to  say  about  that  bearing  must  be 
said,  most  carefully,  in  a  few  words. 

John  Brown  was  not  a  madman ;  but  he  was,  as  I  have  elsewhere 
argued,  non-sane  on  some  subjects.  He  was  a  heroic  character,  fa- 
natical but  pure ;  at  heart  a  patriotic-martyr ;  wrong  as  wrong  could 
be  in  act,  but  right  as  right  could  be  in  motive. 

Many  weeks  I  passed,  in  1866,  the  honored,  grateful  guest  of 
Captain  John  Brown,  Jr.,  at  Put-in-Bay,  assisted  and  directed  by  my 
genial  host  in  studying  the  grape  and  John  Brown,  Sen.  Captain 
John  Brown,  Jr.,  told  me  that,  in  his  judgment,  the  best  account  of 
his  beloved,  honored  father's  character  was  that  given  by  Thoreau.  I 
read  that  account  and  other  tributes  to  the  memory  of  him  of  Harper's 
Ferry  fame.  I  talked  often  and  freely  with  the  son  about  the  father, 
and  I  brought  away  with  me  a  very  veneration  for  that  father's  memory. 

Yet,  I  repeat,  the  bearing  of  our  hero  toward  the  Brown  raid  was 
not,  in  my  opinion,  worthy  of  approval.  It  was  far  from  patriotic, 
far  from  statesmanlike.  It  was  in  truth  the  conduct  of  a  dema- 
gogue if  it  was  not  that  of  a  fanatic. 

Now  and  then,  our  hero  seemed  to  try  to  play  the  sorry  part  of  a 
mere  demagogue.  He  always  miserably  failed.  He  was  not  born 
to  be  a  demagogue. 

I  can  not  dwell  on  the  repulsive  theme.  Let  us  pass  on  to  other 
topics. 


362  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

CHASE    AND   LINCOLN. 

""TIEBRUARY  17,  1859,  appears  this  mournful  record  : 

"  My  dear  sister  Alice  died  to-day.  She  had  been  apparently  in 
perfectly  good  health  for  some  months — going  out  so  freely  and 
taking  such  part  and  interest  in  all  that  went  on  that  I  had  no 
uneasiness  about  her.  I  knew,  indeed,  that  she  was  liable  to  attacks 
of  heart  trouble  ;  but  so  uniform  had  been  her  health  that  I  had 
almost  ceased  to  fear  it,  and,  as  well  as  herself,  had  relaxed  the  pre- 
cautions I  formerly  observed,  such  as  seeing,  myself,  that  she  did 
not  walk  any  considerable  distance  or  do  any  thing  which  might 
unnecessarily  fatigue  or  startle  her.  So,  last  evening,  when,  after 
tea,  she  said  she  was  going  to  church  (the  Wednesday  evening 
lecture),  I  let  her  go  without  inquiring  how  she  was  going,  or,  in- 
deed, making  any  inquiries  at  all.  On  her  return,  she  left  her 
escort  at  the  yard  gate,  and  must  have  been  seized  with  an  apoplec- 
tic fit  immediately  after ;  for  she  had  just  strength  enough  to  reach 
the  door  where  she  fell  on  the  threshold.  My  daughter  Katie  heard 
some  one  groan  there,  and  ran  to  the  library,  and  called  me.  I 
hastened  to  the  door  and  found  my  dear  sister.  I  got  her  into  the 
house  without  delay,  and  sent  for  medical  aid.  In  a  very  few 
minutes  Dr.  Carter  came  and,  soon  after,  Dr.  Smith.  Her  suffering 
from  headache  was  dreadful  for  some  time.  At  last  she  seemed  to 
get  relief  and  her  symptoms  became  more  favorable  The  improve- 
ment, however,  was  but  temporary.  About  2  o'clock  this  morning 
she  began  to  sink,  and  continued  to  fail  gradually  until  about  half 
past  one,  when  her  spirit  departed. 

"  Thus  have  I  lost  a  dear  and  good  sister ;  and  with  the  painful 
circumstances  that,  from  the  attack  to  her  death,  she  was  not  able 
to  converse  with  any  of  us,  so  great  was,  for  part  of  the  time,  her 
suffering,  or,  during  the  remainder,  her  delirum  or  unconsciousness. 
She  had  been  long  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  was,  I 
trust  and  believe,  a  true  Christian.  Doubtless,  our  loss  is  far  over- 
matched by  her  gain." 

The  remainder  of  the  entry  and  the  entry  of  the  next  day  are 
omitted. 

There  was  much  in  the  Columbus  life  of  Governor  Chase,  at  home 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  363 

or  abroad,  of  which  detail  might  here  be  given;  but  some  parts  of 
it  would  require  more  space  than  could  be  properly  devoted  to  them. 
On  the  whole,  I  have  concluded  not  to  go  farther  in  relating  what 
occurred  at  Columbus  to  afflict  our  hero,  or  to  give  him  pride,  or  to 
yield  him  pleasure. 

"At  the  close  of  my  term,"  continues  Mr.  Chase,  "  Governor  Den- 
nison  succeeded  me,  and  I  was  soon  after  elected  to  the  Senate  for 
the  second  time.  The  presidential  election  followed  in  the  same 
year.  The  Republicans  of  Ohio  honored  me  by  a  declaration  of  their 
preference  in  the  State  convention,  which  was  held  to  appoint 
delegates  at  large  to  the  nominating  convention.  The  Ohio  Con- 
vention, however,  did  not  nominate,  as  did  many  other  State  con- 
ventions, the  district  delegates,  but  left  the  selection  of  these  to 
district  conventions.  This  gave  an  opportunity  to  the  partisans  of 
other  candidates  to  foment  divisions,  and  secure  the  selection  in 
several  districts  of  delegates  unfriendly  to  me.  The  result  was  the 
division  of  the  Ohio  delegates  in  the  nominating  convention  and 
the  destruction  of  their  influence.  Without  its  united  support  there 
was  not  much  ground  for  expecting  much  support  from  other  dele- 
gations, in  which  I  had  numerous  friends  ready  to  unite  with  the 
Ohio  delegation  had  that  delegation  been  itself  united.  Notwith- 
standing these  disadvantages,  my  support  was  respectable,  though 
not  sufficient  to  warrant  any  expectation  of  success.  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  nominated,  and  I  gave  him  my  cordial  support." 

The  true  date  of  the  following  letter  appears  in  the  answer  made 
to  it  by  Abraham  Lincoln  : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  congratulate  you,  most  heartily,  on  your  nom- 
ination ;  and  shall  support  }Tou,  in  1860,  as  cordially  and  earnestly 
as  I  did  in  1858. 

"  The  excellent  platform  adopted,  and  the  selection  of  that  true 
and  able  man,  Hannibal  Hamlin,  as  your  associate  on  the  ticket, 
completes  my  satisfaction  with  the  results  of  the  convention.  They 
will  prove,  I  am  confident,  as  auspicious  to  the  country  as  they  are 
honorable  to  the  nominees.  . 

"  Mr.  Seward  has  much  reason  to  be  gratified  by  the  large  and 
cordial  support  which  he  received,  and  especially  by  the  generous, 
unanimous,  and  constant  adhesion,  without  regard  to  personal  pref- 
erences, of  the  entire  delegation  from  his  own  great  State.  Doubt- 
less, the  similar  adhesion  of  the  Illinois  delegation  affords  a  higher 
gratification  to  you  than  the  nomination  itself.  The  only  regret  I 
feel  connected  with  the  convention  is  excited  by  the  failure  of  the 
delegation  from  Ohio  to  evince  the  same  generous  spirit.1  In  this  re- 
gret I  am  quite  sure  you  must  participate;  for  I  err  greatly  in  my 
estimate  of  your  magnanimity  if  you  do  not  condemn,  as  I  do,  the 
conduct   of   delegates  from  whatever  State,  who   disregard,  while 


1  The  word  spirit  was  substituted  for  the  words  good  faith,  which  stand  in  the 
first  draft. 


364  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AST)  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

acting  as  such,  the  clearly  expressed  preference  of  their  own  State 
convention.1  Yours  cordially, 

"Hon.  Abraham  Lincoln.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Lincoln  answered  as  follows : 

"  Springfield,  III.,  May  26,  I860. 
"Hon.  S.  P.  Chase. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  It  gave  me  great  pleasure  to  receive  yours,  mis- 
takenly dated  May  17.  Holding  myself  the  humblest  of  all  whose 
names  were  before  the  convention,  I  feel  in  especial  need  of  the 
assistance  of  all ;  and  I  am  glad — very  glad — of  the  indication  that 
you  stand  ready.  It  is  a  great  consolation  that  so  nearly  all — all  ex- 
cept Mr.  Bates  and  Mr.  Clay,  I  believe — of  those  distinguished  and 
able  men  are  already  in  high  position  to  do  service  in  the  common 
cause.  Your  obedient  servant, 

':A.  LINCOLN." 

Next  I  ask  attention  to  this  little  note : 

"  Columbus,  November  7,  1860. 
"My  Dear  Sir:  You  are  President  elect.  I  congratulate  you, 
and  thank  God.  The  great  object  of  my  wishes  and  labors  for  nine- 
teen years  is  accomplished  in  the  overthrow  of  the  slave  power.  The 
space  is  now  clear  for  the  establishment  of  the  policy  of  freedom 
on  safe  and  firm  grounds.  The  lead  is  yours.  The  responsibility  is 
great.     May  God  strengthen  you  for  your  great  duties. 

"  Truly  yours, 
"Hon.  Abraham  Lincoln.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  next  document  I  wish  to  offer  is  as  follows : 

"Springfield,  III.,  December  31,  1860. 
"Hon.  S.  P.  Chase. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  In  these  troublous  times,  I  would  like  a  confer- 
ence with  you.     Please  visit  me  here  at  once. 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"A.  LINCOLN." 

The  last-cited  Trowbridge  letter  proceeds  as  follows : 

"After  his  election  he  invited  me  to  Springfield  to  confer  with  me 
as  to  the  selection  of  his  Cabinet.  He  said  that  he  had  felt  bound  to 
offer  the  position  of  Secretary  of  State  to  Mr.  Seward  as  the  generally 
recognized  leader  of  the  Republican  party,  intending,  if  he  should 
decline  it.  to  offer  it  to  me.     He  did  not  wish  that  Mr.  Seward  should 


1  The  words,  "  disregard,  while  acting  as  such  the  clearly  expressed  preference  of 
their  own  convention,"  were  substituted  for  the  words,  '•  violate  good  faith  by  disre- 
garding the  preference  of  their  political  brethren,  explicitly  declared  through  a 
regular  State  convention." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  365 

decline  it,  and  was  glad  that  he  had  accepted,  and  now  desired  to 
have  me  take  the  place  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He  had  feared 
there  might  he  some  objections  to  this  in  Pennsylvania,  hut  had  heen 
assured  none  would  be  urged.  I  replied  that  I  did  not  wish  and  was 
not  prepared  to  say  that  1  would  accept  that  place  if  offered.  A  good 
deal  of  conversation  followed  in  reference  to  other  possible  members 
of  the  Cabinet,  but  every  thing  was  left  open  when  we  jDarted,  and  I 
returned  to  Columbus. 

"  Shortly  after  this,  in  December,  South  Carolina  seceded,  and  eveiy 
thing  indicated  great  irresolution  and  timidity  on  the  part  of  the  ad- 
ministration. I  wrote  a  very  earnest  letter  to  General  Scott,  entreat- 
ing him  as  head  of  the  army  to  take  the  necessaiy  measures  to  se- 
cure the  public  safety  and  rely  upon  the  country  for  its  sanction  and 
support.  The  general  replied  very  kindly,  but  did  not  evince  a  dis- 
position to  assume  the  responsibility  of  the  crisis.  In  February, 
Virginia  invited  a  conference  of  the  States  at  Washington,  and  ap- 
pointed commissioners  on  her  part.  This  conference,  doubtless,  was 
intended  as  a  means  of  extorting  new  concessions  to  the  slave  inter- 
est from  Congress.  To  prevent  injurious  results  it  seemed  necessary 
that  there  should  be  a  general  representation  from  all  the  States — 
from  free  as  well  as  from  the  slave  States  which  had  not  become  in- 
volved in  secession.  I  was  one  of  the  commissioners  selected  by  the 
governor  to  represent  Ohio.  IT nfortunatel}*  I  was  the  only  one  who 
was  prepared  to  resist  the  purchase  of  peace  by  undue  concessions. 
I  was  quite  willing  to  give  to  the  slave  States  the  strongest  assur- 
ances that  no  aggression  upon  their  rights  or  real  interests  were 
meditated,  but  I  was  not  at  all  willing  to  disguise  from  them  the  fact 
that  the  further  extension  of  slavery  could  not  be  allowed.  The 
death  of  Judge  Wright  and  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Wolcott  in  his 
place,  gave  me  one  resolute  and  like-minded  associate  in  the  commis- 
sion ;  but  we  were  a  minority.  The  vote  of  Ohio  in  the  conference 
was  Bteadily  on  the  side  of  submission.  The  commissioners  whose 
general  views  agreed  with  mine,  finally  determined  to  propose  to  re- 
fer all  matters  of  difference  to  a  national  convention,  and  in  the 
meantime  to  arrest  the  progress  of  disunion  by  assurance  that  no  in- 
vasion of  State  rights  over  the  subject  of  slavery  or  over  any  other 
subject,  was  meditated  or  would  be  attempted.  In  support  of  this 
proposition,  I  addressed  the  conference  with  great  earnestness  and 
with  great  plainness.  I  warned  them  of  the  consequences  which 
must  follow  secessiou,  and  implored  them  not  to  reject  the  only  propo- 
sition which,  in  my  judgment,  was  likely  to  save  the  country  from 
a  civil  war.  The  proposition  was,  nevertheless,  rejected,  and  the 
vote  of  Ohio  was  cast  for  its  rejection.  Instead  of  it,  a  proposed 
amendment  to  the  constitution  making  large  concessions  to  the  slave 
interest  was  forced  through  the  convention  in  disregard  of  its  rules, 
and  submitted  to  Congress.  There,  as  I  had  predicted,  it  received 
little  favor.  I  am  not  certain  that  any  thing  which  the  conference 
could  have  done  would  have  saved  the  country  from  the  insurrec- 
tion which  has  since  assumed  such  fearful  proportions  of  civil  war. 
It  is  only  certain  that  nothing  which  was  done  had  the  slightest 
salutary  effect  upon  the  disastrous  course  of  events.  The  conven- 
tion was  an  abortion." 


366  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

Let  us  now  go  back  a  little.  Here  is  a  most  interesting  docu- 
ment— a  document  inestimably  precious,  I  conceive : 

"Columbus,  November  30,  1860. 
"Mrs.  Eandall  Hunt,  New  Orleans. 

"  My  Dear  Sister  Ammie  :  Displeased  with  you  ?  No.  I  honor 
the  sense  and  patriotism  of  your  letter  and  feel  prouder  than  ever 
of  my  sister.  Would  to  heaven  that  it  were  in  my  poAver  to  compose 
the  strife  which  disturbs  the  peace  of  our  country!  Certainly,  there 
is  in  my  heart  no  feeling  but  good-will  toward  every  part  of  it. 

"But  what  can  be  done?  I  mean  what  could  be  done  by  a  pri- 
vate citizen  ?  If  the  executive  power  of  the  nation  were  in  my  hands,  I 
should  know  what  to  do.  I  would  maintain  the  Union,  support  the  Con- 
stitution, and  enforce  the  laws. 

"And  just  here  let  me  say  that  in  the  Commercial 's  report  of  my 
Covington  speech  (of  which  a  copy  directed  to  Mr.  Hunt's  address 
is  mailed  with  this  letter)  a  passage  is  left  out,  which  appeared  in 
the  verbatim  report  of  the  Gazette.  After  stating,  as  my  chief  objec- 
tion to  the  Bell-Everett  platform,  that  it  proposed  nothing  which 
all  parties  did  not  agree  to,  and  was,  therefore,  inadequate  to  the 
demands  of  the  times,  I  went  on  to  say  that  what  seemed  to  me 
the  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  party  supporting  Mr.  Bell, 
and  also  of  the  party  supporting  Mr.  Douglas  in  the  South,  was  a 
true  devotion  to  the  Union  and  a  resolute  determination  to  sustain 
it  against  the  designs  of  disunion  entertained  by  a  portion — though 
I  hoped  not  a  very  large  portion — of  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Breck- 
enriclge.  So  that,  in  the  South,  whatever  might  be  the  case  in  the 
North,  their  platform  did  propose  a  practical  issue,  on  a  practical 
question,  and  that  in  that  issue  all  my  sj-mpathies  were  with  them. 

"2  abhor  the  very  idea  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union.  If  I  were  Presi- 
dent I  would,  indeed,  exhaust  every  expedient  of  forbearance,  consistent 
with  safety.  But,  at  all  hazards,  and  against  all  opposition,  the  laws  of 
the  Union  should  be  enforced,  through  the  judiciary  wherever  practicable, 
but  against  rebellion  by  all  necessary  means.  The  question  of  slavery 
shoidd  not  be  permitted  to  influence  my  action,  one  way  or  the  other.  But, 
while  I  would  thus  act  when  circumstances  should  demand  action,  I 
would  not  shut  my  eyes  to  the  fact,  manifest  to  every  body,  that  it 
is  from  the  slavery  question  that  our  chief  dangers  arise,  and  I  should 
direct  whatever  influence  I  might  possess  to  an  adjustment  of  it,  not 
by  any  new  compromise — for  new  compromises  on\j  breed  new  dan- 
gers— but  honest  provision  for  the  honest  fulfillment  of  all  constitu- 
tional obligations  connected  with  it.  Nothing  seems  to  me  clearer 
than  that,  under  the  constitution  [slavery  is  a]  State  institution,  and 
that  much  embarrassment  would  have  been  avoided  had  this  princi- 
ple never  been  lost  [sight  of]  It  would  have  assured  peace  to  the 
States  in  which  slavery  exists,  by  uniting  nearly  all  men  of  all  opin- 
ions against  any  aggression  upon  them.  Let  this  principle  be  now 
once  more  fully  recognized,  and  it  will  redress  much  of  our  trouble. 
The  slave  States  can  lose  nothing,  for  few  of  their  statesmen  expect 
an}'  farther  extension  of  slavery.  Disunion  certainly  is  not  extension. 
Disunion  rather  is  abolition,  and  abolition  through  civil  and  servile 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  367 

war — which  God  forbid  !  It  is  precisely  because  they  anticipate  abo- 
lition as  tbe  result  that  the  Garrison  abolitionists  desire  disunion. 
Why.  then,  may  not  all — slave  States  and  free  Slates  alike — frankly 
accept  the  actual  condition  of  non-extension — determined,  in  the 
Union,  by  the  irreversible  judgment  of  the  people — determined,  out 
of  the  Union  by  irrestible  destiny?  Such  acceptance  would  be  a 
long  step  toward  peace. 

"Besides  this  question  of  extension  there  seems  to  me  to  be  but 
one  other  which  need  occasion  any  anxiety.  I  refer  of  course  to  the 
extradition  of  escaping  slaves.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  consti- 
tution stipulates  for  such  extradition;  but  I  can  not  help  seeing 
that  natural  sentiment  and  conscientious  convictions  make  the 
execution  of  this  stipulation  every-where  difficult  and,  in  the  free 
State-,  well  nigh  impracticable  ;  and  I  would  not  delude,  or  attempt 
to  delude,  any  body  with  the  notion  of  its  execution  under  what 
some  people  call  a  'fair  law,"  for  all  such  propositions  mean  erosion, 
and  I  would  evade  nothing.  It  is  high  time  to  have  done  with 
evasiun.  Let  us  recognize  facts  as  they  are,  frankly  and  boldly,  and 
not  try  to  creep  away  from  them.  In  this  spirit  I  would  recognize 
tbe  fact  of  constitutional  obligation  and  the  fact  that  it  can  not  be 
fulfilled  with  any  thing  like  completeness;  and  then  I  would  see 
what  could  be  done  instead  of  literal  fulfillment.  It  seems  to  me 
that  compensation  and  provision  for  sending  the  fugitives  out  of  the 
country  would  be  better  than  any  thing  else  that  is  practicable.  It 
would  be  better  for  the  slave  States,  because  the  return  of  the  fugi- 
tive is  not  in  itself  a  desirable  thing  either  for  the  individual  from 
whom  or  the  State  from  which  he  Hies.  Jt  would  be  better  for  the 
free  States,  because  it  would  involve  nothing  repugnant  to  the  sen- 
timents and  convictions  of  the  people.  It  would  be  better,  infinitely 
better,  for  all  than  disunion.  With  these  questions  thus  adjusted, 
peace  would  return,  and  harmony,  and  prosperity.  Is  there  any 
better  way?  I  see  none.  It  is  useless  to  attempt  impossibilities. 
It  i<  useless  to  try  to  reverse  public  opinion.  It  is  useless  to  con- 
tend with  the  general  course  and  progress  of  civilization.  It  is  use- 
ful only  to  endeavor  so  to  modify  and  direct  that  course  as  to  make 
the  current,  capable  of  becoming  a  destructive  flood,  a  beneficent 
and  fortifying  stream.  You  have  my  thoughts  honestly  though 
hastilv  expressed.  Cordially  yours, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Here  is  another  letter  which  appears  to  me  of  capital  concern  : 

Columbus,  December  29,  1860. 

"  General  :  It  is  reported  here,  that,  in  a  certain  contingency, 
you  mean  to  throw  up  your  commission. 

"  At  this  moment,  the  country  looks  to  you  with  more  hope  than 
to  any  other  man.  Your  loyalty  to  the  Union,  tested  every  way  in 
Mexico,  is  now  to  be  put  to  the  highest  proof. 

"Imbecility,  or  treason,  or  both,  mark  all  the  action  of  the 
existing  administration.  Yesterday,  while  the  armed  bands  of  a 
State  in  open  hostility  against  the  National  Government,  were  seiz- 
ing Federal  forts  at  Charleston,  the  so-called  President  and  his  Cab- 


368  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE   AXD    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

inet  were  in  shameful  conference  with  the  commissioners  of  rebel- 
lion. And  rebellion  is  treason  until  successful — which  God  forbid! 
for  successful  rebellion  must  needs  be  followed,  and  followed  with 
swift  steps,  by  civil  and  servile  war. 

"  Under  these  circumstances,  General,  you  must  not  resign.  Re- 
flect, rather  that  you  and  not  this  condemned  and  expiring  admin- 
istration, now  impersonate  the  American  people.  All  good  men 
honor  and  applaud  your  deference  to  the  civil  authority ;  but  when 
that  authority  is,  and  for  a  few  days  must  remain  in  the  hands  of 
men,  willing,  or  in  some  mysterious  way,  constrained  to  use  it  for 
the  ruin  of  their  country,  should  not  the  obligation  of  deference 
give  place  to  the  higher  and  holier  duty  of  maintaining  the  Union 
which  they  betray  ? 

"  Take,  then,  the  responsibility.  In  virtue  of  a  commission  which 
no  other  American,  save  Washington,  ever  held,  you  command  the 
army  of  the  United  States.  Preserve  the  Union  which  he  estab- 
lished. Sustain  Major  Anderson.  Reinforce  him,  if  necessary. 
Permit  no  obedience,  by  any  officer  under  your  command,  to  any 
order  of  President  or  Secretary,  requiring  the  surrender  of  posts  or 
stores  to  rebels  or  traitors. 

"  In  a  few  weeks,  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  the 
country,  will  organize  a  new  administration  of  the  General  Gov- 
ernment, faithful  to  every  constitutional  obligation  and  just  to 
every  State.  Then,  we  may  hope,  disunion  will  hide  its  hateful 
head.  Then,  your  greatest  work,  nobly  accomplished,  you  can  re- 
tire if  you  will.  But,  if  the  wishes  of  a  grateful  people  may  prevail, 
you  will  not  retire.  You  will  retain  the  commission  of  Washington, 
and  with  it  only  less  of  the  admiration  and  veneration  of  mankind 
which  consecrate  his  name. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  sentiments  of  the  highest  respect 
and  esteem,  Very  truly  vours, 

"  General  Scott.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

That  this  letter  counseled  revolutionary  conduct  is  too  clear  for 
question.  But  it  proves  at  least  that  its  writer  did  not  countenance 
the  political  heresy  of  the  Secessionists,  in  1860. 

Here  is  another  extract  from  the  Trowbridge  letter  that  describes 
the  Peace  Convention : 1 

"  Before  its  adjournment  the  President  arrived  in  Washington, 
having  come  through  Baltimore  in  the  night  and  in  disguise.  It 
was  said  that  this  was  necessary  to  defeat  a  plot  for  his  assassination. 
I  can  not  think  it  was  necessary.  At  any  rate,  it  seemed  to  me 
that  the  President  elect  should  not  have  entered  otherwise  than 
openly  and  by  daylight.  Meantime,  Congress  was  full  of  schemes 
for  pacification,  all  of  them  involving  more  or  less  an  abandonment 
of  the  principles  which  had  been  deliberately  proclaimed  by  the 
Republicans  in  relation  to  slavery.     Threats  were  openly  made  that 

1  Ante,  p.  365. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  369 

unless  such  abandonment  should  be  conceded,  there  should  be  no 
inauguration.  To  these  menaces,  I,  for  one,  replied,  '  Inauguration 
first,  adjustment  afterward,'  and  these  words  were  caught  up  and 
repeated  by  loyal  newspapers  as  a  popular  motto.  They  were  not, 
perhaps,  without  their  influence. 

"  Notwithstanding  these  menaces,  the  inauguration  took  place 
without  disturbance  and  in  the  presence  of  a  vast  multitude.  The 
President,  without  any  conference  with  me  on  the  subject,  sent  in 
my  name  to  the  Senate  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasuiy.  I  had  already 
taken  my  seat  as  Senator,  but  did  not  happen  to  be  in  the  chamber 
when  the  nomination  was  sent  in,  and  knew  nothing  of  it  until  a 
few  minutes  afterward  when,  returning  to  my  place,  I  was  informed 
that  it  had  been  unanimously  confirmed  as  soon  as  made.  I  went 
at  once  to  the  President  and  expressed  my  disinclination  to  accept 
the  position.  After  some  conversation,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
referred  to  the  embarrassments  which  my  declination  would  occa- 
sion him,  I  said  I  would  give  the  matter  some  further  consideration, 
and  advise  him  the  next  day  of  my  conclusion.  Some  rumor  of 
my  hesitation  got  abroad,  and  I  was  immediately  pressed  by  most 
urgent  remonstrances  against  any  declination  on  my  part.  I  finally 
3'ielded  to  this,  and  surrendered  a  position  every  way  more  desirable, 
to  take  charge  of  the  disordered  finances  of  the  country  under  cir- 
cumstances most  unpropitious  and  forbidding. 

"  Immediately  after  the  organization  of  the  Cabinet,  the  question 
of  what  should  be  the  policy  of  the  Government  in  respect  to  the 
seceded  States  demanded  the  most  serious  attention.  Anderson  with 
his  little  company  of  soldiers  was  holding  Fort  Sumter,  and  the  first 
question  was,  Shall  he  be  relieved?  General  Scott  declared  that 
complete  relief  was  impracticable  with  a  less  force  than  twenty 
thousand  men.  He  thought,  however,  that  the  fort  might  be  de- 
fended for  several  months  if  reinforced  and  provisioned.  But  that 
reinforcement  and  provisioning  were  impracticable  as  the  fire  of 
the  enemy's  batteries  would  be  concentrated  upon  any  vessel  which 
might  make  the  attempt,  both  while  entering  the  harbor,  and 
especially  when  endeavoring  to  land  men  and  cargoes  at  the  fort. 
The  President  finally  determined  to  make  the  attempt  to  send  pro- 
visions to  the  garrison. 

"  Information  that  the  attempt  would  be  made  was  transmitted 
to  the  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  and  its  receipt  was  promptly 
followed  by  an  order  from  the  rebel  authorities  to  reduce  the  fort. 
How  this  was  accomplished  is  historical,  and  it  is  also  historical  how 
the  country  was  aroused  by  the  rebel  guns  which  opened  on  the 
fort.  The  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  men  immediately  followed. 
It  soon  became  evident  that  nothing  beyond  the  mere  defense  of 
Washington  was  to  be  accomplished  by  this  force. 

"  I  took  the  liberty  of  urging  upon  General  Scott  to  occupy  Man- 
assas and  compel  the  rebels  to  evacuate  Harper's  Ferry  and  the 
Valley  of  the  Shenandoah.  It  has  since  become  evident  that  this 
might  have  been  thus  done,  and  it  is  even  probable  that  a  vigorous 
use  of  the  force  then  at  the  disposal  of  the  Government  might  have 
driven  the  rebels  from  Richmond.  The  action  proposed,  however, 
was  thought  to  involve  too  much  risk.     The  rebels  were  suffered  for 


370  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

weeks  to  occupy  Alexandria  with  an  insignificant  force,  to  excite 
insurrection  in  Baltimore,  and  to  destroy  the  national  property  at 
Norfolk,  except  that  which  was  destroyed  under  orders  by  ourselves. 
At  last,  after  long  delays.  Baltimore  was  recovered,  Alexandria  was 
occupied  by  national  troops,  and  the  rebels  were  driven  from  Harper's 
Ferry.  Meanwhile  it  had  become  evident  that  the  seventy-rive 
thousand  men  originally  called  for  would  not  be  sufficient.  To  re- 
place them  I  took  the  liberty  to  propose  to  call  for  sixty-five  thousand 
volunteers.  This  proposition,  after  having  been  modified  so  as  to 
include  an  increase  of  the  regular  army  was  sanctioned  by  the 
President,  who,  with  the  consent  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  directed 
me  to  prepare  the  necessary  orders.  I  invited  to  my  assistance  Gol. 
Thomas,  Maj.  McDowell,  and  Captain  Franklin;  and  after  a  good 
deal  of  consideration  the  Orders  Xos.  Fifteen  and  Sixteen  were 
framed,  the  one  for  the  enlistment  of  volunteers  and  the  other  for 
regular  regiments." 

The  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  policy  of  provisioning 
Fort  Sumter  reads  as  follows : 

"  Treasury  Department,  March  16,  1861. 

"  Sir  :  The  following  question  was  submitted  to  my  consideration, 
by  your  note  of  yesterday  : 

" '  Assuming  it  to  be  possible  to  now  provision  Fort  Sumter, 
under  all  the  circumstances,  is  it  wise  to  attempt  it?' 

"  I  have  given  to  this  question  all  the  reflection  which  the  en- 
grossing duties  of  this  department  have  allowed. 

"  A  correct  solution  must  depend,  in  my  judgment,  on  the  degree 
of  possibility  ;  on  the  combination  of  reinforcement  with  provision- 
ing ;  and  on  the  probable  effects  of  the  measure  upon  the  relations 
of  the  disaffected  States  to  the  National  Government. 

"I  shall  assume,  what  the  statements  of  the  distinguished  officers 
consulted  seem  to  warrant — that  the  possibility  of  success  amounts 
to  a  reasonable  degree  of  probability  ;  and,  also,  that  the  attempt  to 
provision,  is  to  include  an  attempt  to  reinforce — for  it  seems  to  be 
generally  agreed  that  provisioning  without  reinforcement,  will  ac- 
complish no  substantially  beneficial  purpose. 

"  The  probable  political  effects  of  the  measure  allow  room  for 
much  fair  difference  of  opinion  ;  and  1  have  not  reached  my  own 
conclusion  without  serious  difficulty.  If  the  proposed  enterprise 
will  so  inflame  civil  war  as  to  involve  an  immediate  necessity  for 
the  enlistment  of  armies  and  the  expenditure  of  millions,  I  can  not, 
in  the  existing  circumstances  of  the  country,  and  in  the  present 
condition  of  the  national  finances,  advise  it.  But  it  seems  to  me 
highly  improbable  that  the  attempt,  especially  if  accompanied,  or 
immediately  followed,  by  a  proclamation,  setting  forth  a  liberal  and 
generous,  though  firm,  policy  toward  the  disaffected  States,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  principles  of  the  inaugural  address,  will  produce 
such  consequences;  while  it  can  not  be  doubted  that,  in  maintaining 
a  fort  belonging  to  the  United  States,  and  in  supporting  the  officers 
and  men  engaged,  in  the  regular  course  of  service,  in  its  defense, 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  371 

the  Federal  Government  exercises  a  clear  right,  and,  under  all 
ordinary  circumstances,  discharges  a  plain  duty. 

"I  return,  therefore,  an  affirmative  answer  to  the  question  sub- 
mitted to  me.     And  have  the  honor  to  be, 

M  With  the  highest  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  To  the  President.  *  [signed]  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Here  is  a  piece  of  writing  of  like  interest : 

"Washington,  April  28,  1861. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  To  correct  misapprehensions,  except  by  acts,  is 
an  almost  vain  endeavor.  You  may  say,  however,  to  all  whom  it 
may  concern,  that  there  is  no  ground  for  the  ascription  to  me  by 
Major  Brown,  of  the  sentiment  to  which  you  allude. 

"True  it  is  that  before  the  assault  on  Fort  Sumter,  in  anticipa- 
tion of  an  attempt  to  provision  famishing  soldiers  of  the  Union,  I 
was  decidedly  in  favor  of  a  positive  policy  and  against  the  notion 
of  drifting — the  Micawber  policy  of  waiting  for  something  to  turn 

UP" 

"As  a  positive  policy,  two  alternatives  were   plainly  before  us. 

(1.)  That  of  enforcing  the  laws  of  the  Union  by  its  whole  power 
and  through  its  whole  extent ;  or  (2.)  that  of  recognizing  the 
organization  of  actual  government  by  the  seven  seceded  States  as 
tin  accomplished  revolution — accomplished  through  the  complicity  of 
the  late  administration,  and  letting  that  Confederacy  try  its  experi- 
ment of  separation;  but  maintaining  the  authority  of  the  Union 
and  treating  secession  as  treason  every-where  else. 

"Knowing  that  the  former  of  these  alternatives  involved  de- 
structive war,  and  vast  expenditure,  and  oppressive  debt,  and 
thinking  it  possible  that  through  the  latter  these  great  evils  might 
be  avoided,  the  Union  of  the  other  States  preserved  unbroken,  the 
return  even  of  the  seceded  States,  after  an  unsatisfactory  experi- 
ment of  separation,  secured,  and  the  great  cause  of  freedom  and 
constitutional  government  peacefully  vindicated — thinking,  I  say, 
these  things  possible,  I  preferred  the  latter  alternative. 

"The  attack  on  Fort  Sumter,  however,  and  the  precipitation  of 
Virginia  into  hostility  to  the  National  Government,  made  this 
latter  alternative  impracticable,  and  1  had  then  no  hesitation  about 
recurring  to  the  former.  Of  course,  I  insist  on  the  most  vigorous 
measure^,  not  merely  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union  and  the  de- 
fense of  the  Government,  but  for  the  constitutional  re-establish- 
ment of  the  full  authority  of  both  throughout  the  land. 

"  In  laboring  for  these  objects  I  know  hardly  the  least  cessation, 
and  begin  to  feel  the  wear  as  well  as  the  strain  of  them.  When  my 
critieizers  equal  me  in  labor  and  zeal,  I  shall  most  cheerfully  listen 
to  their  criticisms. 

"All  is  safe  here  now.  Baltimore  is  repenting  and  by  repent- 
ance may  be  saved,  if  she  adds  works  meet  for  repentance.  Soon 
something  else  will  be  heard  of.  Yours  truly, 

"  Hon.  Alphonso  Taft.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

I  do  not  ask  the  reader  to  concede  that   Mr.  Chase  wras  right   in 
25 


372  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

the  sentiments  and  views  of  policy  thus  acknowledged.  Of  that  I 
do  not  wish  to  say  a  farther  word  at  present.  What  I  wish  is 
merely  to  set  forth  the  truth  in  the  particular  to  which  attention  is 
now  given. 

Let  me  now  invite  attention  to  another  letter.  Here  is  one  which 
seems  to  me  of  very  interesting  tenor  : 

"  Washington,  March  10,  1861. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  A  friend  has  placed  in  my  hands  a  number  of 
the  Baltimore  Exchange  of  the  7th  inst.,  containing  the  article  from 
the  Richmond  Dispatch,  purporting  to  give  an  account  of  the  conver- 
sation between  us,  to  which  you  refer  in  your  [letter],  received  on 
Friday  last. 

"  The  article  is  very  far  from  a  correct  statement  of  what  was 
said.  A  great  deal  essential  to  any  true  understanding  of  the  con- 
versation is  omitted ;  and  what  is  stated,  is  so  stated  as  to  convey  a 
totally  erroneous  idea  of  its  spirit  and  substance. 

<c  You  called  on  me,  and  I  welcomed  you  as  a  friend— as  a  former 
pupil — as  a  son  of  William  Wirt,  my  friend  and  instructor  in  the 
law  in  other  days — as  a  member  of  a  family  for  every  individual 
of  which  I  have  long  cherished  the  warmest  regard.  I  understood 
you  also  to  be  a  friend  of  the  Union,  although  earnest  in  maintain- 
ing what  you  believed  to  be  the  rights  of  the  slave  States.  The 
peace  conference  was  in  session,  and  I  was  a  member,  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  object  of  its  discussions. 

'•  Naturally,  therefore,  our  conversation  was  very  free,  and,  just  as 
naturally,  it  turned  to  the  existing  state  of  the  country;  not.  how- 
ever, as  stated  in  the  article,  with  reference  to  any  connection  I 
might  have  with  the  incoming  administration,  for  I  did  not  then 
expect,  and  I  never  wished,  to  be  charged  with  a  Department ;  but 
with  reference,  simply,  to  matters  before  the  convention,  and  their 
relation  to  the  general  condition  of  the  country. 

"  What  I  chiefly  desired  to  impress  on  your  mind  was  the  anxiety, 
deeply  felt  by  me  in  common  with  all  patriotic  citizens,  for  a  peace- 
ful solution  of  existing  difficulties.  This  solution,  I  suggested,  might 
be  found  in  the  organization  of  Territories  without  any  mention  of 
the  subject  of  slavery,  one  way  or  the  other,  in  the  organic  acts, 
and  in  a  legislative  provision  for  compensation  for  fugitives  from  serv- 
ice, in  lieu  of  extradition — an  arrangement  likely,  as  I  thought,  to 
prove  more  beneficial  to  the  slave  States,  and  more  acceptable  to  the 
free,  than  the  existing  law.  If  legislative  solution,  in  this  or  some 
similar  way.  should  be  found  impracticable.  I  suggested  a  national 
convention,  to  propose  amendments  of  the  Constitution,  as  the  best 
means  of  composing  present  troubles,  or,  in  the  deplorable  contin- 
gency of  impossible  adjustment,  of  providing  for  peaceful  separation. 

"You,  on  your  part,  expressed  great  solicitude  that  no  attempt 
should  be  made  to  reinforce  Fort  Sumter,  and  stated  your  conviction 
that  any  such  attempt  would  impair  the  Union  sentiment  in  the 
South,  and  lead  many  Union  men  to  make  common  cause  with  the 
secessionists. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASB.  373 

"In  reply  to  observations  of  tin's  nature-.  I  expressed  my  confidence 
that  nothing  would  be  willingly  done  to  weaken  the  cause  of  tin- 
Union  in  the  Southern  States;  hut  observed  farther,  that  I  did  not 
see  how  the  President  could  be  absolved  from  his  oath  to  defend  the  Con- 
stitution and  execute  the  laws,  which  seemed  to  bind  him  to  support  Major 
Anderson  in  tin  position  his  duly  had  require/  him  to  take. 

"This  led  to  b  discussion  of  the  possibility  of  war  from  this  and 
other  causes,  and  of  its  possible  issues.  We  both  deprecated  such  a 
conflict,  and  with  equal  earnestness.  As  arguments  against  it,  I 
urged  that,  even  in  the  event  of  a  complete  combination  of  all  the 
slaveholding  Slates  against  the  Federal  government,  a  population 
of  eleven  millions,  of  which  four  millions  were  slaves,  could  hardly 
hope  to  contend  successfully  against  a  population  of  twenty  millions, 
with  no  such  incumbrance  ;  that  a  civil  war  must  almost  inevitably 
lead  to  servile  war;  that  the  institution  of  slavery  could  not  stand 
the  shock  of  such  a  conflict  ;  and  that,  even  if  the  institution  should 
survive,  and  a  separation  of  the  States  should  be  thus  accomplished, 
through  violence,  still,  after  all.  the  slave  States  could  by  no  possi- 
bility be  more  secure,  or  find  better  guaranties  for  the  security  of 
slavery,  in  a  separate  Confederacy  than  in  the  Union. 

"How  different  all  this  is  from  the  spirit  attributed  to  me  in  the 
article,  is  apparent  enough.  Nor  was  the  actual  character  of  your 
part  in  the  conversation  less  different  from  that  attributed  to  me. 

"For  example,  you  are  represented  as  Baying  to  me  in  a  certain 
connection,  'What  is  3-0111*  object?'  and  I  am  represented  as  reply- 
ing. •  To  free  the  slave,  who  is  the  cause  of  the  war.'  No  sucli  ques- 
tion was  put  to  me,  in  any  connection,  leading  to  such  a  reply,  and 
no  such  reply  was  made  by  me  to  any  question  whatever.  Again, 
it  is  represented  that  you  asked  me  if  I  '  expected  the  slave  States 
to  return  to  the  Union  after  their  homes  had  been  threatened  and 
their  couutry  devastated."  and  that  I  had  answered,  'We  do  not  want 
them  to  return.  It'  the  slave  States  remain  in  the  Union,  they  will 
have  to  be  satisfied  with  much  less  than  they  are  now  demanding.' 
This  statement,  too,  conveys  a  totally  erroneous  idea  of  what  was 
said.  I  do  not  remember  your  language  or  my  own  ;  but  I  remember 
very  well  that  what  1  said  about  terms  of  remaining  in  the  Union 
had  reference  to  the  demand  made  in  the  peace  conference  of  a  new 
constitutional  sanction  and  guaranty  of  slavery  in  national  Terri- 
tories, of  which  I  remarked  that  the  slave  States  would  have  to  be 
satisfied  with  less  than  that.  Again,  what  was  said  about  peonage. 
compensated  labor,  and  colonization,  had  no  reference,  such  as  the 
article  makes  it  have,  to  Liberation  through  civil  or  servile  war,  but 
to  emancipation,  possible  at  some  future  time,  through  gradual  im- 
provement of  the  slave  population,  and  to  the  voluntary  action  of 
the  slave  States — just  such  emancipation  as  Jefferson,  your  own 
honored  father,  and  other  illustrious  statesmen  formerly  antici- 
pated, and  some  southern  patriots  and  philanthropists,  I  believe,  yet 
anticipate. 

"This  is  enough.  If  you  derived  any  such  impressions  of  me  or 
ray  views  as  this  article  indicates,  from  our  conversation.  I  sincerely 
regret  it.  It  was  a  frank,  unstudied,  unguarded  talk  between  old 
friends,  of  differing  opinions.     -Misconception  was,  of  course,  possible. 


374  THE    TRIVATE    LIFE   AND    TUBLIC   SERVICES 

Certainly,  what  I  said  was  greatly  misconceived,  if  you  think  it  war- 
ranted any  such  statement  as  that  which  has,  unfortunately,  found 
its  way  into  the  public  prints. 

"  I  wish  no  ill  to  the  slave  States  ;  but  rather  all  good.  For  Vir- 
ginia and  Maryland,  the  circumstances  of  my  earlier  manhood  inspired 
in  me  the  interest  of  a  sincere  attachment.  More  than  any  State, 
however,  I  love  the  Union  our  fathers  made.  In  the  Union,  so  far 
as  I  am  concerned,  the  rights  of  every  State  and  every  citizen  shall 
be  scrupulously  respected.  Through  no  conscious  agency  of  mine 
shall  harm  come  to  the  Eepublic." 

Then  followed  certain  counsel  to  the  person  so  addressed.  The 
next  document  I  wish  to  offer  reads  as  follows  : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  April  26,  1864. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  I  thank  you  for  your  note  and  its  inclosures. 

"It  avails  little  to  consider  what  might  have  been.  Our  duty  is 
with  what  is  and  what  may  be.  I  am  sure  that  whatever  differences 
of  opinion  there  may  have  been  between  those  who  thought  as  I  did, 
and  those  who  thought  as  you  did,  in  times  past,  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  no  such  differences  are  likely  to  exist  hereafter. 

"  Mr.  Brown  entirely  misapprehended  me,  if  he  received  from 
any  thing  I  said  early  in  1861  the  impression  that  I  was  willing  to 
let  the  then  seceded  States  depart  in  peace,  without  the  most  sub- 
stantial guaranties  of  the  loyalty  and  fidelity  to  the  Union  of  the 
Border  States  against  the  heresy  of  secession.  ~No  man  has  been  a 
more  earnest  and  determined  opponent  of  that  heresy,  or  more  ear- 
nest and  resolute  for  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion  without  }"ielding 
one  iota  to  armed  treason  than  myself. 

"  Yours,  very  truly, 

"  Rev.  Dr.  E.  Fuller,  Baltimore,  Md.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

All  readers  may  not  be  prepared  to  say,  with  Ruskin,  that  "  nations 
have  always  reached  their  highest  virtue,  and  wrought  their  most 
accomplished  works  in  times  of  straightening  and  battle;  as,  on  the 
other  hand,  no  nation  ever  yet  enjoyed  a  protracted  and  triumphant 
peace  without  receiving  in  its  own  bosom  ineradicable  seeds  of  future 
decline."1  Ruskin  adds:  "I  will  not  so  argue  this  matter,  but  I 
will  appeal  at  once  to  the  testimony  of  those  to  whom  that  war  has 
cost  the  dearest." 

The  Crimean  war  was  that  referred  to.  Ruskin  adds  :  "  I  know 
what  would  be  told  me,  by  those  who  have  suffered  nothing;  whose 
domestic  happiness  has  been  unbroken  ;  whose  daily  comfort  undis- 
turbed ;  whose  experience  of  calamity  consists,  at  the  utmost,  in  the 
incertitude  of  a  speculation,  the  dearness  of  a  luxury,  or  the  increase 


1  III  Modern  Painters,  334. 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  375 

of  demands  upon  their  fortune  which  they  could  meet  fourfold 
without  inconvenience. 

"  From  these,"  proceeds  this  remarkable  writer,  "  I  can  well  believe, 
be  they  prudent  economists,  or  careless  pleasure  seekers,  the  cry  for 
peace  will  rise  alike  vociferously,  whether  in  street  or  senate.  But 
I  ask  their  witness,  to  whom  the  war  has  changed  the  aspect  of  the 
earth,  and  imagery  of  heaven,  whose  hopes  it  has  cut  off  like  a 
spider's  webb,  whose  treasure  it  has  placed,  in  a  moment,  under  the 
seals  of  clay.  Those  who  can  nevermore  see  sunrise,  nor  watch  the 
climbing  light  gild  the  eastern  clouds  without  thinking  what  graves 
it  has  gilded,  first,  far  down  behind  the  dark  earth  line  ;  who  never 
more  shall  see  the  crocus  bloom  in  spring  without  thinking  what 
dust  it  is  that  feeds  the  wild  flowers  of  Balaklava.  Ask  their  wit- 
ness, and  see  if  they  will  not  reply  that  it  is  well  with  them,  and 
with  theirs;  that  they  would  have  it  no  otherwise;  would  not  if  they 
might,  receive  back  their  gifts  of  love  and  life,  nor  take  again  the 
purple  of  their  blood  out  of  the  cross  on  the  breastplate  of  England. 
Ask  them  ;  and  though  they  should  answer  only  with  a  sob,  listen 
if  it  does  not  gather  upon  their  lips  into  the  sound  of  the  old  Seyton 
war  cry — '  Set  on. '  " 

That  is  but  splendid  rhetoric.  Let  us  respect,  not  only  the  sacred 
silence  of  the  dead,  laid  low  by  war,  but  the  sacred  sorrow  of  the 
hearts  that  have 

"  Brokenly  lived  on  " 

since  war  became  to  them  a  terrible  reality.  Let  us  not  interrogate 
survivors  of  the  fallen  whom  our  own  great  conflict  put  to  death. 
Let  us  invoke  no  resurrection  of  the  brave  at  rest,  no  testimony  of 
our  sleeping  loved  ones,  who  went  out  to  battle  in  our  names,  for 
our  behoof,  and  to  our  benefit,  however  we  regard  their  loss.  We 
know  they  died  for  us,  and  for  them  that  shall  come  after  us;  and 
who  would  call  them  from  their  sleeping-places,  to  encounter  again 
temptation — possibly  to  sin  again,  and  certainly  to  suffer?  We 
know  not  what  their  incorporeal  lips  might  syllable,  could  they  bear 
witness  to  our  hearing,  touching  war  and  peace. 

Enough,  that  war  as  well  as  peace  is  part  of  human  life — that  the 
life  of  man  is  a  battle,  now  as  in  the  days  of  Job — that  war  as  well 
as  peace  is  quite 

"  Connatural  to  man." 
We  speak  of  him  that  dies  at  home,  attended  by  his  family,  watched 


376  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

bv  his  wife  ami  children,  uttering  to  listening  hearts  the  latest  whis- 
pers of  the  lips  on  which  the  hush  of  death  is  falling,  as  dying  a 
natural  death.  Is,  then,  the  death  of  him  that  falls  in  battle  for  his 
country,  an  unnatural  departure?  War  is  not  a  casualty.  It  is  part 
of  the  divinely  given  right  and  might  of  nations. 

Superstition  sees  not  now  a  goddess  or  a  god,  directing  battles. 
We  behold  no  Pallas,  with  her  aegis,  where  the  chassepot  or  the 
needle-gun  incarnadines  the  grass  or  reddens  the  river.  But  phi- 
losophy and  faith  still  agree  in  calling  life  a  battle. 

Yet  it  follows  not  that  war  should  be  desired  at  all  times.  Ruskin 
may  be  right  so  far  as  goes  his  doctrine,  that  it  is  in  times  of  straight- 
ening and  battle  that  nations  have  exhibited  their  highest  virtue,  and 
wrought  their  most  accomplished  works.  The  same  eloquent  but 
sometimes  not  well-balanced  writer  may,  alas !  be  right  in  teaching, 
that  no  nation  ever  enjoyed  a  protracted  and  triumphant  peace  with- 
out receiving  in  its  own  bosom  ineradicable  seeds  of  future  decline. 
But,  though  life  be  a  battle,  it  has  armistices.     In  the  lines, 

"Under  the  sun  I  have  marched  and  I've  wandered  ; 

Life  is  a  battle,  yes!  but  it  hath  truces; 
During  the  truces  I've  wandered,  and  pondered 

Much  on  this  life  in  its  aspects  and  uses," 

there  may  be  little  poetry,  but  I  consider  them  as  indicating  toler- 
ably well  a  truth  too  seldom  well  considered. 

Peace,  although  it  may  appear  exceptional,  is,  in  a  certain  sense, 
not  so  abnormal  as  its  opposite.  In  war,  we  generally  struggle  for 
a  glorious  peace. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  377 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

THE  PEACE  CONFERENCE — THE  CIVIL  WAR — CHASE  IN  THE  TREASURY. 

IN  order  to  do  justice  to  our  hero's  views  respecting  the  doc- 
trine of  the  secessionists,  I  have  anticipated  somewhat.  Let 
me  now  invite  attention  to  a  letter,  addressed  to  Thaddeus  Stevens, 
and  relating  to  that  interview  between  Chase  and  Lincoln.  Let 
me  ask  for  that  letter  close  attention.  It  is  full  of  interest  to  every 
farther  revelation  of  this  work.     Its  tenor  is  as  follows : 

"Columbus,  Ohio,  January  9,  1861. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Your  note  came  when  I  was  in  Springfield,  al  Mr. 
Lincoln's  request.  I  arrived  after  your  Pennsylvanians  had  all 
gone.  Mr.  Lincoln  conversed  frankly  and  fully.  He  is  a  man  to  be 
depended  on.  He  may,  as  all  men  ma}*,  make  mistakes;  but  the 
cause  will  be  want  of  sufficient  information,  not  unsoundness  of 
judgment  or  of  devotedness  to  principle.  It  is  the  business  of  Re- 
publicans occupying  responsible  positions,  or  possessing,  in  private 
stations,  the  confidence  of  their  fellow-citizens,  to  give  him  that  in- 
formation which  is  indispensable  to  right  conclusions. 

•■  I  am  glad  to  find  your  course,  in  opposing  concessions  of  prin- 
ciple, approved  throughout  the  north-west.  Why  can't  Republi- 
cans await  the  coming  in  of  their  own  administration,  and  then  act 
generously,  as  well  as  justly. 

"I  shall  always  be  glad  to  hear  from  you,  and  you  may  be  sure 
your  confidence  will  be  respected.       Your  friend, 

"Hon.  T.  Stevens.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Such,  according  to  the  judgment  of  our  hero,  was  the  man,  who, 
during  the  armed  uprising  of  the  South,  was  to  be,  ex-ojficio,  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  Union.  Whether  that 
judgment  was  correct  or  not  I  do  not  here  examine. 

The  speech  of  Mr.  Chase  in  the  Peace  Conference  was  one  of  the 
best  efforts  of  his  heart  and  lips  in  oratory.  It  was  delivered  on 
the  26th  day  of  February,  1861.  No  trace  of  sympathy  with  the 
seceders,  either  as  to  doctrine,  or  as  to  the  desire  of  dissolution,  can 
be  found  in  it.  It  is,  however,  marked  by  some  distinctions  which 
may  seem,  to  some  readers,  not  quite  statesmanlike. 

It  proposed,   in   effect,   to  agitate  for  certain  terms  of  peaceable 


378 


THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 


adjustment.  Chase  said,  as  reported  by  Mr.  Chittenden,  the  substan- 
tial accuracy  of  whose  report  we  shall  find  him  acknowledging  in  a 
letter  to  that  gentleman  : 1 

"  You  profess  to  be  satisfied  with  slavery,  as  it  is,  and  where  it  is. 
You  think  the  institution  just  and  beneficial.  The  very  able  gentle- 
man from  Virginia  (M.  Seddon),  who  commands  the  respect  of  all, 
by  the  frankness  and  sincerity  of  his  speech,  has  said  that  he  be- 
lieves slavery  to  be  the  condition  in  which  the  African  is  to  be  edu- 
cated up  to  freedom.  He  does  not  believe  in  perpetual  slavery.  He 
believes  the  time  will  come  when  the  slave,  through  the  beneficent 
influence  of  the  circumstances  which  surround  him,  will  rise  in  in- 
telligence, capacity,  and  character,  to  the  dignity  of  a  freeman,  and 
will  be  free. 

"We  can  not  agree  with  you,  and,  therefore,  do  not  propose  to 
allow  slavery  where  we  are  responsible  for  it,  outside  of  your  State 
limits,  and  under  national  jurisdiction.  But  we  do  not  mean  to  in- 
terfere with  it  at  all  within  State  limits.  So  far  as  we  are  concerned, 
you  can  work  out  your  experiment  there  in  peace.  We  shall  rejoice 
if  no  evil  comes  from  it  to  you  or  yours.  [Mr.  Chase's  time  hav- 
ing expired,  he  was  unanimously  invited  to  proceed.] 

"Aside  from  the  Territorial  question — the  question  of  slavery 
outside  of  slave  States — I  know  of  but  one  serious  difficult}".  I 
refer  to  the  question  concerning  fugitives  from  service.  The  clause 
in  the  Constitution  concerning  this  class  of  persons  is  regarded 
by  almost  all  men,  north  and  south,  as  a  stipulation  for  the  surren- 
der, to  their  masters,  of  slaves  escaping  into  free  States.  The  people 
of  the  free  States,  however,  who  believe  that  slaveholding  is  wrong, 
can  not,  and  will  not,  aid  in  the  reclamation  ;  and  the  stipulation 
becomes,  therefore,  a  dead  letter.  You  complain  of  bad  faith,  and 
the  complaint  is  retorted  by  denunciations  of  the  cruelty  which 
would  drag  back  to  bondage  the  poor  slave  who  has  escaped  from 
it.  You,  thinking  slavery  right,  claim  the  fulfillment  of  the  stipula- 
tion ;  we,  thinking  slavery  wrong,  can  not  fulfill  the  stipulation 
without  consciousness  of  participation  in  wrong.  Here  is  a  real 
difficulty;  but,  it  seems  to  me,  not  insuperable.  It  will  not  do  for 
us  to  say  to  you,  in  justification  of  non-performance,  'The  stipula- 
tion is  immoral,  and,  therefore,  we  can  not  execute  it ;  for  you  deny 
the  immorality,  and  we  can  not  assume  to  judge  for  you.  On  the 
other  hand,  you  ought  not  to  exact  from  us  the  literal  performance 
of  the  stipulation  when  you  know  we  can  not  perform  it  without 
conscious  culpability.  A  true  solution  of  the  difficulty  seems  to  he 
attainable  by  regarding  it  as  a  simple  case  where  a  contract,  from 
changed  circumstances,  can  not  be  fulfilled  exactly  as  made.  A 
court  of  equity  in  such  a  case  decrees  execution  as  near  as  ma}"  be. 
It  requires  the  party  who  can  not  perform  to  make  compensation 
for  non-performance.  Why  can  not  the  same  principle  be  applied 
to  the  rendition  of  fugitives  from  service?  We  can  not  surrender — 
but  we  can  compensate.     Why  not,  then,  avoid  all  difficulties  on  all 


JSee  Chapter  XXXI X. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  379 

sides,  and  show  respectively  good  faith  und  good  will  by  providing 
and  accepting  compensation  where  masters  reclaim  escaping  serv- 
ants, and  prove  their  right  of  reclamation  under  the  Constitution? 
Instead  of  a  judgment  for  rendition,  let  there  be  a  judgment  for 
compensation,  determined  by  the  true  value  of  the  services,  and  let 
the  same  judgment  assure  freedom  to  the  fugitive.  The  cost  to  the 
national  treasury  would  be  as  nothing  in  comparison  with  the  evils 
of  discord  ami  strife.     All  parties  would  be  gainers. 

•  What  I  have  just  said  is,  indeed,  not  exactly  to  the  point  of  the 
present  discussion.  But  I  refer  to  this  matter  to  show  how  easily 
the  greatest  difficulties  may  be  adjusted  if  approached  in  a  truly  just, 
generous,  and  patriotic  spirit. 

•'I  refer  to  it  also  in  order  to  show  A'ou  that,  if  we  do  not  concede 
all  your  wishes,  it  is  because  our  ideas  of  justice,  duty,  and  honor 
forbid,  and  not  because  we  cherish  any  hostile  or  aggressive  senti- 
ments. We  will  go  as  far  as  we  can  to  meet  you — come  you  as  far 
as  you  can  to  meet  us.  Join,  at  least,  in  the  declaration  we  propose. 
Your  people  have  confidence  in  you.  They  will  believe  you.  The 
declaration,  made  with  substantial  unanimity  by  this  conference, 
will  tranquillize  public  sentiment,  and  give  a  chance  for  reason  to 
resume  its  sway,  and  patriotic  counsels  to  gain  a  hearing. 

"Do  you  say  that,  after  all,  what  we  propose  embodies  no  substan- 
tial guaranties  of  immunity  to  slavery  through  the  perversion  of 
Federal  power?  We  reply  that  we  think  the  Constitution  as  it 
stands,  interpreted  honestly  and  executed  faithfully,  is  sufficient  for 
all  practical  purposes;  and  that  you  will  find  all  desirable  security 
in  the  legislation  or  !!on-legislation  of  Congress.  If  you  think  other- 
wise, we  are  ready  to  join  }-ou  in  recommending  a  national  conven- 
tion to  propose  amendments  to  the  Constitution  in  the  regular  and 
legitimate  way.  Kentucky,  a  slave  State,  has  proposed  such  a  con- 
vention ;  Illinois,  a  free  State,  has  joined  in  the  proposition.  Join  us, 
then,  in  recommending  such  a  convention,  and  assure  us  that  you 
will  abide  by  its  decision.  We  will  join  you  and  give  a  similar  assur- 
ance. 

"This,  gentlemen,  is  the  proposition  we  make  you  to-day.  It  is 
embodied  in  the  amendment  just  submitted.  Is  it  not  a  fair  proposi- 
tion ?  It  is  a  plain  declaration  of  facts  which  can  not  reasonably  be 
questioned,  and  a  plain  submission  of  all  disputed  questions  to  the 
only  proper  tribunal  for  the  settlement  of  such  questions — that  of  the 
American  people,  acting  through  a  national  convention. 

"The  only  alternative  to  this  proposition  is  the  proposition  that 
the  present  Congress  be  called  upon  to  submit  to  the  State  a  thir- 
teenth article  embod3'ing  the  amendments  recommended  by  the  com- 
mittee. In  order  to  the  submission  of  these  amendments  to  the  States 
by  Congress,  a  two-thirds  vote  in  each  House  is  necessary.  That  I 
venture  to  say,  can  not  be  obtained.  Were  it  otherwise,  who  can 
assure  you  that  the  new  article  will  obtain  the  sanction  of  three- 
fourths  of  the  States,  without  which  it  is  a  nullity?  As  a  measure 
of  pacification,  I  do  not  understand  it.  There  is.  in  my  judgment, 
no  peace  in  it.  Gentlemen  here,  of  patriotism  and  intelligence,  think 
otherwise.     I  am  sorry  that  I  can  not  agree  with  them. 

"Gentlemen  say,  if  this  proposition  can  not  prevail,  every  slave 


380  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

State  will  secede  ;  or,  as  some  prefer  to  phrase  it,  will  resort  to  revo- 
lution. I  forbear  to  discuss  eventualities.  I  must  say,  however, 
and  say  plainly,  that  considerations  such  as  these  will  not  move  me 
from  my  recognized  duty  to  my  country  and  its  Constitution.  And 
let  me  say  for  the  people  of  the  free  States,  that  the}*  are  a  thought- 
ful people,  and  are  much  in  earnest  in  this  business.  They  do  not 
delegate  their  right  of  private  judgment.  They  love  their  institu- 
tions and  the  Union.  They  will  not  surrender  the  one  nor  give  up  the 
other  without  great  sacrifices.  Upon  the  questio?i  of  the  maintenance  of 
an  unbroken  Union  and  a  whole  country  they  never  were,  and  it  is  my 
firm  conviction  they  never  will  be,  divided.  Gentlemen  who  think  they 
will  be,  even  in  the  worst  contingency,  will,  I  think,  be  disappointed. 
If  forced  to  the  last  extremity,  the  people  will  meet  the  issue  as  best 
they  may,  but  be  assured  that  they  will  meet  it  with  no  discordant 
councils. 

"  Gentlemen,  Mr.  Lincoln  will  be  inaugurated  on  the  4th  of  March. 
He  will  take  an  oath  to  protect  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States — of  the  whole — of  all  the  United  States.  That  oath 
will  bind  him  to  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed 
throughout  the  United  States.  Will  secession  absolve  him  from  that 
oath?  Will  it  diminish,  by  one  jot  or  tittle,  its  awful  obligations? 
Will  attempted  revolution  do  more  than  secession  ?  And  if  not — and 
the  oath  and  the  obligation  remain — and  the  President  does  his  duty 
and  undertakes  to  enforce  the  laws,  and  secession  or  revolution 
exists,  what  then  ?     War!    Civil  war  ! 

"Mr.  President,  let  us  not  rush  headlong  into  that  unfathomable 
gulf.  Let  us  not  tempt  this  unutterable  woe.  We  offer  3*011  a  plain 
and  honorable  mode  of  adjusting  all  difficulties.  It  is  a  mode  which, 
we  believe,  will  receive  the  sanction  of  the  people.  We  pledge  our- 
selves here  that  we  will  do  all  in  our  power  to  obtain  their  sanction 
for  it.  Is  it  too  much  to  ask  of  you,  gentlemen  of  the  South,  to  meet 
us  on  this  honorable  and  practicable  ground?  Will  you  not,  at  least, 
concede  this  to  the  country?" 

On  parchment,  sealed  with  the  great  seal  of  the  United  States,  is 
the  following  document: 

"Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
To  all  who  shall  see  these  presents,  greeting:  Know  ye,  that  repos- 
ing special  trust  and  confidence  in  the  patriotism,  integrity,  and 
abilities  of  Salmon  P.  Chase,  of  Ohio,  I  have  nominated,  and  by,  aud 
with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  do  appoint  him  to  be 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  and  do  authorize  and 
empower  him  to  execute  and  fulfill  the  duties  of  that  office  according 
to  law,  and  to  have  and  to  hold  the  said  office,  with  all  the  powers, 
privileges,  and  emoluments  thereunto  of  right  appertaining,  unto  him, 
the  said  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  during  the  pleasure  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  for  the  time  being. 

"In  testimony  whereof,  I  have  caused  these  letters  to  be  made 
patent  and  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  hereunto  affixed. 

"Given  under  my  hand,  at  the  City  of  Washington,  the  fifth  day 
of  March,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  381 

sixty-one,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
the  eighty-fifth.  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

'•By  the  President:    William  II.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State." 

A  fateful,  one  might  almost  say,  a  fatal  commission  !  Never  should 
our  hero  have  been  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  In  some  respects, 
indeed,  he  was  most  admirably  qualified  for  that  high  office;  but  in 
most  respects,  he  was  remarkably  unfit  to  hold  an  office  of  that 
character. 

"  An  act  to  establish  the  treasury  department/'  approved  by 
Washington,  September  2,  1789,  created  "a  department  of  treas- 
ury, '  in  which  were  to  be  "a  secretary  of  the  treasury,  to  be  deemed 
head  of  the  department ;  a  comptroller,  an  auditor,  a  treasurer,  a  reg- 
ister, and  an  assistant  to  the  secretary,"  to  be  by  him  appointed. 

Prominent  among  the  definitions  of  the  secretary's  duties  was 
the  requirement  that  he  should  "  digest  and  prepare  plans  for  the 
improvement  and  management  of  the  revenue,  and  for  the  support 
of  the  public  credit,"  and  should  "  prepare  and  report  estimates  of 
the  public  revenue  and  the  public  expenditures." 

The  final  section  of  that  most  important  piece  of  legislation  pro- 
vided that  no  person,  appointed  to  any  office  instituted  by  the  act, 
should,  directly  or  indirectly,  be  concerned  or  interested  in  carry- 
ing on  the  business  of  trade  or  commerce,  or  be  owner  in  whole  or 
in  part  of  any  sea-vessel,  or  purchase  by  himself,  or  another  in 
trust  for  him,  any  public  lands  or  other  public  property,  or  be  con- 
cerned in  the  purchase  or  disposal  of  any  public  securities  of  any 
State,  or  of  the  United  States,  or  take  or  apply  to  his  own  use  any 
emolument  or  gain  for  negotiating  or  transacting  any  business  in  the 
said  department,  other  than  what  should  be  allowed  by  law;  and 
that  if  any  person  should  offend  against  any  of  the  act's  prohibi- 
tions, he  should  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor,  and 
forfeit  to  the  United  States  the  penalty  of  three  thousand  dollars, 
and  should  upon  conviction  be  removed  from  office,  and  forever 
thereafter  incapable  of  holding  any  office  under  the  United  States.2 


1 1  United  States  Statutes  al  Large,  66,  67. 

2  The  long  list  of  our  hero's  financial  predecessors  runs  as  follows,  as  indicated  by 
the  United  States  Treasury  Register,  for  July  1,  1872: 

SECRETARIES  OF  THE  TREASURY— 178'J  TO  1861. 
Name.                          Whence  appointed.  Date  of  Commission.  Expiration  of  service. 
Alexander   Hamilton New  York Sept,  11,  1789 January  81,  1705. 


382  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 

Our  hero's  leading  objects  as  a  financier  seen  to  have  been  unex- 
ceptionable.    In  his  last  report  he  says  : 

"  In  the  creation  of  debt  by  negotiation  of  loans  or  otherwise,  the 
secretary  has  kept  four  objects  steadily  in  view  :  (1)  moderate  in- 
terest; (2)  general  distribution;  (3)  future  controllability;  and  (4) 
incidental  utility." 

But  he  paid  too  much  and  too  minute  attention  to  the  prosecution 
of  the  war  against  the  insurgent  South.  But  for  his  poor  judging 
faculty  as  to  man,  he  should  have  been  War  Secretary,  if  any  mere 
civilian  ought  to  have  had  that  place.  He  would,  in  any  case,  it 
seems  to  me,  have  shown  himself  far  fitter  than  Stanton  proved  to 
be  to  deal  with  martial  men  and  martial  measures  as  War  Minister. 
But,  being  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  he  was  entirely  too  attentive  to 


Name.  Whence   appointed.    Date  of  commission.  Expiration  of  service, 

Oliver  AYolcott,  Jr Connecticut February  2,  1795.. Dec.  31,  1800. 

Samuel    Dexter Massachusetts  ....January  1,  1801. .May  6,  1801. 

Albert  Gallatin Pennsylvania  May  14,   1801 April  20,  1813. 

George  W.  Campbell Tennessee February  9,  1814. .Sept.  26,  1814. 

Alexander  J.  Dallas Pennsylvania  October  6,    1814. ..October  21,  1816. 

William  II.  Crawford Georgia October  22,  1816..March  3,  1825. 

Richard    Rush Pennsylvania  March  7,1825 March  3,  1829. 

Samuel  D.  Ingham Pennsylvania  March  6,  1829 June  20,  1831. 

Louis  McLean Delaware August  8.  1831.  ...May  29,  1833. 

William  J.  Duane Pennsylvania  May  29,1833 Sept.  23,  1833. 

Roger    B.  Taney Maryland Sept.  23,  1833 June  24,  1834. 

Levi  Woodbury New  Hampshire. ..June  27,  1834 March  4,  1841. 

Thomas    Ewing Ohio March  5,  1841 Sept.  11.  1841. 

Walter  Forward Pennsylvania  Sept.  13,  1841 February  28, 1843. 

John  C.  Spencer New  York  March  3,  1813 May  2,  1844. 

George  M.   Bibb Kentucky  June  15,  1844 March  7,  1845. 

Robert  J.Walker Mississippi March  9,  1845 March  5,  1819. 

William    M.  Meredith Pennsylvania...    March  8,  1849 July  22,  1850. 

Thomas  Corwin Ohio  July  23,   1850  March  7,  1853. 

James    Guthrie Kentucky March  7,  1853 March  6,  1857. 

Howell  Cobb Georgia March  6,   1857 December  8,  1860. 

Philip  F.Thomas Maryland Dec.   12,  1860 Tanuary  14,  1861. 

John  A.  Dix New  York January  11,  1861. .March  6,  1861. 

The    same  valuable  publication  contains  the  following  statement  of  the  succes- 
sion down  to  Mr.  Richardson : 

Name  Whence  appointed.    Date  of  commission.  Expiration  of  service 

Salmon  P.  Chase Ohio  March  7,  1864 June  30,  1864. 

William  P.  Fessenden Maine July  1,  1864 March  3.  1865. 

Hugh  McCulloch Indiana March  7,  1865 March  4.  1869. 

George   S.  Boutwell Massachusetts  ....March  11,  1869... 


QF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  383 

the  men  and  measures  of  the  war.  And  then  he  was,  in  his  own 
department,  infinitely  damaged  by  his  inability  to  discern  the  ten- 
dencies of  men  with  whom  he  had  to  deal. 

Of  purely  intellectual  characteristics  and  of  culture,  he  was  as  good 
a  judge  as  other  men  of  his  own  rank  in  point  of  intellect  and  culture. 
Moral  traits  he  somehow  could  not  well  discern.  lie  could  see  the 
brain  where  the  heart  defied  his  penetration. 

That  was  bad  for  him  and  for  the  country  while  he  was  financial 
minister  to  Lincoln. 

Albert  Gallatin  was,  I  think,  our  great  financier.  He  seems  to 
me  to  bear  the  palm  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  In  theory  and 
practice  both,  he  was,  I  think,  superior  to  Salmon  Portland  Chase 
as  well  as  to  the  combative  little  man  from  Nevis  whom  Burr  shot 
in  "  honorable  "  fashion  at  AVeehawken. 

But  we  must  not  underestimate  the  merits  of  our  hero  as  a  finan- 
cier.    We  must  not  say  of  him,  with  a  recent  writer  : 


Mr.  Boutvvell  having  resigned,  it  was  on  the  17th  of  March,  1873,  that  William 
A.  Richardson,  of  Massachusetts,  became  his  successor. 

We  must  remember,  also,  the  assistant  secretaries.  What  the  country  owes  to 
their  comparatively  undistinguished  and  comparatively  unrewarded  services, 
every  practical  man  is  ready,  yet  perhaps  no  man  is  fully  able,  to  acknowledge. 
Here  is  a  list  extending  down  to  our  hero's  term  of  service: 

ASSISTANT  SECRETARIES  OF  THE  TREASURY. 

Name.  Whence  appointed.    Date  of  commission.  Expiration  of  serrice. 

Tench  Coxe Pennsylvania  Sept.  11,  1789 May  8,  1792,  office 

abolished. 

Charles  B.   Penrose Pennsylvania  March  12,  1849... ,  1st.). 

Allen  A.  Hall  Tennessee October  10,  1849.. ,  1850. 

William  L.  Hodge Pennsylvania  Nov.  16.  1850 ,  is;,:;. 

Peter  G.  Washington Diet. of  Columbia-March  4,  1850 ,  is">7. 

Philip  Clayton Georgia  March  13,  1857. ..January  10,  1861. 

George  Harrington Dist.  of  Columbia. .March  13,  1801. ..July  11,  1865. 

The  successors  have  been  as  follows: 

Name.  Whence  appointed.   Date  of  commission.  Expiration  of  service. 

Maunsell    B.  Field New  York March  18,  1864. ..June  15,  1865. 

William  Eaton  Chandler New  Hampshire.. .June  5,  1865 Nov.  30,  1867. 

John  F.  Hartley Maine July  11,  1865 

Edmund   Cooper Tennessee Nov.  20,  1867 May  31,  1868. 

William  A.  Richardson Massachusetts  ....March  20,  1869... 

Frederick  A.  Sawyer South  Carolina. ...March  19,  1873... 


384  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"  It  is  certain  that  he  never  grasped  a  single  principle  l}ring  at 
the  foundation  of  monetary  science.  His  stately  and  flowing  rhet- 
oric can  only  be  accounted  for  by  his  entire  ignorance.  Every 
thing  was  plastic  to  his  touch,  to  be  molded  at  will  into  just  such 
form  as  suited  his  fancy  or  caprice.  Such  instances  are  not  rare. 
Men  are  usually  fluent  in  proportion  to  their  want  of  knowledge 
of  the  subjects  they  discuss.';  1 

Now  that  last  sentence  is  quite  true.  And  never  was  it  better 
illustrated  than  by  the  fluently  false  censure,  uttered  and  published 
as  and  for  criticism  in  the  article  in  which  the  words  just  quoted  are 
contained. 

Secretary  Chase  wTas  not  enabled  to  open,  in  the  treasury  depart- 
ment, for  the  use  of  the  President,  the  Congress,  and  the  country, 
such  a  school  of  economics  as  I  trust  we  may  hereafter  see  at  the 
Union  capital.2  But,  when  he  became  secretary  of  the  treasury,  the 
man  whom  that  fluent  censor  in  the  North  American  Review  would 
have  us  regard  as  financially  a  fool,  judicially  a  knave,  had  read 
much  and  thought  more  about  political  economy.  His  motives  were 
entirely  patriotic;  his  aspirations  high,  and  his  ambition  creditable. 
If  he  erred,  who  that  has  succeeded  him  has  erred  less  ? 

He  who  defames  the  memory  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase  may  find 
that  he  has  done  more  damage  to  himself  than  to  the  object  of  his 
defamation. 

We  have  seen  that  as  long  ago  as  1831  our  hero  read  articles  and 
books  devoted  to  the  exposition  of  political  economy.  We  have  seen 
that  he  was  long  a  bank  attorney  and  for  some  time  a  dealer  in 
stocks.  There  is  no  reason  in  the  world  to  suppose  that  any  man 
in  the  country  paid  a  better  attention  to  the  substance  of  the  learn- 
ing which  may  well  be  designated  public  economics  than  did  Salmon 
Portland  Chase. 


1  Article  in  the  North  American  Review  for  January,  1874,  about  The  Currency  and 
Finances  of  the  United  States,  p.  114. 

2  Over  the  nom  de  plume,  Citizen,  I  ventured  to  say,  lately,  to  readers  of  the 
National  Republican,  at  Washington: 

"  An  Institute  of  Economic  Science  at  the  capital  of  the  United  States  might  do 
great  credit  to  the  country  and  great  service  to  the  world. 

"The  times  are  favorable  to  the  indicated  project.  They  are  hard  times,  indeed; 
times  of  pecuniary  trouble ;  but,  unfavorable  to  most  projects  which  involve  ex- 
penditure, they  almost  seem  to  point  to  the  establishment  of  such  an  institute  as 
that  here  advocated  as  a  proper  preparation  for  the  economic  future  of  the  country. 

"  At,  the  outset,  little  money  would  be  needed.  The  beginnings  of  the  institute 
may  well  be  limited  to  comparatively  inexpensive  things.      A  few  lectures,  as  to 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  385 

But  very  false  this  book  would  seem  to  its  compiler  did  it  not 
accuse  its  hero  of  attending,  in  a  manner  prejudicial  to  the  public 
service,  and,  eventually,  very  prejudicial  to  himself,  to  martial  men 
and  martial  measures. 

Yet  he  was  not  as  to  martial  men  and  measures  a  mere  meddler. 
In  a  letter  to  General  Hooker,  on  the  21st  of  December,  1863, 
he  said  : 

"Things  here  are  pretty  much  at  the  old  rate.  There  has  been  a 
deal  of  talk  about  recalling  }"ou,  and  placing  j*ou  in  command  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  which  one  of  the  chaplains,  in  a  recently  pub- 
lished letter,  calls,  not  altogether  without  reason,  'This  poor,  old, 
strategy-possessed  army.'  I  wish  it  might  be  done.  But,  of  course, 
my  wishes  go  for  little  in  such  matters.  What  right,  indeed,  has  a 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  whose  business  it  is  to  provide  money  for 
the  people  to  spend,  to  have  any  wishes  at  all  about  the  results  of 


which  the  expenses  should  be  confined  to  the  cost  of  the  hall  and  of  advertising, 
might  well  begin  the  work.  But  as  soon  as  possible  the  institute  should  be  endowed 
with  liberality  by  private  citizens. 

"This  project  is  not  local;  it  is  national.  The  citizens  of  Washington,  indeed, 
should  feel  a  special  interest  in  all  such  projects;  they  should  take  great  pride  in 
forwarding  such  enterprises.  More  than  any  other  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
they  are  called  upon,  by  situation  and  condition,  to  take  lively  interest  in  such  sug- 
gestions as  those  here  submitted;  but  the  institute  proposed  would  be  of  national 
relations  and  concern. 

••  An  Institute  of  Economic  Science  may,  however,  seem  impossible.  Some  one 
may  say,  There  is  no  science  of  economy,  political  or  non-political.  A  science,  we 
may  hear,  is  a  complement  of  cognitions— truths  arranged  in  systematic  order  ;  and 
political  economy  is  no  such  system  of  cognitions,  no  such  complement  of  truths. 

"  Is  there  a  science  in  the  system  known  as  Medicine?  We  have  academies  of 
medicine.  Does  any  one  pretend  that,  because  some  parts  of  medicine  are  not  of 
scientific  certaintj-,  there  is  no  science  whatever  in  connection  with  the  so-called 
healing  art?  Is  anatomy  no  more  positive  than  therapeutics?  No  one  ought  to 
say  that  all  of  physiology  is  pure  speculative.  Everybody,  in  a  word,  should  be 
prepared  to  acknowledge  that  the  system  known  as  medicine,  in  spite  of  its  defects, 
contains  cognitions  of  the  scientific  order. 

'•Wealth  is  economic  health.  Excessive  riches  are  not  wealth.  They  are  like 
penury  in  this,  that  they  are  morbidly  abnormal.  A  truly  wealthy  people  is  not  to 
be  found  where  the  material  of  wealth  is  ill-distributed.  Wealthy  individuals  may 
there  be  found  in  force,  but  not  a  wealthy  people.  But  however  that  may  be,  the 
thing  with  which  the  economic  sciences  concern  themselves  is  wealth,  just  as  the 
thing  with  which  medicine  and  hygiene  concern  themselves  is  health.  There  must 
be,  so  to  speak,  an  economic  hygiene,  an  economic  medicine.  There  must  be  a  true 
science  of  political  economy  as  well  as  a  true  science  of  economy  at  home.  Imper- 
fect as  the  economic  sciences  remain,  they  certainly  exist.  They  have  existed  ever 
since  Plato  wrote  his  The  Republic  (or  The  State),  and  they  had  then  existed  for  one 
can  not  say  how  many  ages." 


386  TKE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AST)   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

the  expenditure?  Is  not  that  exclusively  the  concern  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  of  Congress?  I  suppose  I  ought  to  shut  my  eyes  and  sup- 
j^ress  my  feelings,  but  really  it  is  a  little  hard,  when  one  thinks  one 
sees  how  much  might  be  economized  of  action,  power,  and  resources, 
not  to  say  something  of  what  he  thinks  and  feels." 

The  thing  to  which  almost  above  all  others  I  have  wished  to  lead 
the  thinking  of  my  gentle  reader,  is,  that  the  whole  public  life  of 
the  man,  who  wrote  those  words  to  General  Hooker,  may  be  said  to 
have  led  to  or  from  the  bloody,  indescribably  ravaging,  and  unutter- 
ably desolating  struggle,  in  which  the  country,  at  that  time,  found 
the  object  of  its  thoughts  and  feelings,  day  and  night,  and  in  all  the 
moods  in  which  anxiety  and  pain  may  be  discerned,  in  spite  of  every 
endeavor  to  conceal  them. 

Yes !  the  whole  public  life  of  Chase  led  to  or  from  that  fearful 
struggle.  I  have  written  this  whole  work,  indeed,  with  reference 
to  that  consideration. 

In  a  letter  written  to  Mr.  Trowbridge,  Secretary  Chase  related  in 
this  fashion  : 

"  I  was  indebted  for  my  success,  in  great  part,  to  the  confidence 
and  support,  most  generously  given  me,  of  a  number  of  distinguished 
citizens  having  large  influence  in  financial  circles,  and  I  endeavored 
to  merit  what  they  gave  by  frankness,  fairness,  and  firmness. 

"Congress  assembled  on  the  4th  of  July,  1861,  and  soon  afterward 
passed  an  act  to  authorize  a  national  loan,  and  for  other  purposes. 
Under  this  act,  and  acts  amending  it,  I  took  measures  to  secure  the 
funds  necessary  to  cany  on  the  war. 

"With  this  object.  I  invited  representatives  from  the  banking  in- 
stitutions of  New  York.  Boston,  and  Philadelphia,  to  meet  me  in 
New  York,  and  they  promptly  responded  to  my  invitation. 

"Our  conferences  were  full  and  unreserved.  I  explained  to  them 
the  situation  of  the  country  ;  the  large,  inevitable  expenditure  for  the 
suppression  of  the  rebellion  ;  my  hopes  of  vigorous  prosecution  of  all 
measures  necessary  to  that  great  end  ;  my  wishes  for  economy;  my 
views  of  the  inexpediency  of  high  rates  of  interest,  which  might 
suggest  a  possibility  of  future  inability  to  pay  it.  They,  on  their 
sidu.  explained  the  position  of  the  banks;  their  disposition  to  sustain 
the  government  ;  and  their  inability  to  take  more  bonds  than  their 
disposable  capital  allowed,  without  a  prospect  of  an  eaidy  sale  and 
distribution.  They  thought  my  ideas  as  to  interest  rather  too  strin- 
gent;  and,  on  some  other  points,  they  thought  me  rather  illiberal  — 
not  sufficiently  considerate,  perhaps,  of  the  interests  they  represented. 
I  was  obliged  to  be  very  firm,  and  to  say,  '  Gentlemen,  I  am  sure 
you  wish  to  do  all  you  can.  I  hope  you  will  find  that  you  can  take 
the  loans  required  on  terms  which  can  be  admitted.  If  not,  I  must 
go  back  to  Washington  and  issue  notes  for  circulation  ;  for,  gentle- 
men, the  war  must  go  on  until  this  rebellion  is  j>ut  down,  if  we  have 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  387 

to  put  out  paper  until  it  takes  a  thousand  dollars  to  buy  a  break- 
last,' 

"  The  result  of  the  conference  was  an  agreement  by  the  banks  of 
three  cities  to  unite  as  associates,  and  advance  to  the  government 
fifty  millions  of  dollars  at  once,  or  as  wanted,  on  the  secretary's 
drafts  in  favor  of  the  assistant  treasurers  ;  in  consideration  of  which, 
1,  on  my  part,  agreed  to  appeal  to  the  people  for  subscriptions  to  a 
national  loan,  on  three  years'  notes  bearing  7.30  per  cent,  interest, 
and  convertible  into  twenty-year  bonds  bearing  six  per  cent.  ;  and 
to  pay  over  the  proceeds  of  the  subscriptions  to  the  banks,  in  satis- 
faction of  their  advances,  so  far  as  they  would  go,  and  to  deliver  to 
them  7.30  notes  for  any  deficiency. 

"This  agreement  was  faithfully  fulfilled.  I  opened  books  of  sub- 
scription to  the  national  loan  in  all  parts  of  the  loyal  States,  and 
the  people  responded  with  alacrity.  About  forty-five  millions  were 
thus  subscribed  and  paid  to  the  banks,  and  the  remainer  was  made 
good  by  the  delivery  of  the  promised  seven-thirties. 

"This  operation  enabled  the  banks  to  make  a  second  advance  of 
fifty  millions  on  nearly  the  same  terms.  It  had  become  evident 
that  the  popular  subscription  would  not  continue  as  large  and 
prompt  as  at  first,  and  the  inconveniences  of  its  management  by 
the  department  had  proved  to  be  very  great.  The  accounts  of  the 
subscription  agents  were  therefore  closed,  and  the  notes  for  the 
second  loan  were  delivered  directly  .to  the  bankers  who  distributed 
them,  as  best  suited  themselves.  This  simplified  the  transaction 
to  the  treasury;  and  the  arrangement,  though  not  quite  so  advan- 
tageous to  the  banks  as  the  first,  was  every  way  more  convenient. 

"By  these  two  loans  I  obtained  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars, 
paying  under  the  immediate  exigency  a  rate  of  interest  only  one 
and  three-tenths  per  cent,  higher  than  the  ordinary  rate  of  six  per 
cent.,  and  that  only  for  three  years.  The  sums  needed  beyond  the 
amounts  thus  obtained,  were  supplied  by  the  negotiation  of  notes 
at  two  years  and  sixty  days,  and  by  issuing  United  States  notes  as 
circulation. 

"The  banks  declined  to  make  another  loan  of  fifty  millions  for 
seven-thirty  notes,  and  I  was  obliged  by  the  absolute  necessity  of 
providing  means  for  military  and  naval  disbursement,  to  offer  an- 
other description  of  securities.  The  act  authorizing  a  national 
loan  provided  for  the  disposal  of  six  per  cent,  bonds  with  such  de- 
duction from  their  face  value  as  would  make  them  equivalent  to 
seven  per  cent,  bonds,  redeemable  after  twenty  years,  disposed  of  at 
par.  I  was  extremely  reluctant  to  avail  myself  of  this  power,  but 
the  emergency  was  great,  and  there  was  no  other  resource,  and  I 
submitted.  Fifty  millions  in  six  per  cent,  bonds  were  equal  to 
§45,795,478.48  in  seven  per  cent,  bonds,  redeemable  after  twenty 
years ;  and  accordingly  I  gave  the  banks  fifty  millions  in  six  per 
cent,  bonds  for  $45,795,478.48  in  coin. 

"The  banks  had  constantly  urged  me  to  forego  the  farther  issue 
of  United  States  notes,  and  draw  directly  upon  them  for  the  sums 
subscribed,  and  placed  on  their  books  to  the  credit  of  the  government. 
'In  what  funds  will  my  drafts  be  paid?'  I  asked.  'We  in  New 
York  are  entirely  willing  to  pay  in  coin,'  was  the  reply.  '  But  how 
26 


388  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

will  it  be  in  Boston?  how  in  Philadelphia?  How,  if  you  in  Xew 
York  give  the  draft  holder  a  check  on  Cincinnati  or  St.  Louis,  will 
the  check  be  paid?'  'In  whatever  funds  the  holder  of  the  draft 
or  check  is  willing  to  receive.'  '  That  is  to  say,'  I  answered,  '  in 
coin,  if  the  holder  insists  on  coin,  and  the  bank  is  able  and  willing 
to  pay;  but  in  bank  notes  if  he  will  consent  to  receive  bank  notes. 
I  can  not  consent  to  this,  gentlemen.  You  ask  me  to  borrow  the 
credit  of  local  banks  in  the  form  of  circulation.  I  prefer  to  put  the 
credit  of  the  people  into  notes  and  use  them  as  money.  If  you 
can  lend  me  all  the  coin  required  or  show  me  where  I  can  borrow 
it  elsewhere  at  fair  rates,  I  will  withdraw  every  note  already  issued, 
and  pledge  myself  never  to  issue  another;  but  if  you  can  not,  you 
must  let  me  stick  to  United  States  notes,  and  increase  the  issue  of 
them  just  as  far  as  the  deficiency  of  coin  may  require.'  This  reso- 
lution, seen  to  be  unalterable,  was  followed  by  important  conse- 
quences. 

"  The  negotiation  of  the  seven  per  cent,  loan  (for  such  it  really 
was)  took  place  on  the  16th  of  November.  The  bankers  could  not 
pay  their  subscription  in  coin  unless  they  could  find  a  market  for 
their  bonds,  and  prices  declined  instead  of  advancing.  It  soon  be- 
came plain  that  the  bank  note  circulation  could  not  be  sustained 
at  the  par  of  coin,  unless  made  receivable  by  the  Government,  and 
that  it  could  not  be  made  so  receivable  without  risk  of  serious  and 
perhaps  irretrievable  financial  embarrassment  and  disorder.  In 
other  words,  it  became  plain  that  suspension  Avas  inevitable,  except 
by  sacrifices,  which  the  banks  would  not  make.  The  banks  of  New 
York  suspended  on  the  30th  of  December,  1861,  and  their  example 
was  followed  throughout  the  country.  This  suspension  made  it 
certain  that  the  government  could  no  longer  obtain  coin  on  loans 
in  any  adequate  amounts;  some  of  the  banks,  indeed,  which  had 
subscribed  to  the  seven  per  cent,  loan,  declined  to  pay  their  sub- 
scriptions in  coin,  and  even  asked  to  be  relieved  from  payment  in 
notes  of  the  United  States.  Under  these  circumstances  I  had  no 
choice  but  to  suspend  payment  of  these  notes  in  coin,  and  take 
measures  to  provide  a  currency  in  which  loans  could  be  negotiated 
and  the  transactions  of  the  government  carried  on.  I  wished  to 
avoid  the  necessity  of  making  notes  of  any  kind  a  legal  tender; 
and  proposed  several  modes  of  doing  it.  To  none  could  the  unani- 
mous consent  of  the  banks  be  obtained.  Some  of  them  manifested 
a  disposition  to  discredit  the  national  circulation  wholly,  whether 
issued  in  notes  bearing  interest,  or  issued  in  notes  bearing  no  in- 
terest; and  if  possible,  force  upon  the  country  the  circulation  of 
the  suspended  banks." 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  389 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

THE  CIVIL  WAR  AND  SLAVERY PURSE  AND  SWORD THE   TRENT  AFFAIR. 

LET  us  now  turn  away  a  little  from  the  financial  life  of  our  hero. 
Here  is,  to  me  at  least,  a  deeply  interesting  letter  on  another 
subject : 

"Washington,  November  6,  1861. 
•'Dear  Judge:  Let  me  thank  you  for  your  admirable  article.     It 
teaches    a    necessary  lesson.      We   must   learn    to    imitate   the  grand 
patience  of  God;  yet,  in  doing  so,  let  us  not  shrink  from  the  imitation  of 
/('■-■justice  and  constant  energy  also. 

"  Sincerely  vours, 
"  Hon.  R.  B.  Warden.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  significance  of  the  expression  just  distinguished  by  italics,  can 
not  be  completely  indicated  without  stating  that  the  article  it  praises, 
attempted  to  expose  the  fallacy  of  Mr.  Brownson's  notions,  that  the 
Union  had  no  battle-cry  sufficiently  responsive  to  the  slogan  of  the 
South,  and  that  some  such  battle-cry  as  Down  with  Slavery/  was  es- 
sential to  success  on  the  side  of  the  North.  The  article  which,  as  we 
have  just  seen,  Secretary  Chase  called  admirable,  earnestly  insisted 
that  impatient  and  unconstitutional  opposition  to  slavery  could  do 
no  good  and  might  work  not  a  little  evil ;  but,  in  the  same  piece, 
readers  were  counseled  to  prepare  their  minds  and  hearts  for  the 
downfall  of  slavery  as  a  necessary  incident  of  the  civil  war  then  raging. 

On  Monday,  December  9,  1861,  the  secretary  of  the  treasury 
talked  with  Messrs.  Stevens  and  Vail  about  reimbursement.  They 
contended  that  the  banks  were  entitled  to  be  reimbursed,  in  coin,  for 
all  two  years  bonds  and  sixty  day  notes,  received  in  payment  of  sub- 
scriptions, whether  paid  by  the  banks  themselves  on  account  of  depos- 
its, or  by  individuals  for  bonds.  The  secretary  denied  the  right  of  the 
banks  to  reimbursement  for  bonds  paid  by  them,  but  promised  to 
take  the  other  into  consideration. 

On  the  next  day,  Mr.  Haight,  member  of  Congress,  from  New 
York,  called,  and  stated  the  results  of  the  bank  meeting  held  on  the 
9th.     He  represented  that  Mr.  Gallatin  only  opposed  the  payment 


390  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

of  the  first  installment,  objecting  that  the  secretary  had  recommended 
a  tax  on  bank  circulation,  and  so  had  broken  his  agreement. 

December  9,  1861,  Mr.  Cisco  telegraphed  that  the  banks  had  paid 
the  first  installment  of  the  seven  per  cent.  loan. 

On  the  same  day,  the  annual  report  went  to  Congress.  On  the 
next,  copies  of  it  were  sent  to  Messrs.  Ketchum,  Williams,  Gallatin, 
and  Coe,  with  letters  expressing  the  hope  of  their  concurrence  in  its 
views. 

Mr.  Hooper,  member  of  Congress,  from  Boston,  expressed  a  cor- 
dial approval  of  the  report. 

December  10,  1861,  has  the  suggestive  entry:  "A  number  of 
gentlemen  called  at  the  office  on  applications  for  office  and  otherwise." 
The  next  day's  record  opens  with  the  sentence,  "A  multitude  of 
callers  at  the  office  this  morning,  among  them  Wade,  of  the  Senate, 
and  Ashley,  of  the  House,  Chairman  of  the  Territorial  Committees 
in  their  respective  Houses."  To  both  of  them  the  secretary  gave  his 
views,  in  brief,  as  to  the  relations  of  the  insurrectionary  States  to  the 
Union. 

It  appears  that  he  explained  his  views  as  follows:  That  no  State 
or  any  portion  of  the  people  could  withdraw  from  the  Union  or  ab- 
solve themselves  from  allegiance  to  it;  but  that  when  the  attempt 
was  made,  and  the  State  government  was  placed  in  hostility  to  the 
Federal  government,  the  State  organization  was  forfeited,  and  it 
lapsed  into  the  condition  of  a  Territory,  with  which  we  could  do 
what  we  pleased;  that  we  could  form  a  provisional  government,  as 
was  done  in  Western  Virginia,  or,  when  we  occupied  any  portion  of 
a  rebellious  State,  such  as  Beaufort,  we  could  organize  territorial 
courts,  and,  as  soon  as  it  became  necessary,  a  territorial  government; 
that  those  States  could  not  properly  be  considered  as  States  in  the 
Union,  but  must  be  readmitted,  from  time  to  time,  as  Congress 
should  provide. 

It  seems  Messrs.  Wade  and  Ashley  expressed  their  concurrence. 

On  the  same  day,  conversation  took  place  in  the  Cabinet  in  re- 
spect to  organizing  courts  at  Beaufort;  and  it  was  agreed  that  Sec- 
retary Chase  should  see  certain  southern  gentlemen  and  then  confer 
with  Attorney-General  Bates  as  to  what  should  be  done. 

The  same  day  it  was  proposed  to  invite  General  McClellan  to  a 
meeting  of  the  Cabinet  the  next  day,  to  learn  his  plans.  But,  ob- 
jection being  made  by  Mr.  Blair,  the  President  took  it  into  con- 
sideration. 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  391 

At  the  same  meeting,  General  Hunter's  application  for  authority 
to  muster  a  brigade  of  Indians  was  considered  in  connection  with  a 
proposition  of  General  McClcllan  to  invade  Western  Texas  from  the 
north  and  from  the  gulf  simultaneously.  Secretary  Chase  ex- 
pressed his  approval  of  the  latter  and  his  disapproval  of  the  former 
for  want  of  power,  the  President  having  already  exhausted  the 
authority,  given  him  by  Congress,  to  raise  men.  This  view  was 
generally  concurred  in  and  the  subject  dropped. 

Secretary  Chase  directed  the  attention  of  the  President  to  com- 
plaints made  against  General  Smith  at  Paducah,  and  "  was  glad  to 
learn  that  General  McClellan  had  already  directed  him  to  be  super- 
seded." 

On  the  12th,  General  McClellan  called  at  noon,  and  remained 
about  an  hour  and  a  half.  Of  the  conversation  I  know  nothing. 
Would  that  it  had  made  the  interlocutors  better  acquainted  with 
each  other ! 

On  the  11th  of  December,  1861,  Senator  Johnson,  of  Tennessee, 
called  on  Secretary  Chase,  and  gave  an  account  of  the  military  op- 
erations in  Kentucky,  during  the  summer,  of  which  he  was  a  wit- 
ness. He  said  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  a  march  into  Tennes- 
see and  the  possession  of  Knoxville,  immediately  after  the  battle  at 
Camp  Wild  Cat;  but  that  General  Sherman  was  so  intimidated  by 
Buckner's  alleged  strength  and  purposes,  that  he  was  much  of  the 
time  incapacitated  for  command ! 

Now,  isn't  that  rather  rich?  How  fit  was  Andrew  Johnson  so 
to  talk  about  William  Tecumseh  Sherman  ? 

Gen.  Meigs  and  Judge  Advocate  Lee  called  at  request  of  Secre- 
tary Chase,  Dec.  11,  1861,  the  former  more  especially  with  reference 
to  the  collection  and  disposition  of  cotton  at  Port  Royal.  He  prom- 
ised to  place  bagging,  bale-rope,  etc.,  for  1000  bales  at  the  disposal 
of  the  agent  of  the  treasury  department  there.  The  secretary  pro- 
posed to  transfer  the  whole  business  to  him ;  but  it  was  not  deter- 
mined whether  the  transfer  should  be  made. 

With  Major  Lee  and  also  with  Gen.  Meigs,  the  secretary  had 
some  conversation  about  government  for  the  seceded  States.  Major 
Lee  seemed  to  favor  military  commissions  for  the  trial  of  questions 
not  cognizable  by  courts  martial.  He  promised  to  send  an  order  of 
Gen.  Scott's,  issued  in  Mexico,  which  might  serve  as  a  precedent. 

The  secretary  wrote  to  Messrs.  Aspinwall,  Sprague,  and  Mint  urn, 
giving  them  the  substance  of  what  Gen.  Meigs  had  said  about  the 


392  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

cotton  business,  and  telling  him  that,  should  he  retain  the  manage- 
ment, he  should  be  glad  to  avail  myself  of  their  counsel  and  support. 

Mr.  Speed,  of  Louisville,  called  the  attention  of  the  secretary  of 
the  treasury,  on  the  11th  of  December,  1861,  to  restrictions  placed 
by  our  special  agent  upon  shipments  of  provisions  to  Louisville. 
The  secretary  told  him  that  Louisville,  being  a  loyal  city,  stood 
upon  the  same  footing  as  "Washington,  and  that  Mr.  Mellen  should 
be  instructed  accordingly. 

On  the  next  day,  in  the  morning,  Judge  Key  called  on  Secretary 
Chase  and  read  draft  of  bill  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.  We  shall  have  occasion  to  turn  back  to  this 
interesting  fact. 

Col.  Sullivan,  of  Ohio,  being  at  Washington  on  business  con- 
nected with  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad,  on  the  day  last  named, 
called  on  Secretary  Chase,  and  represented  his  interviews  with  Gen. 
McClellau  as  highly  satisfactory.  Among  other  things,  it  seems, 
he  stated  that  when  Gen.  Kelley  advanced  upon  Romney,  the  rebels 
supposed  he  designed  to  attack  Winchester — that  they  called  upon 
Johnston,  for  help — that  he  at  first  refused  to  send  any,  and  finally 
sent  only  a  regiment  of  raw  recruits,  who  had  recently  gone  to 
Manassas  from  Winchester,  thus  showing  that,  important  as  Win- 
chester was,  no  troops  could  be  spared  from  Manassas. 

Mr.  Chase  sent  the  dispatch  by  Col.  Barstow  to  Gen.  McClellan, 
and  wrote  to  Gen.  Lander,  who  had  been  ordered  to  the  command 
at  Romney. 

Senator  Chandler  came  in  to  converse  about  Gen.  McDowell  being 
put  in  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and  of  military  affairs 
generally.  Mr.  Chase  considered  that  his  visitor  "  evinced  an  excel- 
lent spirit." 

The  next  morning,  Mr.  Chase  received  from  McClellan's  aid  a 
note,  saying  that  the  general  had  read  the  dispatch  sent  him  the 
night  before,  and  would  take  immediate  measures  to  protect  the 
road  ;  that  reinforcements  would  be  immediately  sent  to  Hancock  ; 
and  that  Gen.  Banks  had  been  ordered  to  support  Lander. 

In  fulfillment  of  an  engagement  with  the  president  of  the  Ameri- 
can Bank  Xote  Company,  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  went  to 
Ulke's,  who  took  a  number  of  photographs. 

On  the  26th  of  December  was  held  a  Cabinet  meeting  in  refer- 
ence to  the  celebrated,  and  to  this  country  at  least,  far  from  creditable, 
Trent  affair.     Was  that  affair  creditable  to  Great  Britain?     Clearly 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  393 

not.  It  was  not  creditable  to  any  one  concerned  therein,  except  as 
its  examination  and  discussion  brought  out  such  remarks  as  those 
made  as  follows,  in  Lincoln's  Cabinet,  on  the  day  last  named,  by 
Secretary  Chase: 

'•  The  secretary  said  that,  in  his  judgment,  the  case  stood  precisely 
thus:  In  taking  the  rebel  envoys  and  their  secretaries  from  the 
'Trent.'  without  invoking  or  proposing  to  invoke  the  sanction  of 
any  judicial  tribunal.  Captain  Wilkes  clearly  violated  the  law  of 
nations,  and  in  that  very  principle  which  the  United  States  have 
ever  most  zealously  maintained.  Great  Britian,  therefore,  had  a 
right  to  ask  from  us  a  disavowal  of  the  act,  and  the  restoration  of 
the  persons  to  the  condition  in  which  they  were  taken;  and,  if  this 
right  was  insisted  on,  it  was  our  duty,  however  disagreeable,  to  do 
what  was  asked. 

"  He  considered,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  circumstances  under 
which  the  act  of  Captain  Wilkes  was  done,  not  only  repelled  the 
imputation  of  aggressive  or  unfriendly  intent,  but  entitled  him  to 
commendation  for  the  motives  by  which  his  conduct  was  governed, 
and  reduced  the  seizure  and  removal  from  the  'Trent'  of  the  rebel 
commissioners,  to  a  mere  technical  violation  of  the  neutral  rights 
of  England.  Mason  and  Slidell  were  commissioners  bearing  dis- 
patches from  the  rebel  government  to  Europe,  and  their  character 
and  charge  were  known  to  the  commander  of  the  '  Trent.'  At  the 
time  of  the  seizure,  therefore,  the  'Trent'  was  knowingly  employed 
in  violation  of  English  law,  of  the  royal  proclamation,  and  of  her 
duty  to  the  United  States  as  a  friendly  nation.  Conscious  of  the 
fact,  the  commander  refused,  when  requested,  to  exhibit  his  passen- 
ger list.  The  capture  was,  of  course,  warranted,  and  Captain  Wilkes, 
in  making  it,  performed  only  his  plain  duty  to  his  government.  He 
had  a  right  to  break  up  the  voyage,  and  send  the  steamer  as  prize 
into  a  port  for  trial  and  condemnation.  But  the  steamer  was  em- 
ployed in  the  conveyance  of  mails  and  passengers;  and  Captain 
Wilkes  was  desirous  to  avoid  the  public  injury  of  delaying  the  trans- 
mission of  the  former,  and  the  private  hardship  likely  to  result  from 
interrupting  the  voyage  of  the  latter. 

"Governed  mainly  by  these  motives,  he  obeyed  what  seemed  to 
him  the  dictates  of  humanity  and  friendly  consideration  for  a 
friendly  nation,  by  removing  the  contraband  persons  from  the 
'Trent'  with  the  least  possible  inconvenience  to  all  concerned, 
and  suffering  the  vessel,  with  her  other  passengers  and  mails,  to 
proceed  to  her  destination.  In  doing  this  he  surrendered  a  prize 
which  might  have  tempted  cupidity,  without  a  thought  that,  by 
the  self-same  act,  he  was  depriving  himself  of  the  only  means  of 
justifying  the  capture,  either  of  persons  or  vessel,  through  a  judi- 
cial decision. 

"  .Mr.  Chase  thought  it  certainly  was  not  too  much  to  expect  of  a 
friendly  nation,  and  especially  of  a  nation  of  the  same  blood,  relig- 
ion, and  characteristic  civilization  as  our  own,  that  in  consideration 
of  the  great  rights,  she  would  overlook  the  little  wrong;  nor  could 
he  then  persuade  himself  that,  were  all  the  circumstances  known 


394  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SEPvVICES 

to  the  English  government,  as  to  ours,  the  surrender  of  the  rebel 
commissioners  would  be  insisted  upon. 

The  secretary  asserted  that  the  technical  right  was  undoubtedly 
with  England.  As  rebels  or  as  traitors  to  our  government,  the  pre- 
tended commissioners  would  have  been  safe  on  a  neutral  ship.  It 
was  only  in  their  character  as  envoys  that  they  were  subject  to 
arrest  as  contraband.  They  could  not  rightfully  be  taken  from  the 
ship  until  after  the  judicial  condemnation  of  the  ship  itself,  for  re- 
ceiving and  carrying  them.  However  excused  or  even  justified  by 
motives,  the  act  of  removing  them  as  prisoners  from  the  '  Trent,' 
without  resort  to  any  judicial  cognizance,  was  in  itself  indefensible. 
We  could  not  deny  this  without  denying  our  history.  Were  the 
circumstances  reversed,  our  government  would,  Mr.  Chase  thought, 
accept  the  explanation,  and  let  England  keep  her  rebels ;  and  he 
could  not  divest  himself  of  the  belief  that,  were  the  case  fairly  un- 
derstood, the  British  government  would  do  likewise. 

"But,"  continued  Secretary  Chase,  "we  can  not  afford  delays. 
While  the  matter  hangs  in  uncertaint}*  the  public  mind  will  remain 
disquieted,  our  commerce  will  suffer  serious  harm,  our  action  against 
the  rebels  must  be  greatly  hindered,  and  the  restoration  of  our  pros- 
perity— largely  identified  with  that  of  all  nations — must  be  delayed. 
Better,  then,  to  make  now  the  sacrifice  of  feeling  involved  in  the 
surrender  of  these  rebels,  than  even  avoid  it  by  the  delays  which 
explanations  must  occasion.  I  give  my  adhesion,  thei*efore,  to  the 
conclusion  at  which  the  secretary  of  state  has  arrived. 

"  It  is  gall  and  wormwood  to  me.  Bather  than  consent  to  the 
liberation  of  these  men,  I  would  sacrifice  every  thing  I  possess.  But 
I  am  consoled  by  the  reflection  that,  while  nothing  but  severest 
retribution  is  due  to  them,  the  surrender,  under  existing  circum- 
stances, is  but  simply  doing  right — simply  proving  faithful  to  our 
own  ideas  and  traditions  under  strong  temptations  to  violate  them  ; 
simply  giving  to  England  and  the  world  the  most  signal  proof  that 
the  American  nation  will  not,  under  any  circumstances,  for  the  sake 
of  inflicting  just  punishment  on  rebels,  commit  even  a  technical 
wront;  against  neutrals." 


OF  SALMON  POBTLAND  CHASE.  39! 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

opening  of   1862 — m'clellan  and  m'dowell — port  royal — 
Cameron's  resignation. 

OX  the  first  of  January  1862,  Secretary  Chase,  accompanied  by 
his  two  daughters  and  his  friend,  Miss  Walker,  went  to  the 
White  House.  Afterward,  he  and  his  daughters  received  at  their 
own  house,  Mrs.  General  McDowell,  Mrs.  Bridge,  and  Miss  Walker 
assisting  Miss  Kate.  All  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  except  Stoeckel, 
and  many  officers  of  the  army  called.  When  Lord  Lyons  came  in, 
Mr.  Chase  saluted  him  with  "  Pax  esto  perjjetua"  and  the  English 
minister,  responding  to  that  wish,  expressed  the  hope  that  his  own 
conduct  had  always  been  that  of  a  peace-maker. 

Under  date  January  2,  we  have  the  suggestive  memorandum  : 

"In  the  evening,  Kate  had  a  big  turkey,  and  Mr.  Sumner  and 
General  McDowell  dined  with  us." 

Xot  the  big  turkey,  but  the  big  talk  of  the  great  man  from  Mas- 
sachusets,  would  1  like  to  be  able  here  to  serve  up  to  my  readers. 
But  I  must  proceed  to  other  matters. 

Here  is  the  tenor  of  a  note  written  to  Secretary  Chase  on  a 
card : 

"I  have  just  been  with  General  McClellan,  and  he  is  much  better. 
"  January  2,  1862.  A.  LINCOLN." 

McClellan  and  McDowell  are  names  intimately  connected  with 
the  most  important  revelations  of  this  work.  They  were  both  un- 
fortunate, and  both,  perhaps,  failed  to  seize  fortune  and  to  catch  suc- 
cess where  men  of  less  abilities  and  less  nobleness  of  mind  would 
have  made  better  use  of  time  and  chance. 

How  busy  was  our  hero  in  those  days !  How  variously  he  took 
part  in  all  that  was  within  his  reach!  In  a  letter  that  conducts  us 
toward  Port  Iloyal  and  the  wonders  there  progressing,  he  said  to 
Mr.  Edward  L.  Pierce: 

"  I  sent,  yesterday,  your  commission  and  formal  instructions  to 


396  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

New  York.  I  now  write,  that  you  may  more  clearly  understand  the 
spirit  of  my  instructions. 

"Colonel  Eeynolds,  the  agent  already  appointed,  is,  I  think,  a 
man  of  excellent  business  capacity,  and  unimpeachable  personal  in- 
tegrity. He  is  so  commended  to  me  by  Governor  Sprague,  in  whom 
[  have  great  confidence. 

"  Whether  he  will  sympathize  with  the  laborers,  however,  or 
strive  to  promote  their  personal  well-being,  I  do  not  know ;  nor  can 
I  foresee,  whether  he  will  bring  to  the  organization  of  their  labor 
that  judgment  and  patience  which  are  essential  to  success. 

"You  have  been  tried,  and,  besides,  I  know  you.  Your  sym- 
pathies are,  first  of  all,  with  the  country;  but  you  do  not  lose  sight 
of  what  is  due  to  the  poor  people,  who  are,  by  the  event  of  the  war, 
cast  on  the  protection  of  the  United  States.  Your  judgment  is  cool 
and  sound,  and  will  not  allow  mere  sjnnpathy  to  mislead  you. 

"I  wish,  therefore,  to  put  you  in  communication  with  Colonel  Rey- 
nolds, and  that  he  may  avail  himself  of  }-our  counsel  and  aid  in  organ- 
izing the  laborers  which  he  must  employ,  and  in  providing  for  them. 
Of  course,  I  do  not  desire  to  supersede  Colonel  Reynolds,  or  interfere 
with  him  in  any  way,  but  simply  to  promote  the  general  objects  of 
his  agency,  and  to  secure,  at  the  same  time,  as  far  as  may  be,  the 
well-being  of  the  unfortunate  people  who  must  be  employed. 

"I  will  add  here  that,  in  my  judgment,  the  persons  who  have 
thus  been  abandoned  by  their  masters,  and  who  are  received  into  the 
service  of  the  country,  can  never,  without  great  inhumanity  on  the 
part  of  the  government  be  ever  reduced  again  to  slavery.  You  will, 
therefore,  in  what  you  do,  have  reference  to  fitting  them  for  self- 
support  by  their  own  industry  hereafter. 

"Please  report  to  me  all  you  do,  and  your  observations  and  judg- 
ment on  the  state  of  things  within  the  sphere  of  your  labors,  so  far 
as  connected  with  the  general  object  of  them."1 


1  To  Colonel  Reynolds,  Mr.  Chase  wrote  as  follows: 

"  My  Dear  Colonel  :  The  cotton  which  was  shipped  by  the  quarter-master  to 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  will  be  disposed  of  under  the  direction  of  the  quarter- 
master-general. That  which  you  ship  will  be  consigned  to  Hiram  Barney,  collector 
at  New  York,  who  will  take  care  of  its  disposition.  I  am  solicitous  that  the  connec- 
tion of  this  department  with  the  business  may  be  marked  by  the  utmost  efficiency, 
economy,  and  practiaal  benefit  to  all  concerned. 

"  After  much  reflection,  and  in  view  of  his  rare  judgment,  integrity,  and  practi- 
cal experience  with  the  contrabands  at  Fortress  Monroe,  I  have  thought  it  best  to 
send  Mr.  Pierce,  of  Boston,  to  you,  to  aid  in  the  organization  of  labor  and  proper 
provision  for  the  laborers.  Mr.  Pierce  is  a  young  gentleman  who  has  already 
attained  a  professional  and  social  position  of  deserved  distinction.  At  the  first 
summons  of  the  President's  proclamation,  in  vVpril,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  and 
served  three  months  at  Fortress  Monroe.  After  the  expiration  of  his  term  he  de- 
clined all  offers  of  commission  and  returned  to  his  profession,  which  he  now  only 
leaves  for  the  sake  of  doing  some  substantial  good.  If  I  do  not  mistake  you,  you 
will  welcome  his  aid  in  your  arduous  undertaking,  and  enter  heartily  into  his 
views,  as  he  will,  doubtless,  into  yours. 

"Pray,  let  me  hear  from  you  often." 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  397 

Under  date  Jan.  5th,  to  Hon.  T.  C.  Day,  the  Secretary  said : 

"Is  there  any  possibility  of  guarding  against  mischance  and 
events?   I  don't  see  it. 

"Do  the  best  I  can,  I  find  myself  exposed  to  so  much  misconstruc- 
tion b}-  best  friends,  that  I  have  come  absolutely  to  hate  public  life." 

The  same  letter  has  the  paragraphs : 

"  In  getting  Rogers,  I  thought  I  had  a  man  whom  no  one  would 
assail  with  any  chance  of  credit.  He  seems  now  to  me  to  be  honest 
and  faithful.  He  says  the  iron  contract  you  refer  to  was  awarded  to 
Stacy,  a  good  man  personally  and  politically,  and  that  Handy  was 
not  at  the  time  to  his  knowledge,  interested  in  the  business,  though 
he  afterward  signed  the  contract.  He  says  further  that  he  was 
utterly  ignorant  of  Handy's  disloyal  proclivities. 

"In  one  respect,  the  transactions  of  the  department  may  be  subject 
to  some  exceptions  politically,  not  usually  attendant  on  mere  appoint- 
ments. The  law  inquires  advertisements  and  awards  to  the  lowest 
re>ponsible  bidders.  It  says  nothing  of  political  qualifications,  and 
I  should  not  be  faithful  to  my  oath  of  office  if  I  made  them  a  con- 
dition so  as  to  exclude  from  contracts,  loAvest  responsible  bidders  of 
political  views  hostile  to  mine. 

"I  agree  with  you,  that  the  administration  has  put  too  many 
enemies  in  places  of  great  power  and  influence,  and  has  acted  most 
unwisely  in  so  doing.  No  part  of  this  responsibility,  however,  is 
mine,  unless  the  appointment  of  McClellan  be  an  exception.  I  really 
thought  he  was  the  very  man  for  the  time.  I  was  mistaken,  and 
make  no  more  rash  dependencies." 

January  5th  was  Sunday.  In  the  evening,  Mr.  Chase  (having 
attended  Trinity  Church  in  the  morning)  was  compelled  to  attend 
to  matters  of  secular  concern.  He  received  a  dispatch  from  Mr. 
Garrett,  President  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad,  stating  that 
the  enemy  had  advanced  to  Hancock,   and  were  shelling   the  town  ; 


In  another  letter,  pointing  to  Port  Royal,  are  the  words,  addressed  to  Rev.  W.  H. 
Pierson: 

"  Understanding  that  yon  feel  a  deep  interest  in  the  condition  of  the  colored  popu- 
lation of  the  islands  now  occupied  by  the  United  States  troops  in  Carolina,  I  venture 
to  suggest  the  expediency  of  your  taking  measures,  in  concert  with  the  Rev.  M. 
French  and  others  of  similar  views,  for  supplying  to  them  the  means  of  religious 
instruction,  ordinary  education,  and  medical  care. 

"Reports  made  to  me  hy  officers  charged  with  the  collection  of  cotton,  and  by  a 
special  agent  directed  to  inquire,  among  other  things,  into  the  condition  of  this 
population  with  a  view  to  its  amelioration,  present  a  case  well  calculated  to  excite 
the  sympathies  of  humane  and  Christian  men  and  women. 

"The  action  of  this  department,  within  the  range  of  its  legal  authority,  will  be 
cheerfully  and  gladly  directed  in  aid  of  any  voluntary  benevolent  movement,  such 
as  that  referred  to." 


398  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

that  the  Union  troops  had  fallen  back  to  the  Maryland  side;  and 
that  the  enemy  was  in  possession  of  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
newly  prepared  road. 

On  the  Eighth  of  January,  the  special  loan  committee  from 
New  York  were  at  Washington. 

The  same  day,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  gave  the  usual 
dinner  to  committees  of  finance  of  the  two  Houses.  Present, 
Messrs.  Fessenden,  Simmons,  Sherman,  Howe,  and  Pearce,  of  the 
Senate,  and  Messrs.  Stephens,  Morrill,  Spaulding,  Corning,  Horton, 
Stratton,  Hooper,  and  Maynard,  of  the  House.  Messrs.  Bright  and 
McDougall,  of  the  Senate,  and  Mr.  Phelps,  of  the  House,  were 
absent.     Did  those  present  talk  about  "  Old  Hickory?" 

Mr.  Jay  Cooke,  of  Philadelphia,  was  one  of  the  distinguished 
dined,  on  this  occasion. 

After  dinner,  Messrs.  Coe,  Russell,  and  Vermilye  came  in.  The 
first  and  the  last  were  very  desirous  that  the  secretary  should  cancel 
so  much  of  the  loan  as  remained  unpaid.  Mr.  Chase  "  promised 
consideration,  but  declined  giving  any  definite  answer." 

The  next  morning,  Thursday,  Mr.  Russell  broke  his  fast  with  Mr. 
Chase.  After  breakfast,  the  host  and  the  guest  discussed  somewhat 
the  latter's  financial  suggestions.  He  proposed,  it  seems,  a  board 
of  exchequer,  to  be  appointed  by  the  President  and  Senate.  To  this 
board  should  be  issued  the  bonds  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
board  should  return  80  per.  cent,  of  the  amount  in  circulating 
notes ;  and  similar  bonds  should  be  issued  by  the  board,  and  75  per. 
cent,  of  the  amount  issued  to  any  depositor  and  redeemed,  if  neces- 
sary, by  the  government.  Associations  for  banking  purposes  should 
be  authorized,  to  whom  90  per.  cent,  of  bonds  deposited  may  be 
issued,  with  provisions  for  reserves  of  specie,  etc. 

Going  to  department,  Mr.  Chase  called  at  the  photographer's. 
At  the  department,  he  attended  to  the  usual  business  and  made  an 
appointment  with  the  committees  from  Philadelphia  and  New  York, 
to  come  to  his  house  at  eight,  P.  M. 

The  Secretary  then  wended  his  way  to  the  Capitol.  He  heard 
Sumner's  speech  on  the  Trent  affair. 

He  has  recorded  the  opinion  that  that  utterance  of  Mr.  Sumner 
"  was,  in  the  main,  admirable  in  manner  and  matter."  But,  it 
seems,  the  Secretary  told  the  Senator  he  thought  he  had  better  omit 
the  word  penitent,  applied  to  England  in  connection  with  her  implied 
recantation  of  ancient  pretensions  by  her  demand  for  Mason  and 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  399 

Slidell  ;  and  also  that  it  would  have  been  well  to  omit  the  argument 
against  the  right  to  capture  and  bring  in  the  ship  for  having  com- 
missioners or  dispatches  on  board,  inasmuch  as  that  argument  eon- 
tradicted  the  position  taken  by  Mr.  Seward  on  the  same  question. 

Most  of  the  foreign  ministers  were  present,  and  the  galleries 
were  full. 

Returning  to  the  department,  Mr.  Chase  was  visited  by  General 
McDowell.  The  military  man  showed  the  civilian  his  map,  and 
pointed  out  the  relative  positions  of  our  own  and  the  enemy's  forces 
near  the  seat  of  government. 

Miss  Kate  Chase  and  Mr.  Cooke  came  in,  saying  that  Miss  Nettie 
Chase  was  ill,  but  doing  well,  at  Philadelphia.  Miss  Kate  deter- 
mined to  go  by  the  evening  train  with  Mr.  Cooke,  and  telegraph 
her  father  at  night. 

The  Secretary  was  a  loving  father  and  a  proud  one. 

On  the  10th,  the  bank  committees  were  in  Washington. 

On  Saturday,  January  11th,  there  were  many  callers  at  the  de- 
partment of  the  treasury,  among  them  Gen.  McDowell  and  Col. 
Key.  Gen.  McDowell  inquired  about  McClellan's  plans,  and  Mr. 
Chase  told  him  what  he  knew  of  them,  in  strict  confidence. 

Col.  Key  was  about  to  have  an  interview  with  Gen.  McClellan, 
and  wanted  to  know  what  the  Secretary  would  recommend.  The 
Secretary  replied  that  McClellan  should, 

1st.  Relieve  himself  of  the  imputation  of  nepotism  and  favoritism 
in  the  selection  of  his  staff; 

2d.  Not  allow  the  President  to  wait  on  him,  but  honor  the  office 
by  sending  one  of  his  aids  regularly  to  the  President;  and, 

3d.  Call  into  his  counsels  the  most  experienced  and  able  men  in 
the  army,  and  insist  on  the  appointment  of  McDowell  as  major- 
general  at  once. 

On  the  same  day,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  talked  with  Mr. 
Stanton  about  Lander,  McClellan,  and  others,  and  requested  Col. 
Sullivan  to  see  War  Department  about  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad. 

The  finance  committees  and  bank  committees  met  at  Secretary 
Chase's  office. 

On  the  13th  we  have  the  entry  : 

"To -day.  General  Cameron  resigned  his  place  as  secretary  of  war, 
and  E.  M.  Stanton,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  appointed  in  his  stead." 

And  is  that  all?  Is  that  all  our  hero's  diary  has  to  say  about  a 
matter  so  important? 


400  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

When  the  hero  of  this  work  departed,  I  alone  was  authorized  to 
use  his  diaries,  his  letter-books,  and  the  like,  and  no  man,  no 
woman,  had  the  moral  or  the  legal  right  to  use  those  documents. 
In  the  Introduction  is  a  brief  statement  on  that  subject.  In  other 
Chapters  will  be  found  farther  statements  of  like  effect.  I  had 
no  exclusive  right  to  prepare  for  the  press  a  life  of  Salmon  Portland 
Chase,  and  I  never  fancied  that  my  right  to  write  a  biography  of 
him  was  an  exclusive  one.  But  I  was  unquestionably  his  preferred 
biographer,  and,  in  effect,  his  literary  executor.  And  the  right  I 
thus  had,  in  the  documents  in  question,  teas  exclusive.  It  has  never 
been  surrendered,  modified,  or  forfeited.  Yet  it  is  from  a  work 
entitled  Memories  of  Many  Men  and  of  Sonic  Women,  that  I  draw  the 
quoted  paragraphs  which  follow  : 

"  I  take  the  following  extract  from  one  of  the  little  diaries  in  which 
Mr.  Chase  was  accustomed  to  jot  down  daily  occurrences  and  tran- 
scribe some  of  his  most  secret  thoughts.  He  wrote  with  a  pencil, 
and,  as  he  was  in  the  habit  of  carrying  these  little  books  loose  in  his 
pocket,  much  of  the  writing  is  wholly  or  partly  obliterated.  I  have, 
however,  been  able  to  make  out  the  following,  but  not  without  a 
great  deal  of  difficulty. 

"January  12,  1862.  At  church  this  morning.  Wished  much  to 
join  in  communion,  but  felt  myself  too  subject  to  temptation  to  sin. 
After  church  went  to  see  Cameron  by  appointment;  but,  being 
obliged  to  meet  the  President,  etc.,  at  one,  could  only  excuse  myself. 
At  President's,  found  Generals  McDowell,  Franklin,  and  Meigs,  and 
Seward  and  Blair.  Meigs  decided  against  dividing  forces,  and  in 
favor  of  battle  in  front.  President  said  McClellan's  health  was  much 
improved,  and  thought  it  best  to  adjourn  until  to-morrow,  and  have 
all  then  present  attend  with  McC.  at  three.  Home,  and  talk  and 
reading.  Dinner.  Cameron  came  in.  Advised  loan  in  Holland, 
and  recommended  Brooks,  Lewis,  and  another  whom  I  have  forgot- 
ten. Then  turned  to  department  matters,  and  we  talked  of  his 
going  to  Russia  ami  Stanton  as  successor,  and  he  proposed  I  should 
again  see  the  President.  I  first  proposed  seeing  Sewai'd,  to  which 
he  assented.  He  declared  himself  determined  to  maintain  himself 
at  the  head  of  his  department  if  he  remained,  and  to  resist  hereafter 
all  interferences.  I  told  him  I  would,  in  that  event,  stand  by  him 
faithfully.  He  and  I  drove  to  Willard's,  where  I  left  him  and  went 
myself  to  Seward's.  I  told  him,  at  once,  what  was  in  my  mind — 
that  I  thought  the  President  and  Cameron  were  both  willing  that  0. 
should  go  to  Russia.  He  seemed  to  receive  the  matter  as  new,  ex- 
cept so  far  as  suggested  by  me  last  night.  Wanted  to  know  who 
would  succeed  Cameron.  I  said  Holt  and  Stanton  had  been  named  ; 
that  I  feared  Holt  might  embarrass  us  on  the  slavery  question,  and 
might  not  prove  quite  equal  to  the  emergency  ;  that  Stanton  was  a 
good  lawyer,  and  full  of  energy  ;  but  1  could  not,  of  course,  judge 
him  as  an  executive  officer  as  well  as  he  (S.)  could,  for  he  knew  him 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  401 

when  he  was  in  Buchanan's  Cabinet.  Seward  replied  that  he  saw 
much  of  him  then  ;  that  he  was  of  great  force — full  of  expedients, 
and  thoroughly  loyal.  Finally,  he  agreed  to  the  whole  thing,  and 
promised  to  £0  with  me  to  talk  with  the  President  about  it  to-mor- 
row, .lust  at  this  point  Cameron  came  in  with  a  letter  from  the 
President,  proposing  his  nomination  to  Russia  in  the  morning  !  He 
was  quite  offended,  supposing  the  letter  intended  as  a  dismissal,  and, 
therefore,  discourteous.  We  both  assured  him  it  could  not  be  so. 
Finally  he  concluded  to  retain  the  letter  till  morning,  and  then  go 
and  see  the  President.  Seward  was  expecting  General  Butler,  and 
Cameron  said  he  ought  to  be  sent  off  immediately.  I  said,  'Well, 
let's  leave  Seward  to  order  him  off  at  once.'  C.  laughed,  and  we 
went  off  together,  I  taking  him  to  his  house.  Before  parting,  I  told 
him  what  had  paAsed  between  me  and  Seward  concerning  Stanton, 
with  which  he  was  gratified.  I  advised  him  to  go  to  the  President 
in  the  morning,  express  his  thanks  for  the  consideration  with  which 
his  wishes,  made  known  through  me  as  well  as  by  himself  orally, 
had  been  treated,  and  tell  him  frankly  how  desirable  it  was  to  him 
that  his  successor  should  be  a  Pennsylvanian,  and  should  be  Stanton. 
I  said  I  thought  that  his  wish,  supported  as  it  would  be  by  Seward 
and  myself,  would  certainly  be  gratified,  and  told  him  that  the  Pres- 
ident had  already  mentioned  Stanton  in  a  way  which  indicated  that 
no  objection  on  his  part  would  be  made.  I  said,  also,  that,  if  he 
wished.  I  would  see  Seward,  and  would  go  to  the  President  after  he 
had  left  him  and  urge  the  point.  He  asked  why  not  come  in  when 
we  should  be  there,  and  I  assented  to  this.  We  parted,  and  I  came 
home.  A  day  which  may  have — and,  seemingly,  must  have — great 
bearing  on  affairs.  Oh  !  that  my  heart  and  life  were  so  pure  and 
right  before  God  that  I  might  not  hurt  our  great  cause.  I  fear  Mr. 
Seward  ma}*  think  Cameron's  coming  into  his  house  pre-arranged, 
and  that  I  was  not  dealing  frankly.  I  feel  satisfied,  however,  that 
I  have  acted  right,  and  with  just  deference  to  all  concerned,  and  have 
in  no  respect  deviated  from  the  truth."1 


1  Op.  cit.  2G7.  I  repeat,  the  exclusive  right,  referred  to  in  the  text,  has  never 
heen  surrendered,  modified,  or  forfeited.  How  rich  has  been  the  supply  of  original 
material  for  this  work  its  pages  show. 

Yet  there  has  been  some  interference  with  my  right. 

Under  an  arrangement  made  by  Chief  Justice  Chase  with  me,  I  was  to  occupy,  at 
will,  while  working  on  my  life  of  him,  a  sleeping  room  at  Edgewood,  and  to  be  at 
home  there  in  the  library  and  in  the  parlors  during  the  same  period.  Order,  there- 
fore, was  made  accordingly,  and  I  left,  at  Edgewood  part  of  the  material — especially 
some  printed  matter — which  I  contemplated  using.  Mr.  Schuckers  confessed  to  me 
that,  after  the  death  of  the  Chief  Justice,  and  before  the  qualification  of  the  executor, 
he,  said  Schuckers,  thereto  ''authorized''  by  Mrs.  Sprague,  removed  the  body  of  that 
material  beyond  my  reach. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  same  person,  claiming  to  be  "authorized"  in  the  same 
manner,  prevailed,  it  seems,  on  the  executor  (in  whose  banking  house  I  had,  under 
an  arrangement  made  with  him  with  reference,  as  he  pretended,  to  safety  against 
fire,  deposited  the  body  of  the  matter  furnished  for  my  biographic  use,  the  most 
precious  portions  of  that  matter  being  in  my  own  trunk),  to  cause  my  locked  trunk, 


402  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Here  is  another  extract  from  the  same  book  : 

"From  that  time  forward  my  personal  relations  with  Mr.  Seward 
became  quite  intimate.  I  used  frequently  to  meet  him  socially  at 
the  tables  of  the  foreign  ministers,  and  I  often  visited  him  at  his  own 
house.  The  latter  was  particularly  the  case  during  the  months  of 
July  and  August  in  the  year  1864.  The  intense  heat  had  depleted 
Washington,  driving  from  the  city  every  body  except  those  officials 
who  found  it  impossible  to  get  away.  The  great  Bedouin  camp  had 
struck  its  tents  for  a  season.  One's  evening  visiting  list  thus  became 
very  much  circumscribed,  and  Secretary  Seward's  house  was  one  of 
the  few  where  one  could  call  with  any  probability  of  finding  the 
master  at  home.  At  this  time  I  often  passed  uninterrupted  hours  in 
his  company.  I  frequently  found  him  swinging  in  a  hammock,  which 
was  slung  upon  the  back  porch,  and  smoking  the  inevitable  cigar  of 
portentous  size  and  strength.  As  a  smoker,  Mr.  Seward  was  in  no 
way  behind  General  Grant.  Sometimes,  however,  our  interviews 
took  place  in  the  front  parlor.  The  conversation  was  always  of  the 
most  unreserved  and  familiar  character.  Upon  one  occasion,  I  re- 
marked to  the  Secretary,  that  I  supposed  he  had  kept  a  diary,  or,  at 
least,  memoranda  of  every  thing  that  had  occurred  at  Cabinet  meet- 
ings since  the  incoming  of  the  administration.  He  told  me  in  reply, 
that,  during  several  months  in  the  beginning,  he  had  faithfully  done 
so  ;  but  that  very  soon  the  personal  relations  between  some  of  his 
colleagues  became  so  inharmonious,  and  so  much  unworthy  bicker- 
ing, and  even  quarreling,  was  indulged  in  upon  these  occasions,  that 
he  discontinued  making  a  record,  and  destroyed  the  notes  which  he 
had  already  taken."  1 

Every  body  may  not  see,  as  I  discern,  the  shallowness  of  the  sin- 
ister design  betrayed  in  the  just  quoted  sentences.     And  really  I 


the  key  of  its  lock  being  in  my  pocket,  to  be  secretly  and  falsely  opened;  and  there- 
upon the  person  Schuckers,  it  appears,  proceeded  to  invade  that  trunk.  'Tis  said 
that  he  was  deeply  disappointed,  and  that  quite  grotesque  was  his  display  of  disap- 
pointment. Many  of  the  birds  he  sought  had  flown,  and  those  the  very  best  of  the 
whole  aviary.  Through  the  indiscretion  of  Mr.  Maunsell  B.  Field,  in  talking  to  a 
friend  of  mine,  I  had  learned  more  about  the  fraud  that  had  been  practiced  on  me; 
and  I  had  removed  the  most  important  diaries  and  letter-books.  But  I  forgot  those 
"little  diaries." 

I  never  could  command  myself  sufficiently  to  go  back  to  that  trunk.  May  God 
forgive  me,  and  may  the  fair-minded  reader  pardon  me;  but  I  confess  that  when  I 
learned  of  that  rifling  of  my  trunk,  I  was  excited  in  a  manner  which  it  is  not  pleas- 
ant to  remember  even  now. 

I  think,  no  lack  of  courage  kept  me  back.  And  yet  it  was  pure  fear  that  forbade 
me  to  go  back  again  into  that  bank.  I  am  but  human  ;  and  for  me,  as  for  all  other 
human  beings,  it  is  well,  from  time  to  time,  to  fear  and  shun  temptation. 

Now,  I  think,  the  reader  may  at  least  begin  to  conjecture  why  it  is  that  I  am 
recapturing  the  matter  just  taken  from  that  flashy,  trashy  book  of  Mr.  Field. 

i  Op.  cit.,  262,  263. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  403 

hardly  know  how  to  be  down-rightly  angry  with  the  author  of  them. 
Though  I  am 'about  to  show  their  utter  un reliableness,  I  declare  I 
find  myself  almost  as  much  disposed  to  make  fun  of  tliem  as  to  treat 
them  seriously.     But  of  that  hereafter. 

Let  me  now  advise  the  reader  to  turn  back  to  that  extract  from 
the  little  diary.  We  learn  from  that  extract  that,  as  late  as  Janu- 
ary, 1862,  the  relations  of  Chase  and  Seward  with  each  other,  with 
Blair,  and  with  Cameron,  were  not  such  as  they  would  have  been 
had  the  Cabinet  been  disgraced  by  the  alleged  bickering  and  quar- 
reling. True,  there  was  talk  by  Cameron  of  a  determination,  if  he 
remained  Secretary  of  War,  to  maintain  himself  at  the  head  of  his 
department,  and  thereafter  to  resist  all  interference.  But  whose  in- 
terference ?  Xot  that  of  Seward,  I  conceive;  not  Blair's,  I  judge; 
not  that  of  Welles,  assuredly.  Was  it  Bates  who  interfered  ?  Or 
was  it  Smith?  I  would  say  not.  Undoubtedly,  the  interference 
meant  was  that  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 

Xow,  let  us  look  again  at  the  account  given  by  Mr.  Maunsell  B. 
Field,  of  the  alleged  "unworthy  bickering  and  even  quarreling" 
indulged  in  by  members  of  the  Lincoln  Cabinet.  I  counsel  readers 
to  scrutinize  that  account.  It  is,  at  best,  the  narrative  of  hearsay ; 
and  the  motives  of  the  witness  as  well  as  his  general  tone  should  put 
us  on  our  guard  against  the  statement  here  in  question  and  some 
others;  for  example,  his  account  of  talk  he  had  with  Mr.  Lincoln  in 
1864. 

It  is  quite  safe  to  say  that  ardent  love  of  accuracy  does  not  mark 
that  book  of  Mr.  Field.  It  seems  to  me,  moreover,  that  he  could 
have  had  no  good  purpose  in  relating,  as  we  have  seen,  what  he  says 
Mr.  Seward  said  to  him  about  that  bickering  and  even  quarreling. 

If  Mr.  Seward  did  say  that,  what  we  have  seen  already  clearly  in- 
dicates that,  in  saying  so,  he  uttered  one  of  the  most  wanton  false- 
hoods ever  uttered  by  the  lips  of  man. 

It  is  evidently  not  true,  and  Mr.  Seward  never  could  have  fancied 
it  was  true,  that  there  was,  at  one  time,  "so  much  unworthy  bicker- 
ing and  even  quarreling"  among  his  colleagues.  The  revelations 
drawn  herein  from  our  hero's  wonderfully  interesting  diaries  and 
letters  clearly  and  conclusively  establish  that  the  relations  which 
actually  existed  among  the  members  of  the  Lincoln  Cabinet,  were 
not  of  such  a  nature  that  there  could  have  been  such  unworthy  bick- 
ering and  quarreling. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Had  the  facts  which  Mr.  Seward  is  reported 
27 


404  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

to  have  stated  to  Mr.  Maunsell  B.  Field  existed,  what  should  we 
have  thought  of  Mr.  Seward's  making  that  communication,  orally, 
to  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Field  has  shown  himself,  and  leaving  the  com- 
munication to  the  tender  mercy  and  the  wise  discretion  of  that  liter- 
ary gossiper?  And,  supposing  Mr.  Seward  to  have  been  at  once  so 
foolish  and  so  base,  what  must  we  think  of  Mr.  Field's  now  giving 
to  the  public  the  account  in  question? 

Mr.  Field,  however,  thus  proceeds  with  his  report  of  Mr.  Seward's 
alleged  statement : 

"He  said  that  a  truthful  statement  of  these  occurrences,  if  ever 
published,  would  bring  disgrace  upon  the  country,  and  that  they  had 
better  be  buried  in  oblivion." 

Were  they  buried  in  oblivion  by  Mr.  Seward,  when,  supposing  Mr. 
Field's  account  to  be  correct,  those  words  were  spoken  as  we  have 
just  seen,  to  be  reproduced  in  that  flashy  volume  with  that  taking 
tide? 

But  I  can  afford  to  beg  my  readers  not  to  be  too  hard  on  Mr. 
Field. 

His  title  page  runs  thus : 

"Memories  of  Many  Men  and  of  Some  Women;  being  Personal 
Eeoollections  of  Emperors,  Kings,  Queens,  Princes,  Presidents,  States- 
men, Authors,  and  Artists,  at  home  and  abroad,  during  the  last  thirty 
years." 

That  title  page  reminded  me  at  once  of  the  language,  put  in  this 
fashion,  by    Shakspeare,  on  the  lips  of  Dogberry : 

"Write  down — that  they  hope  they  serve  God;  and  write  God 
first;  for  God  defend,  but  God  should  go  before  such  villains." 

One  can  almost  fancy  Mr.  Field  exclaiming:  God  defend,  but 
emperors,  kings,  queens,  and  princes  should  go  before  presidents;  and 
God  defend,  but  presidents,  look  you !  should  go  before  statesmen ; 
and,  lastly,  God  defend,  but  statesmen  should  go  before  such  poor 
devils  as  authors  and  artists. 

We  are  told  by  this  reporter  of  conversations  with  Seward  and,  as 
we  shall  find,  of  talks  with  Lincoln,   that 

"At  the  dinner  parties  of  the  foreign  ministers,  which  Mr.  Seward, 
being  secretary  of  state,  frequently  attended,  he  was  looked  upon  as 
rather  a  tedious  guest." 


OF   SALMON  PORTLAND   CHASE.  405 

Now,  who  gave  Mr.  Field  that  sweet  tit-bit  of  scandal  ?  But 
we  must  not  fail  to  go  a  little  farther.  Mr.  Field  subjoins  the 
sentence : 

"Speaking  no  language  but  English,  he  compelled  the  conversa- 
tion to  be  carried  on  in  a  tongue  which  was  not  familiar  to  many  of 
those  usually  present." 

Mr.  Field  knows  French  and  other  foreign  idioms,  my  dear 
reader!  And  he  is  an  fait  in  etiquette  of  all  sorts  and  sizes;  as  is 
partly  hinted  in  this  passage: 

"  I  was  well  accredited  to  Mr.  Henry  Wheaton,  our  minister  at 
Berlin,  and  the  distinguished  writer  upon  international  law.  Upon 
my  arrival  I  sent  my  letter  with  my  card  to  the  legation,  and  the 
next  day  the  minister  called  upon  me,  and,  not  finding  me  within, 
left  for  me  my  own  card,  with  'Mr.  Wheaton,  written  over  my 
name.  It  was  surprising  that  such  a  solecism  in  manners  should  be 
committed  by  a  diplomatist  of  Mr.  Wheaton 's  experience.  Of  course, 
no  offense  was  intended ;  but  I  did  not  return  the  call."1 

One  fairly  pities  the  poor  shade  of  Wheaton  thus  rebuked  in  Mem- 
ories of  Many  Men  and  of  Some  Women. 

Seriously,  is  it  not  a  thing  to  wonder  at  that  it  should  have  been 
about  a  man  such  as  this  Mr.  Maunsell  Field  that  Chase  and  Lincoln 
should  have  parted  company? 

We  shall  see  more  of  Mr.  Field,  however,  as  we  pass.  I  now  in- 
vite attention  to  the  fact  that  though  Secretary  Cameron  resigned  on 
the  13th.  it  was  not  till  the  20th  of  January  that  the  new  secretary, 
for  good  or  for  evil,  took  formal  possession  of  the  War  Department. 
On  that  day  Mr.  Chase  paid  his  respects  "  to  the  outgoing  and  in- 
coming secretaries." 

January  14,  1862,  the  official  day  was  wholly  occupied  as  to  Sec- 
retary Chase  in  conferences  with  members  of  the  bank  committees 
and  boards  of  trade  of  the  three  cities,  who  were  at  Washington  on 
financial  matters,  and  with  Senators  and  others  who  called  in  regard 
to  the  change  in  the  Cabinet.  Mr.  Fessenden,  of  the  Senate,  and 
Mr.  Stanton  were  together  with  the  secretary  for  more  than  an 
hour. 

Mr.  Rodman,  chief  clerk  of  the  department,  died  suddenly  that 
morning,  and  at  two  o'clock  Mr.  Chase  attended  the  funeral  services. 
The  remains  were  taken  to  Philadelphia. 

1  Page  272. 


406  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

It  appears  that,  on  the  loth  clay  of  January,  1862,  the  consulta- 
tion with  bankers  and  members  of  the  boards  of  trade  from  New 
York,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia  terminated.  The  result  was  re- 
duced to  writing,  as  follows : 

"  I.  The  general  views  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  are  as- 
sented to. 

"  II.  The  banks  will  receive  and  pay  out  the  United  States  de- 
mand notes  freely,  and  sustain  in  all  proper  ways  their  credit. 

UIII.  The  secretary  will,  within  the  next  two  weeks,  in  addition 
to  then  current  daily  payment  of  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars  in 
United  States  notes,  pay  the  further  sum  of  at  least  twenty  millions 
of  dollars,  in  7-30  three  years  bonds,  to  such  public  creditors  as  de- 
sire to  receive  them,  and  thus  relieve  the  existing  pressure  upon  the 
community. 

"IV.  The  issue  of  United  States  demand  notes  not  to  be  extended 
beyond  the  fifty  millions  now  authorized;  but  it  is  desired  that 
Congress  will  extend  the  provisions  of  the  existing  loan  act,  so  as  to 
enable  the  secretary  to  issue,  in  exchange  for  United  States  notes, 
or  in  payment  to  creditors,  notes  payable  in  one  year,  bearing  3.G5 
per  cent,  interest,  and  convertible  into  7-30  three  years  bonds,  or  to 
borrow  under  the  existing  provisions  to  the  amount  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  or  three  hundred  millions  of  dollars. 

"V.  It  is  thought  desirable  that  Congress  should  adopt  a  general 
law  relating  to  the  currency  and  banking  associations,  embracing 
the  general  provisions   recommended  by  the  secretary  in  his  report. 

"  VI.  It  is  believed  that  this  action  and  legislation  will  render  the 
making  of  United  States  demand  notes  a  legal  tender,  or  their  in- 
crease beyond  the  fifty  millions  now  authorized  unnecessary." 

Assenting  to  these  propositions  were,  from  New  York,  Mr.  Coe ; 
from  Boston,  Mr.  Walley ;  and  from  Philadelphia,  some  one  not 
named  in  the  register  here  followed.  Each  of  these  gentlemen,  it 
seems,  agreed  to  urge  the  plan  embodied  in  the  paper  upon  the 
banks  of  his  city,  and  expressed  his  belief  that  it  would  be  cor- 
dially sustained. 

About  an  hour  afterward  a  sub-committee  from  the  House  com- 
mittee of  ways  and  means  called  at  the  treasury  department.  It 
consisted  of  Messrs.  Spaulding,  Hooper,  and  Horton.  Mr.  Hooper 
expressed  his  decided  opinion  that  the  United  States  notes  must 
necessarily  be  made  a  legal  tender.  Messrs.  Spaulding  and  Horton 
expressed  no  opinion  ;  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  secretary  should 
confer  with  Mr.  Stevens,  chairman  of  the  committee,  that  evening. 

Thursday,  January  16,  news  reached  Washington  of  the  rise  in 
the  value  of  stocks  in  New  York,  a  rise  occasioned  by  the  receipt 
there  of  telegrams  communicating  the  result  of  the   financial   con- 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  407 

ferences  of  the  past  few  days.  The  bankers  left  for  home  after 
receiving  tidings  of  the  rise.  No  doubt,  they  left  in  liner  feather 
than  they  wore  when  they  came  on  to  Washington. 

The  next  day  Mr.  Chase  wrote  to  Mr.  Stevens,  expressing  the 
hope  that  the  arrangement  adopted  on  Wednesday  would  meet  his 
approval,  and  he  sanctioned  by  the  hanks. 

Monday,  January  20,  1862,  Mr.  Walley  telegraphed  that  the 
Boston  banks  would  not  assent  to  the  proposed  arrangement,  and 
advised  the  immediate  making  of  United  States  notes  a  legal  tender. 

Not  uninteresting  seems  to  me  this  entry,  under  date  of  Jan- 
uary 22d  : 

"A  committee  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Cincinnati 
waited  on  me  this  morning,  to  urge  the  location  of  the  proposed 
new  armory  at  Cincinnati.  They  also  represented  the  earnest  feel- 
ing of  the  people  of  Cincinnati  and  the  West  in  favor  of  greater 
energy  and  decision  in  the  conduct  of  the  war,  and  alluded  to  the 
state  of  politics  in  Ohio.  Told  them  that  Cincinnati,  'never  very 
kind,  was  always  very  dear,  to  me,'  and  that  I  had  already  presented 
her  claims  for  the  armory,  and  should  continue  to  do  so.  As  to  the 
conduct  of  the  war,  I  gave  them  every  assurance,  and  especiallj*  ex- 
pressed confidence  in  Mr.  Stanton  as  a  man  who  would  be  master  of 
his  department,  and  yield  to  no  one  save  the  President.  On  politics, 
1  said  that  the  Democratic  party  must  be  reconstructed  as  a  party  of 
freedom.'" 

On  the  same  day,  Messrs.  Cisco,  Barney,  and  Andrews  came  to 
Secretary  Chase  from  New  York,  to  confer  about  government  prop- 
erty there.  Mayor  Opdyke  accompanied  them,  but  returned  the 
same  dav.     He  favored  a  le<ral  tender  law. 


408  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER     XXIX. 


THE  LEGAL  TENDER  CASES. 


I 


N  a  letter  to  Hon.  Rush  R.  Sloan,  January  27th,  the   Secretary 
said : 


"  I  am  not  a  candidate  for  the  Senate.  Should  the  supporters  of 
the  present  effort  to  suppress  the  rebellion — an  effort,  I  trust,  soon  to 
he  crowned  with  success — think  fit  to  require  my  services  in  an}'  other 
place  than  that  of  which  I  am  now  trying  to  discharge  the  duties. 
I  shall  not  hesitate  to  obey  the  summons,  no  matter  to  what  duty  I 
might  be  called.  If  they  think  it  best  that  I  remain  where  I  am,  I 
shall  be  equally  content.  It  is  my  wish,  therefore,  not  to  interfere 
in  any  way  in  the  election  in  Ohio,  nor  to  have  my  own  name  men- 
tioned in  connection  with  the  election.  There  is  no  reason  for  think- 
ing that  a  contingency  can  arise  in  which  the  mention  of  it  can  be 
useful. 

"  Mr.  Wade  is  worthy  of  re-election,  eminently  worthy.  I  had,  I 
thought,  some  cause  to  complain  of  his  course  last  year  ;  and  the  Re- 
publicans of  the  State,  who  had  manifested  so  decided  a  preference 
for  me  as  the  choice  of  Ohio,  had  I  thought  even  more  cause  to  com- 
plain of  his  course  than  I  had.  But  I  prefer  to  forget  all  that.  His 
course  in  his  place  has  been  bold,  manly,  and  in  my  judgment,  wise. 
I  trust  no  friend  of  mine  will  oppose  his  reelection  because  of  any 
supposed  grief  of  mine  or  ours. 

'•  Should  any  circumstances  make  Mr.  Wade's  reelection  impossi- 
ble, it  seems  to  me  that  the  southern  part  of  the  State  would  be  en- 
titled to  the  senator,  and  I  know  nobody  better  entitled  than  Judge 
Key  or  Judge  HoadJy.  Judge  Key  has  been  of  great  service  here, 
and  is  now  very  much  of  your  and  my  way  of  thinking.  In  naming 
these  gentlemen,  don't  regard  me  as  becoming  the  partisan  of  any- 
body. The  legislature,  I  am  confident,  will  elect  nobody  not  thor- 
oughly reliable  for  the  present  and  the  future,  and  with  its  choice  I 
shall  be  content." 

In  a  letter  of  the  next  clay,  was  said  to  Judge  Gans : 

':  I  do  not  propose  to  take  any  part  in  the  contest  concerning  the 
senutorship  in  Ohio.  My  time  is  wholly  absorbed  here.  The  men- 
tion of  my  name  is  unauthorized  by  me.  I  am  not  a  candidate. 
Judge  AVade  will  doubtless  be  a  candidate  for  re-election;  he  has 
served  the  State  and  country  faithfully.  Judge  Spaulding  is  a  per- 
sonal and  political  friend,  whom  I  honor  and  esteem  greatly,  and  to 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  409 

whom  no  place  could  be  given,  as  I  believe,  which  he  would  not  fill 
worthily.  I  have  heard  also  all  the  other  names  mentioned  in  the 
article  you  sent  me,  and  more  besides,  among  whom  there  would  be 
no  difficult}-  in  selecting  a  good  man.  I  am  quite  satisfied  to  leave 
the  matter  where  the  constitution  leaves  it — with  the  legislature, 
the  members  of  which  will  doubtless  consult  the  public  sentiment  of 
Ohio,  and  reflect  it  faithfully." 

Next  comes  a  letter,  the  importance  of  which  could  hardly  be 
overstated.     It  reads  as  follows : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  February  4,  1862. 

"Mr  Dear  Sir:  Your  feelings  of  repugnance  to  the  legal  tender 
clause  can  hardly  be  greater  than  my  own  ;  but  I  am  convinced  that, 
as  a  temporary  measure,  it  is  indispensably  necessary.  From  vari- 
ous motives,  some  honorable  and  some  not  honorable,  a  considerable 
number,  though  a  small  minority,  of  the  business  men  and  people  are 
indisposed  to  sustain  the  United  States  notes  \>y  receiving  and  pav- 
ing them  as  money.  This  minority,  in  the  absence  of  any  legal  ten- 
der clause,  may  control  the  majority  to  all  practical  intents.  To 
prevent  this,  which  would  at  this  time  be  disastrous  in  the  extreme, 
I  yield  my  general  views  for  a  particular  exception.  To  yield  does 
not  violate  any  obligation  to  the  people,  for  the  great  majority,  will* 
ing  now  to  receive  and  pay  these  notes,  desix*e  that  the  minority 
may  not  be  allowed  to  reap  special  advantages  from  their  refusal  to 
do  so ;  and  our  Government  is  not  only  a  government  of  the  people, 
but  is  bound  in  an  exigency  like  the  present,  to  act  on  the  maxim, 
1  Salus  populi  suprema  lex.' 

'•  It  is  only,  however,  on  condition  that  a  tax  adequate  to  interest, 
reduction  of  debt,  and  ordinaiy  expenditures  be  provided,  and,  that 
a  uniform  banking  system  be  authorized,  founded  on  United  States 
securities,  and,  with  proper  safeguards  for  specie  payments,  secur- 
ing at  once  a  uniform  and  convertible  currency  for  the  people,  and, 
creating  a  demand  for  national  securities,  which  will  sustaiu  their 
market  value  and  facilitate  loans;  it  is  only  on  this  condition,  I  say, 
that  1  consent  to  the  expedient  of  United  States  notes  in  limited 
amounts  being  made  a  legal  tender. 

"In  giving  this  consent,  I  feel  I  am  treading  the  path  of  duty,  and 
shall  cheerfully,  as  I  always  have  done,  abide  the  consequences.  I 
dare  not  say  that  I  care  nothing  for  personal  consequences;  but  I 
think  I  may  truly  say,  that  I  care  little  for  them  in  comparison  with 
my  obligation  to  do  whatever  the  safety  of  the  country  may  re- 
quire. Yours  truly, 

-  W.  C.  Bryant,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Let  me  next  invite  attention  to  this  document : 

"  Washington,  May  18,  18G4. 

"Dear  Sir:  I  have  too  sincere  a  friendship  for  3-ou  to  be  indif 
ferent  to  any  thing  you  say  or  write.      It   may  not  always  be  in  my 


410  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

power  to  agree  with  friends,  or  to  manifest  my  sentiments  toward 
them  as  they  or  I  would  wish  ;  but  they  are  never  forgotten,  nor  do 
their  services  to  our  common  cause  ever  cease  to  be  gratefully  re- 
membered. 

"Your  letter  and  the  petition  inclosed  with  it  have  both  been 
carefully  read. 

"I  do  not  agree  with  you  in  thinking  that  the  constitution  pro- 
hibits the  issue  of  legal  tender  notes  under  the  authority  of  Congress  ; 
but  I  do  agree  in  the  opinion  that  an  inflated  paper  currency  is  a 
great  evil,  and  should  be  reformed  as  soon  as  possible. 

"The  difficulty  is,  in  the  practicability  of  the  reform,  so  long  as 
expenditure  so  largely  overgoes  income. 

"In  my  judgment,  if  Congress  will  'perfect  a  good  and  judicious 
excise  law'  and  give  the  country  a  National  Banking  System  instead 
of  State  Banking  Systems,  and  State  Banking  without  system,  it 
will  not  be  difficult  to  return  to  specie  payments.  We  must  pay  as 
we  go,  or  very  nearly  that,  if  we  want  to  maintain  credit  at  its  high- 
est point.  As  long  as  the  government  spends  four  or  five  times  as 
much  as  it  collects,  there  can  be  no  permanent  financial  safety.  It 
was  well  enough  to  borrow  at  first,  when  the  military  authorities 
told  us  that  the  rebellion  would  be  suppressed  '  in  a  year,'  or  after 
a  '  short,  sharp,  decisive  struggle  ;  '  but  as  soon  as  it  became  man- 
ifest that  borrowing  was  going  to  any  amount  over  a  thousand,  or  at 
most  fifteen  hundred,  millions,  Congress  ought  to  have  provided  taxes 
sufficient  to  make  it  certain  that  the  debt  should  not  be  carried  be- 
yond say  two  thousand,  or  at  most,  twenty-five  hundred,  millions. 
It  is  not  too  late  even  now  for  Congress,  by  retrenchment  and  taxa- 
tion, to  insure  this;  but  retrenchment  and  taxation  are  not  popular, 
if  Congress  should  want  to  be  popular.  To  be  sure  a  crash  will 
come,  and  there  will  be  a  reckoning  ;  but  every  one  says,  'after  me 
the  deluge.' 

"  Your  redemption  plan  would  be  good  if  there  were  not  a  better; 
but  where  would  you  get  coin,  unless  redemption  of  specie  payments 
comes  just  to  pay  the  first  instalment  of  redemption  bonds?  In 
my  judgment,  the  first  step  is  to  economize  and  systematize  expen- 
diture, then  the  most  energetic  energy  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war  ; 
next,  exclusion  of  State  bank  notes  from  circulation  ;  next,  adequate 
taxation  ;  next,  resumption  sustained  by  the  whole  power  of  the 
government.  Many  details  I  can  not  notice;  but  the  general  out- 
line indicates,  where,  in  my  judgment,  lies  the  path  of  safety. 

"You  say  nothing  about  your  family.  I  shall  be  glad  to  know  how 
you  all  are  ;  and  what  you  are  doing. 

"  Sincerely  your  friend, 

"S.  P.  CHASE. 

"Jesse  Baldwin,  Esq.,  Youngstown,  Ohio." 

It  is  necessary,  in  disposing  of  this  matter,  to  do  justice  to  the 
language  of  Chief  Justice  Chase,  first  in  Hepburn  vs.  GriswoldJ  and 


l8  Wallace,  003. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  411 

next  in  the  Legal  Tender  Cases,1  in  order  to  possess  ourselves  of  all 
that  is  of  interest  to  this  investigation. 

In  the  first  of  these  cases,  the  Chief  Justice,  after  pronouncing 
the  legal  tender  clause  repugnant  to  the  constitution,  said  : 

"It  is  not  surprising  that  amid  the  tumult  of  the  late  civil  war, 
and  under  the  influence  of  apprehensions  for  the  safety  of  the  Re- 
public almost  universal,  different  views,  never  before  entertained  by 
American  statesmen  or  jurists,  were  adopted  by  many.  The  time 
was  not  favorable  to  considerate  reflection  upon  the  constitutional 
limits  of  legislative  or  executive  authority.  If  power  was  assumed 
from  patriotic  motives,  the  assumption  found  ready  justification  in 
patriotic  hearts.  Man}' who  doubted,  yielded  their  doubts;  many 
who  did  not  doubt,  were  silent.  Some,  who  were  strongly  averse  to 
making  government  notes  a  legal  tender,  felt  themselves  constrained 
to  acquiesce  in  the  views  of  the  advocates  of  the  measure.  Not  a 
few,  who  then  insisted  upon  its  necessity,  or  acquiesced  in  that  view, 
have,  since  the  return  of  peace,  and  under  the  influence  of  the 
calmer  time,  reconsidered  their  conclusions,  and  now  concur  in  those 
which  we  have  just  announced.  These  conclusions  seem  to  us  to  be 
fully  sanctioned  b}T  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  constitution." 

The  dissenting  opinion  of  the  Chief  Justice,  reported  in  the 
Legal  Tender  Cases,  contains  this  language,  with  other  sentences: 

"The  reference  made  in  the  opinion  just  read,  as  well  as  in  the 
argument  at  the  bar,  to  the  opinions  of  the  Chief  Justice,  when  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  seems  to  warrant,  if  it  does  not  require,  some 
observations  before  proceeding  further  in  the  discussion. 

"It  was  his  fortune  at  the  time  the  legal  tender  clause  was  in- 
serted in  the  bill  to  authorize  the  issue  of  the  United  States  notes, 
and  received  the  sanction  of  Congress,  to  be  charged  with  the  anx- 
ious and  responsible  duty  of  providing  funds  for  the  prosecution  of 
the  war.  In  no  report  made  by  him  to  Congress  was  the  expedient 
of  making  the  notes  of  the  United  States  a  legal  tender  suggested." 

So  far  quotes  a  remarkably  reckless  article  in  the  North  American 
Review  for  January,  1874,  thereupon  proceeding  to  say : 

"  Such  a  direct  denial  of  acts,  of  one  of  which,  at  least,  he  was  the 
author,  and  all  of  which  he  recommended  to  Congress  and  pressed 
with  whatever  eloquence  and  influence  he  could  command,  is  an  ex- 
ample of  political  profligacy  without  parallel  in  the  history  of  this 
country.  It  has  laid  the  late  Secretary  open  to  the  grave  charge 
that  his  decision  in  the  late  legal  tender  case  was  influenced  by  im- 
proper motives,  and  has  left  an  indelible  stain  on  his  memory." 

Indeed !      Why  not  then  quote  the  whole  paragraph,  a  part  of 


1 12  Wallace,  570. 


412  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

which  is  thus  recklessly  characterized  ?     The  Chief  Justice  went  on 
to  say  of  himself  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  : 

"  He  urged  the  issue  of  notes  payable  on  demand  in  coin,  or  re- 
ceivable as  coin  in  payment  of  duties.  "When  the  State  banks  had 
suspended  specie  payments,  he  recommended  the  issue  of  United 
States  notes,  receivable  for  all  loans  to  the  United  States  and  all 
government  dues  except  duties  on  imports.  In  his  report  of  Decem- 
ber, 18G2,  he  said  that  'United  States  notes  receivable  for  bonds 
bearing  a  secure  specie  interest  are  next  best  to  notes  convertible 
into  coin,'  and  after  stating  the  financial  measures  which  in  his  judg- 
ment were  advisable,  he  added  :  '  The  Secretary  recommends,  there- 
fore, no  mere  paper  money  scheme,  but,  on  the  contrary,  a  series  of 
measures  looking  to  a  safe  and  gradual  return  to  gold  and  silver  as 
the  only  permanent  basis,  standard,  and  measure  of  value  recognized 
b}'  the  constitution.'  At  the  session  of  Congress  before  this  report 
was  made,  the  bill  containing  the  legal  tender  clause  had  become  a 
law.  He  was  extremely  and  avowedly  averse  to  this  clause,  but 
was  very  solicitious  for  the  passage  of  the  bill  to  authorize  United 
States  notes  then  pending.  He  thought  it  indispensably  necessary 
that  the  authority  to  issue  these  notes  should  be  granted  by  Con- 
gress. The  passage  of  the  bill  was  delayed,  if  not  jeoparded,  by  the 
difference  of  opinion  which  prevailed  on  the  question  of  making 
them  a  legal  tender.  It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  he  ex- 
pressed the  opinion,  when  called  on  b}'  the  Committee  of  Ways  and 
Means,  that  it  was  necessary  ;  and  he  was  not  sorry  to  find  it  sus- 
tained by  respected  courts,  not  unanimous  indeed,  nor  without  con- 
trary decisions  of  State  courts  equally  respectable.  Examination 
and  reflection  under  more  propitious  circumstances  have  satisfied 
him  that  this  opinion  was  erroneous,  and  he  does  not  hesitate  to  de- 
clare it.  He  would  do  so  just  as  unhesitatingly  if  his  favor  to  the 
legal  tender  clause  had  been  at  the  time  decided,  and  his  opinion  as 
to  the  constitutionality  of  the  measure  clear." 

The  next  document- 1  offer  takes  us  back  a  little,  as  follows: 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  January  28,  1862. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  You  know  me  too  well,  I  trust,  to  believe  for  a 
moment  that  I  would  interfere,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  a  matter 
which  pertains  so  exclusively  to  the  legislature  of  the  State,  as  the 
choice  of  a  senator.  It  was  1113-  pleasure,  as  it  was  my  duty,  to  con- 
tribute my  little  quantum  of  aid  to  the  success  of  the  Union  cause  in 
Man  hind,  without  the  slightest  knowledge  of  the  predilections  of 
any  Union  candidate  for  the  legislature  in  respect  to  the  senator  to 
be  chosen  by  the  legislature.  I  trust  you  are  mistaken  as  to  the  rep- 
resentations said  to  have  been  made  by  Mr.  Hoffman  ;  but  certain 
it  is  that  no  one  has  any  warrant  for  attributing  to  me  the  slightest 
expression  of  preference,  either  before  or  since  the  State  election. 
u  Very  sincerely  your  friend, 

"Hon.  Keverdy  Johnson.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  413 

Does  not  this  letter  testify  well  in  favor  of  its  writer? 
In  a  letter  of  February  5,  addressed  to  some  one  whose  name  is  not 
shown  in  the  copy  furnished  me,  are  the  words  : 

"I  send  an  official  letter  about  a  permit  to  Mr.  Norton,  which  ex- 
plains itself.  A  similar  permit  has  been,  I  believe,  granted  to  Mr. 
Forbes,  of  Boston,  and  it  is  desirable  to  avoid  even  the  appearance 
of  discrimination  against  men  not  less  worthy,  though  less  promi- 
nent. 

"The  Vice-President  and  Senator  Wilson  know  Mr.  Norton,  and 
vouch  for  his  integrity  and  merit." 

On  the  19th,  in  a  letter  to  X.  H.  Wilson,  Esq.,  the  same  pen 
said  : 

"An  agent  of  this  department — Mr.  Allen  A.  Hall,  a  well-known 
citizen  of  Nashville — has  already  gone  to  Tennessee  to  attend  to  the 
commercial  intercourse  with  that  region.  He  will  collect  and  send 
on  cotton,  and  do  whatever  else  may  be  necessary  in  the  premises. 
I  have  granted  also,  experimental!}*,  a  few  permits  to  take  bagging 
and  bale  rope  into  the  insurrectionary  region,  and  to  bring  thence 
cotton.  If  these  work  well  I  may  grant  others.  At  present  I  pro- 
pose to  await  the  result  of  the  experiments.  May  Ave  not  hope  for 
military  results  which  will  dispense  with  all  restriction  and  permits 
by  reconstitution  of  State  governments?" 

On  the  27th  General  Dix  was  thus  addressed  by  letter : 

"Dear  General:  Some  time  since,  on  your  suggestion,  I  in- 
dorsed on  a  letter  from  General  Lockwood  or  yourself  a  leave  to  take 
some  salt  to  North  Carolina  for  a  Mr.  Smith,  with  a  view  to  its  ex- 
change for  cotton  seed.  Learning  that  this  was  thought  likely  to 
prejudice  the  blockade,  I  revoked  the  leave. 

•Since  then  representations  have  been  made  to  me  which  induce 
me  to  think  that  a  pass  in  the  inclosed  form,  suggested  by  Mr. 
Hodge,  may  be  properly  granted.  You  will  observe  that  it  contains 
no  authority  to  carry  goods  to  the  insurrectionary  region,  but 
simply  allows  the  importation  of  cotton  seed  into  Baltimore.  As  Mr. 
Smith  bore  General  Lockwood's  letter  and  your  indorsement,  I 
prefer,  before  giving  this  authority,  to  consult  you,  so  that,  if  you 
think  best,  you  can  communicate  my  intention  to  Mr.  Smith,  cither 
directly  or  through  General  Lock  wood,  and  assure  him  of  my  will- 
ingness to  grant  to  him  whatever  is  granted  to  any  other  person? 

"Do  you  know  Mr.  Win.  B.  Dobbin,  for  whom  Mr.  Hodge  desiros 
a  license,  and  with  whom  he  will  be  interested  in  the  cargo?  Is  he 
a  thoroughly  loyal  man,  and  in  sympathy  with  the  administra- 
tion?' 

By  way  of  postscript  we  have : 

"Officers  in   the  civil,   naval,  or    military   service  of  the  "United 


414  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

States   are  requested  to  respect  the  pass  which  may  be  issued  by 

Major-General  John  A.  Dix,  U.  S.  A.,  to to  bring  a  cargo 

of  cotton   seed   to  Baltimore,  Mr. complying  with  the 

terms  and  conditions  of  said  pass." 

Before  passing  from  this  subject  it  is  proper  to  touch  a  matter  of 
some  delicacy.  In  Ohio,  among  the  evidently  unfounded  charges 
against  Secretary  Chase,  was  one  imputing  to  him  and  Mr.  Mellen  a 
corrupt  combination  with  other  persons  I  forbear  to  name ;  and 
there  were  charges  of  other  corruption.  All  these  charges  supposed 
Mr.  Chase  to  be  corruptly  speculating  in  cotton;  but  they  never 
commanded  much  attention.  The  high  character  of  Mr.  Chase  pro- 
tected him  then,  as  it  had  protected  him  before.  I  have  no  doubt 
at  all  about  his  purity  in  public  as  in  private  life. 

But  was  it  not  unfortunate  for  him  and  the  country  that  he  be- 
came Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  so  had  to  deal  with  such  mat- 
ters? As  Chief  Justice,  but  for  his  career  as  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, he  would  have  been  acknowledged  to  have  had  no  superior 

Here  is  another  letter  showing  farther  how,  as  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  he  had  to  occupy  his  attention  : 

"  Treasury  Department,  February  5,  1862. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  Have  just  sent  you  a  telegram  in  these  words,  as 
nearly  as  I  recollect  them  : 

"'  Your  letter  just  received — am  exceedingly  solicitous  on  your  ac- 
count, and  on  the  account  of  our  Cincinnati  mechanics  that  the  mor- 
tar beds  be  finished  at  the  day — don't  fail — will   write  by  mail.' 

"  This  dispatch  explains  itself.  I  only  add  a  word,,  lest  you  may 
think  that  I  suppose  the  government  will  refuse  to  take  the  mortar 
beds,  on  account  of  a  day  or  two  of  delay  in  finishing  them.  I  do 
not  suppose  such  will  be  the  case  ;  though  I  am  unable  to  speak  def- 
initely of  what  is  in  another  department. 

"But  I  shall  he  mortified  exceedingly,  if,  after  what  I  have  said, 
and  you  have  said,  to  the  President,  there  should  be  any  failure  or 
any  delay.  The  honor  of  our  Cincinnati  mechanics  is  in  some  sort 
pledged,  and  I  want  it  redeemed,  even  if  they  have  to  accomplish  im- 
possibilities. I  know  they  can  accomplish  impossibilities  when  they 
try.     I  mean,  of  course,  what  most  men  would  call  impossibilities, 

"Any  delay,  would  involve  the  necessity  of  explanation  and  ex- 
cuse, and  I  want  to  have  no  occasion  for  either,  where  our  people  are 
concerned.  Yours  sincerely, 

"  Edward  M.   Shield,  Esq.  S.P.CHASE." 

A  letter,  dated  February  17,  1862,  and  addressed  by  Secretary 
Chase  to  Mr.  M.  D.  Potter,  now  deceased,  then  of  the  Cincinnati 
Commercial ',  contained  these  words  : 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  415 

"Several  friends  have  written  rae  on  the  subjecl  of  the  United 
States  Senatorship,  desiring  me  to  be  the  successor  of  Wade.  I  have 
no  wish  to  be  so.     I  came  into  the  Treasury  Department  against  my 

own  counsel;  but  imw  1  am  in,  I  do  not  desire  even  to  seem  to  shrink 
from  its  responsibilities.  1  have  entire  faith  in  our  ability  to  crush 
out  the  rebellion,  and  entire  confidence — if  I  can  get  my  views  of 
finance  into  laws — that  we  shall  save  the  eost  of  the  war  in  our  86- 
cured  and  improved  currency. 

"But  1  do  not  regard  the  Senator  question  with  indifference.  lam 
really  anxious  to  have  the  support  of  at  least  one  personal  friend 
from  Ohio.  Wade  is  not  :  though  I  must  do  him  the  justice  1o  say 
that  he  i-s  bold,  faithful  and.  able  ;  and  I  should  prefer  his  election  in- 
finitely to  that  of  some  man  not  so  faithful,  able,  and  bold  as  him- 
self.    We  must  have,  now,  men  of  ideas  and  energies. 

" Of  such  men  are  Hoadly,  Key,  and  Spaulding.  Under  all  the 
circumstances,  as  I  see  them.  I  think  neither  Judge  Key  nor  Judge 
Hoadly  likely  to  be  taken  up  with  probabilities  of  success.  "Why 
not.  then,  take  Judge  Spaulding?  He  is  a  man  of  great  energ}'  and 
ability,  and  of  irreproachable  character.  Some  years  since,  it  is  true. 
he  was  addicted  to  occasional  sprees ;  hut  this  is  all  reformed,  thor- 
oughly and  completely,  and  for  years.  The  only  objection  that  can 
possibly  be  made  to  him  is.  that  he  is  too  radical.  But  he  is  no  more 
radical  than  myself  or.  tioic.  Key.  In  fact,  in  public  bodies,  he  has 
always  shown  himself  singularly  wise  and  discreet.  Why  not,  then, 
give  him  a  good  setting  forth  in  the  Commercial?  I  am  told  there 
are  many  on  both  sides,  whose  nominal  and  perhaps  real  choice  is 
some  other  general,  who  will  gladly  or  cheerfully  support  him;  while 
his  positive  original  strength  is  quite  as  respectable  as  that  of  several 
other  prominent  men.  How  would  it  do  to  talk  to  Shield  and  let 
him  go  to  Columbus,  and  see  what  can  be  fairly  and  prudently  done? 
"  Very  truly  and  faithfully, 

"  M.  D.  Potter,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Intimacy  between  such  a  man  as  he  who  wrote  and  him  who  was  to 
read  that  letter  could  work  mischief;  it  could  work  no  good.  It 
showed  our  hero's  growing  disposition  to  control  or  influence  con- 
ductors of  the  press. 


416  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

SLAVERY   ABOLISHED    IN   THE    DISTRICT    OF   COLUMBIA. 

FEBRUARY  17,  1862,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  wrote 
to  Bishop  Mcllvaine: 

"We  entertain  here  now  no  fear  of  foreign  intervention.  The 
recent  successes  dispel  all  doubt  of  the  ability  of  the  Nation  to  deal 
with  the  rebellion. 

"The  capture  of  Roanoke  Island  with  near  three  thousand  prison- 
ers; the  capture  of  Fort  Heniy,  followed  so  rapidly  by  that  of  Fort 
Donelson,  with  fifteen  thousand,  and  among  them  two  of  the  ablest 
of  the  rebel  generals,  Johnson  (Albert  Sidney)  and  Buckner;  the 
splendid  march  and  success  of  Lander  on  the  Upper  Potomac,  which 
will  soon  open  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  are  each  crushing 
blows.  The  time  has  now  come  for  dealing  decisively  with  the  army 
in  front  of  us;  weakened  by  sickness,  desertions,  and  withdrawals 
of  troops,  until  a  victory  over  it  is  deprived  of  more  than  half  its 
honor." 

The  conclusion  of  the  letter  contains  this  sentence :  "  You  are 
doing  a  great  work  and  a  good  one." 

The  same  day,  a  letter  to  M.  D.  Potter,  now  deceased,  contained 
the  words : 

"I  have  just  heard  the  glorious  news  from  Fort  Donelson.  The 
underpinning  of  the  rebellion  seems  to  be  knocked  out  from  under 
it;  thanks  to  divine  Providence  in  the  first  place,  and  next  to  the 
agency  of  the  President,  seconded  by  the  genius  of  Halleck,  and  the 
skill  and  courage  of  the  generals  and  soldiers  in  the  field.  Lander, 
too,  has  done  gloriously  on  the  Upper  Potomac.  He  is  a  man  of 
the  noblest  temper  and  of  equal  genius.  These  blows,  with  the 
splendid  triumph  under  Burnside  and  Goldsborough,  will  go  far 
towards  finishing  the  rebellion.     But  the  finish  must  yet  be  given." 

Next,  attention  is  invited  to  this  letter: 

"Washington,  February  20,  1862. 
"Dear  Sir:  Most  gladly  would  I  unite  with  the  citizens  of  New 
York  in  celebrating  the  anniversaiy  of  the  birth-day  of  Washington, 
could  I   leave,  oven  for  such  a  purpose,  my  post  of  duty    at  this 
time,  but  I  must  remain. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  417 

"The  celebration  which  you  propose,  and  similar  celebrations, 
spontaneously  springing  from  the  same  impulse,  all  over  the  coun- 
try, justify  the  oope  that  the  memory  of  Washington,  ever  living  in 
the  hearts  of  his  countrymen,  will  lend  an  appropriate  inspiration 
to  all  our  endeavors  to  restore  the  Union  which  he  contributed  so 
much  to  establish.  We  need  his  patience,  his  disinterestedness,  his 
true  courage,  his  lofty  sense  of  justice,  his  enlightened  zeal  for 
impartial  freedom.  These  are  the  virtues  which,  exorcised  in  such 
degree  as  men  are  capable  of,  will  not  only  restore  the  Union  but 
reestablish  it  in  more  than  its  pristine  vigor,  compactness,  and 
beneficence.  Yours,  very  trul}',  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"Elliot  C.  Cowden,  Esq.,  Chairman,  etc.,  New  York  City." 

The  indications  of  this  note  may  be  differently  viewed  : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  March,  1862. 
"  My  Dear  Cousin  :    I  have  recommended  your  appointment  to 
the  President,  and  have  asked  Mr.  Senator  Conness  to  present  your 
letters  and  papers. 

"I  hope  you  may  obtain  what  you  want 

"  Affectionately,  your  cousin,  * 

"  Eev.  Dudley  Chase.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

For  my  part,  I  rather  like  that  little  note. 
March  6th  the  diary  yields  as  follows: 

"To-day  the  President  sent  a  message  to  Congress,  recommending 
cooperation  by  Federal  Government  with  States  in  abolition  of 
slavery  within  their  limits. 

"The  following  is  a  draft  of  a  message  on  this  subject,  prepared 
and  submitted  to  the  President  during  the  last  week  of  December:1 


1  Here  is  the  draft  so  mentioned  : 

"MESSAGE. 

"In  my  annual  message,  communicated  to  Congress  at  the  commencement  of  the 
present  session,  I  took  occasion  to  say: 

"The  Union  must  be  preserved;  and  hence  all  indispensable  means  must  be 
employed.  We  should  not  be  in  haste  to  determine  that  radical  and  extreme  meas- 
ures, which  may  reach  the  loyal  as  well  as  the  disloyal,  are  indispensable. 

"Reflecting  since,  with  great  solicitude,  upon  the  condition  of  the  country,  and 
sharing  in  full  proportion  the  desire  which  pervades  the  whole  community  for  a 
Bpeedy  suppression  of  the  rebellion,  I  have  reached  the  conclusion  that  it  is  my  duty 
to  submit  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  some  suggestions  which  seem  to  me  to 
deserve  their  most  serious  attention. 

"It  is  known  to  all  that  the  most  potent  falsehoods  by  which  the  fomenters  of 
discontent  and  promoters  of  insurrection  inflamed  the  minds  of  citizens  of  the  slave- 
holding  States,  and  prepared  them  for  rebellion  under  the  guise  of  secession,  was 


418  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

March  9th,  Secretary  Chase  wrote  as  follows  to  General  Halleck  : 

"General:  I  received  your  telegram  late  last  night,  and  an- 
swered it  to-day. 

"Your  order,  opening  the  navigation  of  the  Cumberland,  was 
taken  every-where  as  a  commercial  measure,  and  the  seeming  pref- 
erence given  to  St.  Louis  merchants  excited  much  feeling  at  Cincin- 
nati and  Louisville,  and  the  surveyors  at  both  ports  telegraphed  me 
for  authority  to  grant  permits,  which,  under  the  law,  I  could  not 
give.  Of  what  Mr.  Mellen  has  done,  I  am  uninformed,  but  presume 
he  has  sought  to  bring  commercial  intercourse  with  the  insurrec- 
tionary region  under  the  regulations  required  by  law.  I  am  conn- 
dent  he  has  had  no  thought  of  interfering  with  any  military  move- 
ment or  measure  of  yours,  or  of  treating   any  order  which  you  have 


the  assertion  that  the  party  by  which  I  was  chosen  President  of  the  United  States 
designed  to  interfere,  through  the  agency  of  the  Federal  Government,  with  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  existed.  It  is  equally  well  known  to  all 
who  have  taken  any  pains  to  inform  themselves,  that  such  interference  was  never 
designed  or  sanctioned  by  that  party,  but  was,  on  the  contrary,  in  all  its  declarations, 
whether  by  National  or  State  Conventions,  distinctly  and  emphatically  disavowed 
and  repudiated.  No  well-informed  person  can  now  reasonably  doubt  that,  under 
an  administration  conducted  upon  the  principles  set  forth  in  those  declarations,  the 
institution  of  slavery,  existing  under  State  constitutions  and  laws,  would  have  been 
as  absolutely  safe  from  Federal  interference  as  it  had  been  under  any  administra- 
tion since  the  establishment  of  the  Union. 

"  It  is  true  that  the  majority  of  the  people,  by  whose  suffrages  the  existing  ad- 
ministration was  called  to  the  concerns  of  government,  cherishing  on  this  subject 
the  sentiments  of  Washington  and  Jefferson,  of  Franklin  and  Adams,  opposed  the 
extension  of  slavery  beyond  State  limits,  and  proposed  to  afford  it  no  governmental 
support  within  the  sphere  of  exclusive  national  jurisdiction.  But  it  is  equally  true 
that  they  regarded  slavery  within  State  limits  as  beyond  that  sphere,  and  meant  to 
perform  fully,  in  reference  to  slaves  held  under  State  laws,  as  well  as  in  reference 
to  every  other  matter  of  duty  to  every  citizen  of  every  State,  every  constitutional 
obligation. 

"The  rebellion,  therefore,  except  so  far  as  its  chiefs  and  some  of  their  more  de- 
luded followers  were  concerned,  was  inspired  and  is  sustained  by  a  delusion.  Were 
the  people  of  the  rebellious  districts  even  now  to  reject  the  counsels  of  their  mis- 
leaders,  reorganize  loyal  State  governments,  and  again  send  senators  and  represent- 
atives to  Congress,  they  would  find  themselves  at  peace,  with  no  institution  changed 
and  with  their  just  influence  in  the  national  councils  unabridged  and  unimpaired. 
With  peace  so  restored,  prosperity  and  happiness  would  return. 

"A  pacific  conquest  of  this  delusion  having  been  made  impossible  by  the  bom- 
bardment of  Sumter,  it  became  necessary  to  preserve  the  Union  by  war;  and  the 
question  now  most  imperatively  demanding  attention  and  solution  is,  by  what 
means  can  this  war  be  best  abridged  without  sacrificing  its  object? 

"  Without  now  adverting  to  the  military  measures  demanded  for  the  suppression 
of  the  rebellion,  it  seems  fit  to  direct  your  attention  to  one  of  another  nature.  I 
have  already  observed  that  the  rebellion,  so  far  as  the  people  of  the  slave   States 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  419 

thought  proper  to  make,  whether  military  or  otherwise,  otherwise 
than  with  the  greatest  respect.  If  in  any  matter  connected  with 
his  duties,  he  finds  himself  in  apparent  or  real  conflict  with  you,  it 
is  his  business  first  to  refer  the  matter  to  yourself,  and  to  advise  me, 
and  then,  if  you  require  what  seems  to  him  to  infringe  the  law,  to 
acquiesce  in  your  decision  until  the  matter  can  be  adjusted  here  by 
the  President,  or  b}'  the  War  and  Treasury  Departments.  It  is  of 
the  first  importance  that  your  operations  be  in  no  respect  embar- 
rassed, and  they  certainly  shall  not  be  through  any  act  or  omission 
of  mine. 

"Be  assured,  General,  that  no  one  rejoices  more  heartily  than  my- 
self in  your  success,  or  feels  more  grateful  for  the  zeal,  ability,  and 
wisdom  with  which,  at  this  critical  moment,  you  are  serving  your 
country.  Yours  most  cordially, 

"Major-General  Halleck.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


participate  in  it,  is  prompted  by  a  delusion — by  the  groundless  fear  of  interference 
with  State  concerns,  and  especially  in  the  matter  of  slavery,  by  Federal  authority. 
The  real  motives  with  its  chiefs  and  the  initiated  are,  first,  resentment  at  defeat  of 
their  schemes  for  the  subjection  of  the  Federal  administration  to  the  permanent 
supremacy  of  slave-holders  as  a  separate  ruling  class  ;  and,  secondly,  ambition  to 
found  a  government,  either  consolidated  or  federal,  republican  or  monarchical,  of 
which  slavery  shall  be  the  central  idea,  and  which  they  themselves  may  administer 
and  control. 

"To  dispel  the  illusion  of  the  masses,  and  to  deprive  the  leaders  of  the  hope  of 
success  in  their  cherished  schemes,  will  go  far  toward  extinguishing  the  rebellion, 
by  withdrawing  its  aliment. 

'•I  suggest,  therefore,  for  the  consideration  of  Congress,  the  expediency  of  offer- 
ing, by  joint  resolution,  to  the  acceptance  of  the  several  States  within  whose  limits 
slavery  exists  under  sanction  of  loyal  State  governments,  a  compensation  not 
exceeding  a  certain  sum  for  each  person  held  as  a  slave  according  to  the  last  census, 
to  be  paid  to  the  States  and  distributed  to  individuals  in  proportions  ascertained 
by  their  own  legislation,  in  case  the  people  thereof,  through  their  own  conventions 
or  legislatures  shall  see  fit  to  accept  such  compensation  and  make  provision  for 
emancipation. 

"Such  a  proposition  on  the  part  of  Congress,  submitted  frankly  to  the  free 
acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  loyal  States,  would  be  a  distinct  and  emphatic  repu- 
diation of  all  pretense  of  Federal  authority  to  interfere  with  slavery  within  State 
limits,  by  referring  the  whole  subject  to  the  States  and  people  immediately  inter- 
ested. It  would  afford  clear  evidence  of  fraternal  sentiments,  by  manifested  readi- 
ness to  assume  as  a  common  burden  the  cost  of  a  benefit  shared  by  all,  but  by  none 
more  largely  than  by  the  enfranchising  States;  and  it  would,  so  far  as  accepted  by 
the  loyal  slave-holding  States,  strengthen  the  bonds  of  union  between  themselves 
and  their  brethren,  while  it  would  in  the  same  degree  destroy  the  hope  of  bringing 
these  loyal  States  into  their  scheme  of  extending  the  slave-holding  empire  yet  cher- 
ished by  the  leailers  of  the  rebellion;  compel  thern  to  see  for  what  wretched  husks 
of  sovereignty  they  have  prodigally  wasted  their  rich  inheritance  of  safety,  honor, 
prosperity,  and  power  under  the  Federal  constitution,  and  arouse  in  the  minds  of 
the  misled  masses  irresistible  desires  to  return  to  the  Union,  from  which,  in  an  evil 
hour,  under  coercion  or  delusion,  they  have  attempted  to  withdraw.'" 

28 


420  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

The  next  clay  our  ever  busy  hero  wrote  as  follows: 

"Dear  Wilson  :  It  is  said  that  the  nomination  of  General  Blenker 
will  not  be  confirmed  by  the  Senate.  If  this  be  so,  I  am  sure  the 
President  is  disposed  to  nominate  Carl  Schurz  in  his  place.  The 
nomination  of  Schurz  would  be  a  decided  benefit,  in  my  judgment, 
to  the  army  and  the  administration. 

"  I  know  nothing  of  Blenker's  case,  and  do  not  wish  to  be  under- 
stood as  expressing  any  wish  in  reference  to  it,  except  for  immediate 
action.  If  he  is  worthy  he  ought  to  be  confirmed  without  reference 
to  Schurz;  if  unworthy,  he  should  be  rejected  without  reference  to 
the  question  of  a  successor.  But  why  not  act  in  the  matter,  and  at 
once?     It  is  desirable  all  round.  Yours  truly, 

"Hon.  II.  Wilson.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

On  the  same  clay  Rev.  Dr.  Fuller,  of  Baltimore,  called  on  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  asked  advice  as  to  the  course  he 
should  pursue  in  regard  to  his  plantations  and  slaves  at  Port  Royal. 
He  wished  to  know  what  were  his  rights  in  respect  to   them. 

Mr.  Chase  told  him  that,  as  a  loyal  man,  he  was  proprietor  of 
the  land. 

11  How  about  the  negroes  ?  "  asked  the  Reverend  loyalist. 

"  They  are  free,"  responded  Secretary  Chase. 

The  Doctor  thought  his  right  to  them  was  the  same  as  his  right 
to  the  land.  He  was  told  that  opinions  would  differ  on  that  point, 
but  that,  for  one,  his  interlocutor  would  never  consent  to  the  invol- 
untary reduction  to  slavery  of  one  of  the  negroes  who  had  been  in 
the  service  of  the  government.  The  Secretary  went  on  to  intimate 
what  he  thought  of  the  character  of  the  rebellion,  its  results,  etc. 

Dr.  Fuller  said  he  was  willing  to  acquiesce  in  the  experiments  of 
the  government,  but  expressed  grave  doubts  of  the  success  of  the 
undertaking  at  Port  Royal.  He  quoted  Machiavelli's  saying,  "  next 
to  making  freemen  slaves,  it  is  most  difficult  to  make  slaves  free- 
men." 

In  connection  with  this  anecdote,  let  me  relate  another. 

On  the  first  of  May  following,  General  Saxton  came  to  breakfast 
with  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  French,  just 
arrived  from  Port  Royal,  happened  in.  Port  Royal  matters  were 
talked  over.  In  recording  some  account  of  this  conversation,  Mr. 
Chase  put  down  these  words : 

"Inter  alia,  Mr.  F.  don't  like  many  things;  thinks  the  Unita- 
rians don't  get  hold  of  the  work  in  the  right  way.  The  negroes 
are  mostly  Baptists,  and  like  emotional    religion    better   than    ra- 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  421 

ti on al,  so  called.     They  ' to  Jesus,'  and  can  not  understand  a 

religion  that  is  not  founded  on  His  divinity.  Many  marriages  have 
been  'confirmed'  among  thorn.  He  had  laid  much  stress  on  the 
duty  of  regular  marriages  between  those  who  have  been  living  to- 
gether without  thai  sanction.  On  some  plantations  the  masters  had 
allowed  and  encouraged  marriages  by  ministers — on  others,  little 
was  cared  about  it.  A  good  deal  of  cotton  had  been  planted,  and 
more  corn.  The  work  of  cultivation  was  going  on  as  well  as  could 
be  expected.  Mr.  F.  thought  Mr.  Suydam  would  make  a  good  col- 
lector. I  talked  to  General  S.  about  the  work  before  him.  He  said 
the  Secretary  of  War  had  authorized  him  to  procure  one  or  two 
thousand  red  flannel  suits  for  the  blacks,  with  a  view  to  organiza- 
tion.    No  arms  to  be  supplied  as  yet" 

March  10,  the  Secretary  made  this  entry  : 

"  This  morning  Judge  (Col.)  Key  came  into  the  office,  dressed  for 
the  march  toward  Manassas,  which  the  Arm}*  of  the  Potomac  is 
making.  He  bade  me  good-bye  most  cordially,  thanking  me  repeat- 
edly tor  my  kindness,  by  which,  he  said,  I  had  won  his  faithful  and 
life-long  friendship  ;  there  was  no  man  in  the  country  for  whom  he 
had  so  high  a  respect  and  regard — no  man  whose  advancement  he 
so  much  desired;  not  one  whom  he  so  wished  to  serve." 

A  marked  man,  Judge  (Col.)  Key,  of  whom  more  must  be  said 
hereafter. 

March  17,  the  Secretary  made  this  record  : 

"  W.  D.  Bickham,  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial,  called,  having  just 
returned  from  Manassas. 

"He  reports  that  the  stories  of  wooden  guns  and  absence  of 
fortifications  are  fully  sustained  by  the  facts ;  that  the  rebels  must 
have  been  evacuating  for  weeks;  that  they  left  neither  a  cannon  nor 
a  good  gun  behind  them;  that  we  left  more  property  to  be  wasted 
and  destroj'ed  in  our  own  camps  when  we  made  the  movement  than 
we  found  at  Manassas.  He  says  that  what  was  left  shows  that  the 
rebels  have  lived  well — having  molasses,  sugar,  rice,  and  corn-meal 
in  abundance.  They  did  not  leave  more  than  $20,000  worth  of  prop- 
erty behind  them,  consisting  of  clothing  and  useless  guns,  and  somo 
swords." 

This  letter  seems  to  me  of  marked  significance,  in  view  of  the 
time  when  it  was  written  : 

"  Washington,  March  26,  1862. 
"  My  Dear  Mr.  Mellen  :    I  am  not  fond  of  political  metaphysics. 
The  article  in  the  Evening  Post  which  you  send  me  suits  me  well 
enough.     While  I  think  that  the  government,  in  suppression  of  re- 
bellion, in  view  of  the  destruction  by  suicide  of  the  State  govern 
ments  [which]  with  the  actual  or  strongly  implied  consent  of  the 


422  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC  SERVICES 

majority  of  the  citizens  of  the  several  rebel  States,  have  so  far  for- 
feited all  right  to  be  regarded  as  States,  might  justlj'  treat  them  as 
Territories,  I  have  never  proposed  to  make  this  opinion  the  basis  of 
political  measures.  I  am  willing  and  indeed  much  prefer  to  regard 
each  State  as  in  existence,  and  to  have  no  change  of  boundaries, 
except  such  as  may  he  freely  consented  to  by  them.  I  want  to  keep 
all  the  stars  and  all  the  stripes — and  to  keep  the  States  with  all  their 
old  names  and  ensigns.  South  Carolina,  even,  should  be  South  Caro- 
lina; but  reformed,  I  hope.  The  bill  which  I  prepared  provided 
only  for  provisional  governments;  not  to  destroy,  but  to  preserve. 
It  is  entirely  within  the  principle  of  the  Post's  article.  But  I  prefer 
civil  provisional  governments  authorized  by  Congress  to  military 
governments  instituted  by  the  President. 

"  I  am  glad  you  are  right  with  Halleck,  and  Halleck  with  you. 
He  is  the  ablest  man  yet.  Yours  truly, 

«  William  P.  Mellen,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

It  was  not  strong  to  say,  "  I  am  not  fond  of  political  metaphy- 
sics." Metaphysics  is  a  much-abused  good  name  of  a  good  thing. 
Such  writing  as  that  just  quoted  is  but  a  sort  of  clap-trap  for  the 
shallow.  Economics,  as  a  science,  may  be  deemed  a  species  of  "po- 
litical metaphysics." 

The  same  day  Secretary  Chase  wrote  as  follows: 

"My  Dear  General:  I  inclose  an  article  from  the  Cincinnati 
Commercial,  hitherto  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  earnest  defenders  of 
General  McClellan.  It  grieves  me  to  see  the  confidence  of  the 
country,  which  was  revived  by  the  late  movement  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac,  already  relapsing  into  distrust.  Let  me  beg  you  to 
do  all  that  is  possible  to  inspire  vigor  and  energy.  Permit  me  also 
to  suggest  the  expediency  of  having  no  more  reviews.  The  country 
is  in  no  mood  to  hear  of  anything,  however  useful  and  valuable  in 
itself,  which  savors  of  show  rather  than  action.  Think  how  much 
is  to  be  done  and  how  near  is  midsummer. 

"  If  you  can  not  inspire  activity  and  even  dash  into  the  army,  you 
ought  to  seek  some  other  command,  unless  certain  that  the  outcome 
will  prove  the  delay  to  be  Fabian,  and  only  a  means  to  surer  and 
larger  success. 

"  I  write  as  a  true  friend.  Cordially, 

"  Major  General  McDowell.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

On  the  28th  of  March,  at  Washington,  Mr.  Chase  wrote  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  Your  letter  of  the  4th  of  March  reached  me  yes- 
terday, and  I  beg  you  to  accept  my  thanks  for  it  and  for  your  earlier 
letters,  to  which  I  should  have  regularly  replied,  had  my  incessant 
occupations  permitted.  I  will  be  as  good  a  correspondent  as  I  can, 
and  trust  your  kindness  for  the  overlooking  of  all  sins  of  omission. 

"I  quite  agree  with  you  in  your  views  of  our  duties,  both  in  the 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  423 

prosecution  of  the  war  and  in  relation  to  slavery.  It  was  nry  opin- 
ion from  the  first  that  we  should  strike  the  insurgents  :is  hard'  and  as 
fast  as  possible.  I  remember — how  well  ! — going  to  General  Scott,  in 
May,  nearly  two  weeks  before  Virginia  voted  on  secession,  and  urg- 
ing him  to  seize  Manassas  and  Alexandria.  At  that  time,  the  rebels 
had  no  force  of  any  strength  or  importance  at  either  point,  and  only 
a  few  hundred  men  at  Harper's  Ferry.  I  argued  that  Manassns, 
commanding  the  two  railroads,  was  of  great  strategic  importance; 
that  with  Manassas  in  our  possession,  the  rebels  would  he  obliged  to 
fall  back  from  Harper's  Ferry  and  Winchester,  which  would  leave 
the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah  and  a  large  space  on  the  Potomac  clear 
of  them,  and  give  us  command  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 
to  Wheeling.  With  this  support.  I  further  insisted  that  Virginia 
might  be  carried  against  secession  bj*  the  popular  vote  and  that  in  this 
way  the  whole  State  might  be  saved.  General  Scott  was  a  good  deal 
impressed  by  these  views;  but  his  military  prudence  decided  him 
against  the  measures  I  proposed.  The  opportunity  passed  by. 
Manassas  was  occupied  by  the  rebels,  and  you  know  the  history. 

"  There  have  been  many  other  occasions  in  the  course  of  the  strug- 
gle, in  which  it  seemed  to  me  that  a  different  course  from  that  ac- 
tually adopted  would  have  been  better.  This  is  especially  true  in  re- 
lation to  slavery.  It  has  seemed  to  me  from  the  early  days  of  the 
conflict  that  it  was  bad  policy  as  well  as  bad  principle  to  give  any 
support  to  the  institution.  I  was  quite  willing  to  let  the  loyal  States 
do  with  it  what  they  would,  just  as  if  we  were  at  peace,  but  I  never 
could  see  the  expediency  or  propriety  of  upholding  it.  My  idea  was, 
not  to  declare  emancipation,  but  simply  to  treat  the  population 
just  as  we  found  it,  as  loyal  or  disloyal,  and  a  black  loyalist  better  than 
a  white  rebel.  I  could  see  no  valid  objection  to  enlisting  acclimated 
colored  men,  loyal  and  willing  to  serve,  where  the  Northern  men 
could  not  serve  without  decimation  by  disease,  and  white  men  would 
not  serve  either  because  actually  rebels  or  afraid  of  rebels.  But  I 
have  not  been  able  to  make  my  friends  in  the  administration  see  as  I 
have  seen,  and  I  certainly  don't  claim  that  all  the  wisdom  is  mine 
and  none  theirs. 

'•  Where,  therefore,  I  have  been  overruled,  I  have  quietly  submit- 
ted, doing  all  I  could  to  carry  forward  the  cause  and  the  work,  if  not 
in  my  preferred  way,  yet  in  the  best  way  possible  for  me. 

"Just  now,  things  are  looking  very  well.  The  expenditures  are  be- 
ing gradually  reduced — the  armies  are  moving — success  seems  every- 
where to  settle  on  our  banners — the  credit  of  the  government  is  won- 
derfully sustained,  considering  all  disadvantages.  The  papers  of 
course  give  you  all  the  details,  and  you  will  not  expect  them  from 
me.     Besides,  I  must  close  this  letter — somewhat  too  long  already. 

"  Can  you  send  me  any  good  books,  showing  systems  of  revenue 
and  taxation  in  Denmark,  in  English  or  French  ;  books  or  docu- 
ments? Your  friend, 

"  Hon.  Bradford  Wood.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

March  31,  we  have  this  letter : 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :     The  President's  policy  in  regard  to  emancipation 


424  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

meets  my  most  cordial  approval,  and  will  have  my  heartiest  Bup- 
port. 

"  Our  friends  in  Maryland  are  about  making  a  movement  in  ac- 
cordance with  it. 

"  The  only  danger  will  be  in  too  high  valuations.  This  will,  of 
course,  require  attention. 

"  An  eminent  Marylander  tells  me  that  the  average  valuation  for 
assessment  does  not  exceed  8150  per  person.  The  valuation  for  in- 
franchisement  ought  not  greatly  to  exceed  that  for  taxation,  as  the 
whole  labor  remains,  and  remains  more  valuable  than  before. 

"  Yours  cordially, 

"Key.  W.  G.  Elliot.  S.  P.  CHASE.'' 

April  1,  in  a  letter  to  Colonel  Geo.  P.  Este,  the  Secretary  said  : 

"You  are  mistaken  about  the  potentiality  of  a  word  from  me  in 
the  matter  of  brigadier-making  with  the  President  and  Secretary  of 
War.  I  have  referred  }*our  letter  to  the  latter,  however,  with  a  cor- 
dial indorsement. 

"I  can  not  approve  the  haste  or  inconsideration  with  which  briga- 
diers and  other  high  officers  are  made.  The  consequences  are  all 
evil — evil  morally,  evil  financially,  and  evil  politically." 

Under  date  April  11th,  we  have  this  entry  : 

"  The  House  of  Bepresentatives,  after  a  long  and  exciting  session, 
passed  the  Senate  Bill,  abolishing  slavery  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia, without  amendment. 

"  The  vote  in  the  Senate  was,  yeas  29,  nays  14.  The  vote  in  the 
House  was,  yeas  92,  nays  38.' 

Wednesday,  April  16,  has  the  memorandum  : 

"  The  President  signed  the  Emancipation  Bill  this  morning." 

April  23  yields  this  letter : 

"  Dear  Sir  :  I  am  much  gratified  by  your  note  of  yesterday. 
The  general  oversight  of  affairs  at  Port  Royal,  connected  with  the 
culture  of  the  lands  and  provision  for  the  laborers,  will  soon  be 
transferred  from  this  to  the  War  Department.  It  was  assumed  by 
me.  as  an  incident  to  the  collection  of  cotton,  without  any  legal 
authority  beyond  that  of  appointing  a  special  agent.  It  was 
assumed  solely  because  the  work  seemed  to  be  important  and  the 
War  Department  was  not  ready,  at  that  time,  to  take  charge  of  it. 

••I  welcome  the  cooperation  of  the  benevolent  associations,  one  of 
which  you  represented.  Indeed,  without  that  cooperation  it  would 
have  been  impracticable  to  prepare  for  the  cultivation  of  the  lands, 
Or  ameliorate,  in  any  degree,  the  condition  of  the  laborers.  So  far, 
the  work  conducted  by  the  Treasury  agent.  Mr.  Pierce,  and  the 
judiciously  selected  agents  of  the  associations,  has  gone  on  as  well 
as  could  be  hoped.  Under  the  charge  of  the  War  Department  it 
will  be  conducted,  I  trust,  even  more  successfully. 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  12-"; 

"I  have  reason  to  believe  that  officers  will  he  selected  for  the 
charge  of  the  work  who  will  be  animated  by  the  same  spirit  which 
has  guided  the  action  of  Mr.  Pierce.  I  hope,  indeed,  that  Mr. 
Pierce  may  consent  toacccpt  a  responsible  appointment  in  connection 
with  it.  Yours  truly, 

"  Charles  C.  Leigh,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Under  date,  Thursday,  May  1st,  Chase  wrote : 

"  This  has  not  been  an  eventful  day,  though  it  has  brought 
information  of  great  events." 

On  that  day,  Governor  Dennison,  with  Colonel  Milliken  and 
Messrs.  Donaldson  and  Butler,  called  on  Mr.  Chase.  Governor 
Dennison  commended  Colonel  Milliken  to  the  Secretary. 

In  the  same  we  find  an  entry,  for  the  same  day,  as  follows : 

"To  department  and    usual  morning   business — applications   for 
office  from  senators,  representatives,  and  others.     Promised  nothing 
to  nobody.     Wilmot  most  urgent  for  McKean,  but  Dunn  quite  so  for 
his  nephew.     Colonel  Milliken   came  in  and  related   case — read   his 
letter — wrongfully  dismissed — my  old  friend  T.  C.  H.  Smith  mixed 
up  in   it.     Indorsed    strongly  his  statement  to    Secretary  of  War. 
E.  J.  Walker  and   F.  P.  Stanton  came  in  with  argument  in  Porter 
case,  which  I  took  and  promised  to  examine.     Saxton  and  French 
came  in — had  seen  Secretary  of  War,  and  S.  had  received  instruc- 
tions— read  them  and  found  them  nearly  same  as  had  been  written, 
omitting    reference    to    my   Instructions    to   Agents   of    Treasury 
Department,     Went  over  to  War  Department  about  5  P.  M. — Stan- 
ton gone  to  dinner — read  despatches.     Banks  thinks  his  work  done 
in  Shenandoah  Valley  and    wishes  to   advance.     McDowell   reports 
force  in  front,  on  authority  of  deserters  from  Yorktown — impressed 
men  who    had   got   away  and   were   trying   to    reach   their  homes. 
Four    regiments    and    some    cavalry   and    artillery    under    Smith 
(Gus.),  say  3,000 — about  3,000  more  under  Jackson  coming  to  join 
them  with,  say  5,000  to  10,000.     Whole  force  not  over,  I  judge,  from 
12,000  to  16,000,  and   mostly  raw  and  badly  armed.     Smith's  force 
in  large  part  detailed   from  Yorktown,  where   I  do  not  believe  the 
rebels    now    have    60.000    men — not   equal    to   40,000   good   troops. 
Strange   that    McClellan   dallies  and  waits   in   eternal  preparation. 
Strange  that  the  President  does  not  give  McDowell  all  the  disposable 
force  in  the  region   and  send  him  on  to  Richmond.     Telegram  from 
McD.  copies  extracts  from  Richmond  papers,  giving  correspondence 
between  Mayor  of  Xew  Orleans  and  Commodore  Farragut.     Mayor's 
letter  insolent.     Also  gives  account  of  fall  of  Fort  Macon,  where 
rebels  were  permitted  to  retire  with   honors  of  war,  which  I  think 
wrong. 

'•Home  about  6  to  dinner.  Judge  Lane  dined  with  me.  Knew 
McClellan  when  Superintendent  of  Central  Railroad.  Was  a 
good  superintendent,  but  had  no  occasion  for  display  of  abilities 
needed    now.     Knew     *     *     *     *     well — unscrupulous    in    action 


426  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

against  persons  he  disliked — sanguine,  not  always  judicious,  but 
capable  where  work  and  energy  and  not  much  breadth  and  solidity 
required. 

"[Mr.  Lathrop  came  in  at  department;  told  him  he  had  been 
appointed  Collector  at  New  Orleans,  and  would  have  instructions  as 
soon  as  confirmed.  Chandler  came  in — introduced  him  to  Mr.  L. 
Asked  him  to  have  conf  n,  and  bill  extending  powers  to  prevent 
aid  to  rebels  passed,  which  he  promised.]" 

Now  we  come  to  a  letter  to  our  hero's  "  darling  Nettie.''  It  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  letters  in  the  book.     Here  is  its  tenor: 

"  Hevenue  Steamer  Miami,  off  Fortress  Monroe, 

"May  7,  1862. 

"My  Darling  Nettie:  I  write  to  you  from  the  cabin  of  the 
steamer  Miami,  just  outside  of  the  steam  transports  loaded  with 
troops,  embarked  for  a  proposed  attack  on  Norfolk. 

"  We  came  here  night  before  last,  having  left  Washington  on  Mon- 
day evening.  Our  party  consisted  of  the  President,  Secretary  Stan- 
ton, and  General  Viele,  who  had  just  returned  from  Port  Eoyal, 
where  he  had  commanded  a  brigade  charged  with  the  most  import- 
ant duties  in  the  reduction  of  Fort  Pulaski.  Our  staunch  little 
steamer  bore  us  rapidly  and  pleasantly  down  the  river  until  we  were 
some  ten  or  fifteen  miles  below  Alexandria,  when  the  night,  which 
had  come  on  with  a  drizzling  rain,  became  so  thick  and  dark  that 
the  pilot  found  himself  unable  to  discern  the  right  course.  We  were, 
therefore,  obliged  to  cast  anchor  and  wait  for  a  clearer  sky. 

"By  3  o'clock  of  Tuesday  morning,  we  were  again  on  our  way. 
We  passed  Aquia  about  day,  and  found  ourselves  about  noon  toss- 
ing on  the  Chesapeake.  It  would  have  amused  you  to  see  us  take 
our  luncheon.  The  President  gave  it  up  almost  as  soon  as  he  began, 
and,  declaring  himself  too  uncomfortable  to  eat,  stretched  himself  at 
length  on  the  locker.  The  rest  of  us  persisted  ;  but  the  plates  slip- 
ped this  way  and  that,  the  glasses  tumbled  over  and  slid  and  rolled 
about,  and  the  whole  table  seemed  as  topsy-turvy  as  if  some  spirit- 
ualist was  operating  upon  it.  But  we  got  through,  and  then  the 
Secretary  of  War  followed  the  example  of  the  President,  and  General 
Viele  and  I  went  on  deck  and  chatted. 

"Between  8  and  9  o'clock  we  reached  our  destination.  Mr.  Stanton 
at  once  sent  a  message  to  General  Wool,  notifying  our  arrival,  and, 
after  a  while  the  General  and  a  number  of  his  staff  came  on  board. 
It  was  near  10  o'clock  ;  but  after  a  short  conference  it  was  determined 
that  the  President.  Mr.  S.,  General  W.,  and  myself,  with  General  V., 
should  visit  Commodore  Goldsborough,  and  talk  with  him  about  the 
condition  of  things1  and  the  things  to  be  done.  As  it  was  not  easy 
to  get  along  side  the  Minnesota  in  the  night  on  the  revenue  steamer, 
we  took  a  tug  and  were  soon  within  hail.  As  directed,  in  response 
to  our  hail,  we  went  to  the  port  side.     And  there   were  the  narrow 


1  Tbe  copy  I  Lave  copied  is  full  of  abbreviations,  which  I  have  not  followed. 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  427 

steps  up  the  loft}-  side,  with  the  guiding  ropes  on  either  hand  hardly 
visible  in  the  darkness.  It  seemed  to  me  very  high  and  a  little  fear- 
some. But  etiquette  required  the  President  to  go  first,  and  he  went. 
Etiquette  required  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  follow,  and  I 
followed.  We  got  up  safely,  of  course,  and  when  up  it  did  not  seem 
so  very  much  of  a  getting  up  stairs  after  all. 

"But  I  must  not  stop  to  describe  the  Minnesota,  though  the  noble 
ship  is  worth  description  ;  nor  shall  I  tell  you  of  the  conference,  ex- 
eept  that  it  related  to  military  and  naval  movements  in  connection 
with  the  dreaded  '  Merrimae.' 

'•  The  next  morning — yesterday,  "Wednesday — we  of  the  Miami 
were  up  pretty  early,  for  it  isn't  easy,  somehow,  to  sleep  on  ship- 
board. We  were  to  breakfast  at  9  o'clock  with  General  Wool,  and 
Mr.  Stanton  proposed  we  should  visit  the  Vanderbilt  first.  She  was 
all  readj'  for  her  encounter  with  the  Merrimae,  enormousby  strength- 
ened about  the  bow  with  timbers,  so  as  to  be  little  else  for  man}-  feet 
(say  50)  from  the  prow  than  a  mass  of  solid  timber,  plated  outside 
with  iron.  We  stood  a  moment  on  her  wheel-house,  and  looked 
down  through  the  immense  diameter  of  her  wheels,  the  frame-work 
of  which  seemed  slight  and  curiously  interlaced  ;  but  was  in  fact  of 
the  strongest  wrought-iron  bars,  and  adjusted  carefully  to  the  great- 
est strength.  The  weight  of  one  wheel  was  100  tons,  and  the  diam- 
eter through  which  we  looked,  42  feet. 

"From  the  Vanderbilt  we  sailed  round  the  Monitor  and  Stevens, 
and  then  back  to  the  wharf;  but  I  must  omit  in  this  letter  the  break- 
fast, the  visit  to  the  Monitor  and  Stevens  ;  to  the  Rip  Raps,  Commo- 
dore G-.'s  coming,  and  discussion,  the  appearance  of  the  Merrimae 
and  disappearance,  the  review,  the  visit  to  ruined  Hampton,  the  de- 
termination to  direct  Commodore  Goldsboi-ough  to  send  the  Galena 
and  two  gunboats  up  the  river;  how  it  was  determined  to  attempt 
the  reduction  of  the  batteries  at  Sewell's  Point  next  morning;  how 
we  went  to  the  Rip  Raps  ;  how  the  fleet  moved  to  the  attack  ;  how  the 
great  guns  of  the  Rip  Raps  joined  in  the  tray,  throwing  shot  and 
shell  more  than  three  miles ;  how  the  Merrimae  came  down  and  out; 
how  the  Monitor  moved  up  and  quietby  waited  for  her;  how  the  big 
wooden  ships  got  out  of  the  way,  that  the  Minnesota  and  Vander- 
bilt might  have  fair  sweep  at  her  and  run  her  down  ;  how  she 
wouldn't  come  where  they  could  ;  how  she  finally  retreated  to  where 
the  Monitor  alone  could  follow  her — all  this,  and  much  more,  I  must 
leave  untold  this  evening;  for,  since  I  wrote  the  first  half  and  more 
of  this  letter,  a  night  is  past  and  the  sun  of  the  8th  of  May  has 
risen  splendidly  over  Fortress  Monroe. 

"Your  affectionate  father,  S.  P.  C." 

The  letter  next  in  order  reads  as  follows : 

"  Head-quarters  Department  of  Virginia, 

Fortress  Monroe,  Va.,  May  8,  1862. 
"Mr  Darling  Nettie:     I  was  obliged  to  close  my  letter  to  you 
this  morning  quite  abruptly,  with  a  mere    synopsis  of  events.     I 
will  now  give  you  a  little  better  idea  of  what  took  place  yesterday. 


428 


THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 


"  Yesterday  morning  we  came  ashore  early.  Commodore  G.  came 
at  the  same  time,  on  a  summons  from  the  President,  and  it  was  then 
that  the  attack  on  Sewell's  Point  Batteries  was  determined  on. 
After  the  orders  had  been  given,  the  President.  Mr.  Stanton,  and 
myself,  went  over  to  the  Rip  Raps  in  a  tug  to  observe  its  execution. 
It  was  not  a  great  while  before  the  great  ships  were  in  motion.  The 
Seminole  took  the  lead,  the  San  Jacinto  and  the  Dakota,  and,  finally, 
the  Susquehanna  followed,  whose  captain,  Lardner,  was  the  com- 
manding officer  of  the  vessels  engaged.  With  these  ships  were 
the  Monitor  and  little  gunboat  Stevens,  which  Commodore  Stevens 
presented  to  the  Treasury  Department,  and  which  I  christened 
'Stevens,'  in  honor  of  him. 

"  By  and  by,  the  Seminole  reached  her  position,  and  a  belch  of 
smoke,  followed  in  a  few  seconds  by  a  report  like  distant  thunder, 
announced  the  beginning  of  the  cannonade.  Then  came  the  guns 
from  the  Rip  Raps  where  Ave  were,  and  soon  the  Monitor  and  the 
Stevens  joined.  In  a  little  while,  the  small  batteiy  at  the  extreme 
point  was  silenced,  and  the  cannonade  was  directed  on  a  battery  in- 
side the  point,  a  half  mile  or  a  mile  nearer  Norfolk.  "While  this  was 
going  on  a  smoke  curled  up  over  the  woods  on  Sewell's  Point,  five  or 
six  miles  from  its  termination,  and  each  man.  almost,  said  to  the 
other,  'There  comes  the  Merrimac  ;'  and,  sure  enough,  it  was  the 
Merrimac.  But,  before  she  made  her  appearance,  we  had  left  the 
Rip  Raps,  and  had  reached  the  landing  on  our  way  to  head-quarters. 

"Just  as  we  were  going  ashore,  the  Monitor  came  slowly  about 
from  behind  the  Point,  and  all  the  big  wooden  vessels  began  to  haul 
off.  The  Monitor  and  Stevens,  however,  held  their  ground.  The 
Merrimac  still  came  on  slowly,  and  in  a  little  while  there  was  a 
clear  sheet  of  water  between  her  and  the  Monitor.  Then  the  great 
rebel  terror  paused — then  turned  back — and  having  finally  attained 
what  she  considered  a  safe  position,  became  stationary  again. 

"This  was  the  end  of  the  battle.  Its  results  were,  on  our  side, 
nobody  and  nothing  hurt,  with  the  certainty  that  the  battery  at  the 
extreme  point  was  useless  to  the  rebels,  and  the  battery  on  the  in- 
side much  less  strong  and  much  less  strongly  manned  than  had  been 
supposed.  The  results  on  the  rebel  side  we  can't  tell,  but  only  know 
that  their  barracks  were  burnt  by  our  shells.  Another  certainly  is 
that  the  rebel  monster  don't  want  to  fight,  and  won't  fight  if  she  can 
help  it,  except  with  more  advantage  than  she  is  likely  to  have. 
Enough  for  one  day." 

Next  we  have : 

"  Steamer  Baltimore,  May  11,  1862. 
"  My  Darling  Nettie  :  I  believe  I  closed  my  letter  to  you  with  an 
account  of  the  bombardment.  That  was  thought  to  have  shown  the 
inability  of  an  attempt  to  land  at  Sewell's  Point  while  the  Merrimac 
lay  watching  it;  it  at  once  became  a  question,  what  should  now 
be  done?  Three  plans  only  seemed  feasible:  to  send  all  the  troops 
that  could  be  spared  around  to  Burnside,  and  let  him  come  on  Nor- 
folk from  behind — that  is,  from  the  south  ;  to  send  them  up  James 
River  to  aid    McClellan  ;    or  to  seek  another  landing  place  out  of 


OF   SALMON  .PORTLAND   CHASE.  429 

reach  of  the  Merrimac.  I  offered  to  take  the  Miami,  if  a  tug  of  less 
draught,  and  capable,  therefore,  of  getting  nearer  shore,  could  accompany 
me,  and  make  an  examination,  in  company  with  an  officer,  of  the  coast 
east  of  the  Point.  Colonel  Cram  offered  to  go,  and  General  Wool 
said  he  would  accompany  us.  We  started  accordingly,  and  being 
arrived  opposite  a  point  which  I  mark  '  A  '  on  the  poor  draft  I  send 
you,  sent  a  boats  crew  on  shore  to  find  the  depths  of  water.  Wc 
had  already  approached  within  some  five  hundred  yards  in  the 
Miami,  and  the  tug  had  approached  within  perhaps  one  hundred, 
of  the  shore.  The  boats  went  very  near  the  shore,  and  then  pulled 
off,  somewhat  to  my  surprise.  But  when  they  returned  to  the  boat, 
the  mystery  was  explained.  They  had  seen  an  enemy's  picket,  and 
a  soldier  standing  up  and  beckoning  to  his  companions  to  lie  close, 
and  they  had  inferred  the  existence  of  an  ambush,  and  had  pulled 
off  to  avoid  being  fired  upon.  When  the  officer  of  the  boat  and 
Colonel  Cram  came  on  board,  they  could  still  see  the  picket  on  horse- 
back, and  pointed  his  position  out  to  me  ;  but  I,  being  near-sighted, 
could  not  see.  It  was  plain  enough  that  there  was  no  use  in  landing 
men  to  be  fired  upon  and  overcome  by  a  superior  force,  and  so  the 
order  was  given  to  get  under  way  to  return  to  Fortress  Monroe.  We 
had.  indeed,  accomplished  our  main  purpose,  having  found  the  water 
sufficiently  deep  to  admit  of  landing  without  any  serious  difficulty. 
But  just  as  we  were  going  away,  a  white  flag  wras  seen  waving  over 
the  sand-bank  oa  shore,  and  the  General  ordered  it  to  be  answered 
at  once,  which  was  done  by  fastening  a  bed-sheet  to  the  flag-line, 
and  running  it  up.  When  this  was  done  several  colored  people  ap- 
peared on  shore — all  women  and  children.  Fearing  the  flag  and  the 
appearance  of  the  colored  people  might  be  a  cover,  intended  to  get 
our  people  within  rifle-shot,  I  directed  two  boats  to  go  ashore,  with 
full  crews  well  armed.  They  went,  and  pretty  soon  I  saw  Colonel 
Cram  talking  with  the  people  on  shore,  while  some  of  the  men  were 
walking  about  on  the  beach.  Presently  one  boat  pulled  off  toward 
the  ship,  and  when  she  had  come  quite  near  I  observed  the  colored 
people  going  up  the  sand-bank,  and  Colonel  Cram  preparing  to  re- 
turn with  the  other  boat.  It  oceurred  to  me  that  the  poor  people 
must  have  desired  to  go  to  Fortress  Monroe,  and  might  have  been 
refused.  So  I  determined  to  go  ashore  myself,  and  jumping  into 
the  returned  boat  was  quickly  on  the  beach.  The  Colonel  reported 
his  examination  entirely  satisfactory,  and  I  found  from  the  colored 
people  (one  of  whom,  however,  turned  out  to  be  a  white  woman, 
living  near  by)  that  none  of  them  wanted  to  leave,  and  we  all 
returned  to  the  ship.  These  women  were  the  soldiers  who  had 
alarmed  our  folks. 

•  We  had  made  an  important  discovery — a  good  and  convenient 
landing  place,  some  five  or  six  miles  from  Fortress  Monroe,  capable 
of  receiving  any  number  oftroops,  and  communicating  with  ^Norfolk 
by  quite  passable  roads,  with  a  distance  by  one  route  of  eight  or  nine, 
and  by  another  of  twelve  or  thirteen,  miles. 

••  When  1  got  back  to  Fortress  Monroe  I  found  the  President  had 
been  listening  to  a  pilot  and  studying  a  chart,  and  had  become  im- 
pressed with  a  conviction  that  there  was  a  nearer  landing,  and 
wished  to  go  and  see  about  it  on  the  spot.     So  we  started  again  and 


430  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

soon  readied  the  shore,  taking  with  us  a  large  boat  and  some  twenty 
armed  soldiers  from  the  Kip  Raps.  The  President  and  Mr.  Stanton 
were  on  the  tug  and  I  on  the  Miami.  The  tug  was,  of  course,  near- 
est shore,  and  as  soon  as  she  found  the  water  too  shoal  for  her  to  go 
farther  safely,  the  Rip  Raps  boat  was  manned  and  sent  in.  Mean- 
time, I  had  the  Miami  got  ready  for  action,  and  directed  the  captain  to 
go  ashore  with  two  boats  and  ail  the  men  they  could  take,  fully  armed. 
Before  this  could  be  done,  however,  the  other  boat  had  pulled  off 
shore,  and  several  horsemen,  who  appeared  to  be  soldiers  of  the 
enemy,  were  seen  on  the  beach.  I  sent  to  the  President  to  ask  if  we 
should  fire  on  them,  and  he  replied  negatively.  We  had  again 
found  a  good  landing,  which  at  the  time  I  supposed  to  be  between 
two  and  three  miles  nearer  Fortress  Monroe,  but  which  proved  to  be 
only  one-half  or  three-quarters  of  a  mile  nearer. 

"  Returning  to  Fortress  Monroe,  it  was  agreed  that  an  advance 
should  at  once  be  made  on  Norfolk  from  one  of  these  landings. 
General  Wool  preferred  the  one  he  had  visited,  and  it  was  selected. 
It  was  now  night,  but  the  preparations  proceeded  with  great  activity. 
Four  regiments  were  sent  off  and  orders  given  for  others  to  follow. 
Colonel  Cram  went  down  to  make  a  bridge  of  boats  to  the 
landing,  and  General  Wool  asked  me  to  accompany  him  the  next 
morning. 

"  Next  morning  (yesterday)  I  was  up  early,  and  we  got  off  as  soon 
as  possible.  As  soon  as  we  reached  the  place,  1  tOQk  the  tug  which 
brought  us  down,  and  went  up  the  shore  to  where  the  President's 
boat  had  attempted  to  land  the  evening  before.  I  found  the  distance 
to  be  only  three-quarters  of  a  mile,  and  returned  to  the  Miami, 
where  I  had  left  the  General.  He  had  gone  ashore,  and  I  at  once 
followed.  On  shore  I  found  General  Viele,  with  an  orderly  behind. 
He  asked  if  I  would  like  a  horse,  and  I  said  yes.  He  thereupon  di- 
rected his  orderly  to  dismount,  and  I  mounted.  I  then  proposed  to 
ride  up  to  where  the  pickets  had  been  seen  the  night  before.  He 
complied.  We  found  a  shed  where  the  pickets  had  staid,  and  fresh 
horse  tracks  in  many  places,  showing  that  the  enemy  had  only  with- 
drawn a  few  hours.  Meantime,  Mr.  Stanton  had  come  down,  and  on 
my  return  to  General  Wool,  asked  me  to  go  with  the  expedition,  and 
I  finally  determined  to  do  so. 

"Accordingly,  I  asked  General  W.  for  a  squad  of  dragoons  and 
for  permission  to  ride  on  with  General  Viele  ahead  of  him.  He 
granted  both  requests.  After  going  about  five  miles,  General  V.  and 
myself  came  up  with  the  rear  of  the  advance  (which  had  preceded 
us  three  or  ibur  hours),  and  soon  heard  firing  of  artillery  in  front. 
We  soon  heard  that  the  bridge  which  we  expected  to  cross  was 
burnt,  that  the  enemy's  artillery  was  posted  on  the  other  side,  and 
that  Generals  Mansfield  and  Weber  were  returning. 

"About  one-half  or  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  burning 
bridge  ,we  met  them,  and  of  course  turned  back.  Returning,  Ave  met 
General  Wool,  who  determined  to  leave  a  guard  on  that  route  and 
take  another  to  Norfolk. 

"  There  was  now  a  good  deal  of  confusion,  to  remedy  which  and 
provide  for  contingencies  General  Wool  sent  General  M.  to  Newport 
News  to  bring  forward   his   brigade,  and  brigaded   the  troops  with 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  431 

him,  assigning  General  Viele  to  the  command  of  one  and  General 
Weber  to  the  command  of  the  other.  The  cavalry  and  Major  Dodge 
were  in  advance,  General  Wool  and  stall'  next,  then  a  body  of  sharp- 
shooting  skirmishers,   then   the  main   body  of  Viele's  brigade,  and 

thru  Weber's.  We  stopped  everybody  from  whom  we  could  obtain 
information,  and  it  was  not  long  before  we  were  informed  that  tho 
intrenched  camp,  where  we  expected  the  rebels  would  fight,  if  any- 
where, had  just  been  evacuated,  and  that  the  barracks  were  tired. 
This  pleasant  intelligence  was  soon  confirmed  by  the  arrival  of  one 
of  Dodge's  dragoons,  who  told  us  that  the  cavalry  were  already 
within  it. 

"  We  kept  on,  and  were  soon  within  tne  work — a  very  strong 
one,  defended  by  many  heavy  guns,  of  which  twenty-one  still  re- 
mained in  position.  The  troops,  as  they  entered,  gave  cheer  after 
cheer,  and  were  immediately  formed  into  line  for  the  farther  march, 
now  only  two  miles  to  Norfolk.  General  Wool  now  invited  General 
Viele,  General  Weber,  and  Major  Dodge  to  ride  with  us  in  front,  and 
so  we  proceeded  until  we  met  a  deputation  of  the  city  authorities, 
who  surrendered  the  city  in  form.  General  Wool  and  myself  en- 
tored  one  carriage  w7ith  two  of  the  deputation,  and  General  Viele 
another,  with  others,  and  so  we  drove  into  town  and  to  the  City 
Hall,  where  the  General  completed  his  arrangements  for  taking  pos- 
session of  the  city.  These  completed,  and  General  Viele  being  left 
in  charge  as  military  governor,  General  Wool  and  myself  set  out  on 
our  return  to  Ocean  View,  our  landing-place,  in  the  carriage  which 
had  brought  us  to  the  City  Hall;  which  carriage,  by  the  wa}',  was 
that  used  by  the  rebel  General  Huger,  and  he  had,  perhaps,  been 
riding  in  it  that  very  morning. 

"  It  was  sundown  when  we  left  Norfolk — about  ten  when  we  reached 
Ocean  View — and  near  twelve  when  we  readied  Fortress  Monroe. 
The  President  had  been  greatly  alarmed  for  our  safety  by  the  report 
of  General  M.,  as  he  went  by  to  Newport  News;  and  you  can  im- 
agine his  delight  when  we  told  him  Norfolk  was  ours.  He  fairly 
hugged  General  Wool. 

"For  my  part,  I  was  very  tired,  and  glad  to  get  to  bed. 

"This  morning,  as  the  President  had  determined  to  leave  for 
Washington  at  seven,  I  rose  at  six,  and  just  before  seven  came  into 
the  parlor,  where  Commodore  Goldsborough  astonished  and  gratified 
us  that  the  rebels  had  set  fire  to  the  Merrimac,  and  had  blown  her 
up.1  It  was  determined  that,  before  leaving,  we  would  go  up  in  the 
Baltimore,  which  was  to  convey  us  to  Washington,  to  the  point 
where  the  suicide  had  been  performed,  and  above  the  obstructions  in 
the  channel,  if  possible,  so  as  to  be  sure  of  the  access  to  Norfolk  by 
water,  which  had  been  defended  by  the  exploded  ship.  This  was 
done;  but  the  voyage  was  longer  than  we  anticipated,  taking  us  up 
the  wharves  of  Norfolk,  where,  in  the  Elizabeth  River,  were  already 
lying  the  Monitor,  the  Stevens,  the  Susquehanna,  and  one  or  two 
other  vessels.  General  Wool  and  Commodore  Goldsborough  had 
come  up  with  us  on  the  Baltimore  ;  and,  as  soon  as  they  were  trans- 

'Sic. 


432  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PPBLIC   SERYICES 

ferred  to  the  Susquehanna,  our  prow  was  turned  down  stream,  and 
touching  for  a  moment  at  the  Fortress,  we  kept  on  our  way  toward 
Washington,  where  we  hope  to  be  at  breakfast  to-morrow. 

"  So  has  ended  a  brilliant  week's  campaign  of  the  President ;  for 
I  think  it  quite  certain  that  if  he  had  not  come  down,  Norfolk  would 
still  have  been  in  possession  of  the  enemy,  and  the  Merrimac  as 
grim  and  defiant,  and  as  much  a  terror  as  ever.  The  whole  coast  is 
now  virtually  ours.  There  is  no  port  which  the  Monitor  and  Stev- 
ens can  not  enter  and  take. 

"  It  was  sad  and  pleasant  to  see  the  Union  flag  onoe  more  waving 
over  Norfolk,  and  the  shipping  in  the  harbor,  and  to  think  of  the 
destruction  accomplished  there  a  little  more  than  a  year  ago. 

"  I  went  to  Norfolk  last  night  by  land  with  the  army  ;  this  morn- 
ing, by  water,  with  the  navy.     My  campaign,  too,  is  over." 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  .};>.; 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 


CHASE,    M'DOWELL,    HUNTER,    EREMONT,    POPE,    AND    M  CLELLAN. 


M 


AY  14,  1862,  our  martial-minded  Minister  of  Finance  wrote 
as  follows  to  Major  General  McDowell  : 


•  My  Dear  General  :  I  have  time  for  but  a  word.  Stanton  told 
me  he  should  release  you  from  the  prohibition  against  the  advance 
yesterday.  I  hope  he  has  done  so.  I  have  never  exactly  seen  the 
cogency  of  the  reason  for  withholding-  when  you  had  the  communi- 
cation by  Belle  Plain  as  well  as  that  by  Acquia.  But  I  am  not  mil- 
itary. 

"It  has  been  one  of  my  prime  objects  of  desire  that  you  should 
advance  towards  and  to  Richmond. 

"McClellaa  surrounded  by  a  staff  of  letter-writers,  gets  possession 
of  public  opinion,  and  even  those  who  know  better  succumb.  Then 
he  lags. 

"If  the  President,  Stanton,  and  myself  had  not  gone  to  Fortress 
Monroe,  all  would  have  lagged  there,  too. 

"You  want  to  move,  I  understand,  but  it  is  not  judged  wise. 
Well. 

'•  What  I  saw  and  heard  at  Fortress  Monroe,  on  the  march  to  Nor- 
folk, and  at  Norfolk,  taught  me  a  little. 

"I  feel  sure  that  you  can  get  to  Richmond  if  you  are  allowed  to 
move,  and  do  actually  move.  There  are  disadvantages,  I  know;  but 
they  are  not  insuperable. 

'■  With  50,000  men  and  you  for  a  general,  I  Avould  undertake  to 
go  from  Fortress  Monroe  to  Richmond,  by  the  James  River,  with  my 
revenue  steamers  Miami  and  Stevens,  and  the  Monitor,  in  two  days. 

'Excuse  this  disjointed  letter.  In  great  haste  and  exceedingly 
pressed.  Your  friend, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

On  leaving  for  Philadelphia,  Saturday,  May  16th,  Mr.  Chase 
wrote  the  following  letter  to  the  President : 

"AYashington,  May  16,  1862. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Obliged  to  go  to  Philadelphia  this  afternoon,  I 
can  not  confer  with  you  as  1  wish  in  relation  to  the  military  order  of 
Major-General   Hunter  enfranchising  the  slaves  in   his   department. 

"Of  course,  I  do  not  assume  to  judge  of  the  military  necessity; 
but  it  seems  to  me  of  the  highest  importance,  whether  our  relations 
at  home  or  abroad  be  considered,  that  this  order  be  not  revoked.  Tt 
has  been  made  as  a  military  measure,  to  meet  a  military   exigency. 


434  THE    PEIYATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

and  should,  in  my  judgment,  be  suffered  to  stand  upon  the  respon- 
sibility of  the  commanding  general  who  made  it. 

"It  will  be  cordially  approved,  I  am  sure,  by  more  than  nine- 
tenths  of  the  people  on  whom  you  must  rely  for  support  of  your  ad- 
ministration. 

"Pardon  this  brief  and  hurried  note,  and  believe  me, 
"  Most  cordially  and  respectfully  yours, 

'•  To  the  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Lincoln    answered  thus  informally  : 

"No  commanding  general  shall  do  such  a  thing,  upon  my  respon- 
sibility, without  consulting  me.  A.   LINCOLN. "l 

June  2d,  we  have  the  letter  to  Samuel  G.  Ward,  Esq.: 

"Sir:  Your  letter,  with  copies  of  Mr.  Forstall's  protest  against 
the  seizure  of  $800,000,  alleged  to  be  qualified  property  of  Messrs. 
Hope  &  Co..  of  Amsterdam,  but  claimed  by  General  Butler  to  be  the 
property  of  the  United  States,  and  of  General  Butler's  letter  to  the 
European  consuls  at  New  Orleans,  is  just  received. 

"You  may  assure  your  correspondents,  unhesitatingly,  that  the 
United  States  will  carefully  respect  the  rights  of  private  property 
in  the  subjects  of  friendly  foreign  powers;  and  that  no  apprehension 
need  be  felt  that,  in  case  the  deposit  of  Mr.  Forstall  on  account  of 
Messrs.  Hope  &  Co.  with  the  Consul  of  the  Netherlands  shall  be 
proved  to  have  been  made  in  good  faith,  and  of  coin,  bona  fide  the 
property  of  the  Citizens'  Bank  of  Louisiana,  and  therefore  subject 
to  valid  transfer  by  that  bank,  no  loss  by  the  parties  interested  will 
result  from  the  seizure  by  General  Butler. 

"Of  course  I  do  not  assume  to  decide,  or  even  intimate  an  impres- 
sion, upon  aiu*  question  of  fact. 

"En   passant,  permit  me    to  express  my  regret  that  assurances 


1  David  Hunter  was  borD  in  Washington  July  21,  1802.  He  was,  therefore,  less 
than  six  years  older  than  the  man  with  whom  we  have  our  chief  concern ;  and 
about  six  years  older  than  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  is  of  Virginian  antecedents,  at 
least  in  the  paternal  line. 

His  father  was  an  army  chaplain.  David  was  graduated  at  West  Point  in  1822. 
Appointed  second  lieutenant  of  the  Fifth  Infantry,  he  became  first  lieutenant  in 
1828.  and  captain  in  the  First  Dragoons  in  1833. 

He  remained  in  the  military  service  until  1838,  when  he  resigned,  in  order  to  be- 
come a  forwarder  of  goods  and  merchandise  at  Chicago.  Five  years  afterwards 
he  became  paymaster  in  the  army.  In  1861,  he  was  paymaster  with  the  rank  of 
colonel.  May  14th,  he  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  Sixth  Cavalry,  and  at  the  first 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  he  had  a  most  important  command,  and  was  severely  wounded 
in  the  neck. 

By  the  way,  accompanying  Mr.  Lincoln  from  Springfield,  Illinois,  en  route  to  the 
National  Capital,  he  suffered,  at  Buffalo,  in  the  pressure  of  the  crowd,  a  dislocation 
of  the  collar  bone. 

In  the  course  of  this  work  will  be  found  some  farther  account  of  him  and  his  ideas. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  435 

apparently  reliable,  reach  me  that  prominent  members  of  the  house 
of  Baring  Brothers  &  Co.  have  manifested  throughout  our  recent 
troubles  a  strong  sympathy  with  the  rebellion  against  the  United 
States. 

"  With  great  respect  and  esteem,  yours  truly, 

"S.  P.CHASE." 

On  the  26th  of  June  the  Secretary  dictated  as  follows  : 

"On  Sunday  morning,  May  11th,  the  President,  becoming  uneasy 
on  account  of  his  long  absence  from  Washington,  determined  to 
return  forthwith.  The  explosion  of  the  Merrimac,  however,  de- 
tained him  long  enough  to  go  to  the  spot,  ascertain  the  exact  condi- 
tion of  things,  and  return  to  Fortress  Monroe,  whence  we  proceeded 
immediately  toward  Washington.  On  our  way  up,  I  remarked 
on  the  probability  that  a  small  force,  say  5,000  men.  em- 
barked on  transports  and  convoyed  by  gunboats,  might  contrib- 
ute largely  to  the  taking  of  Richmond,  if  sent  immediately  up  James 
River.  But  nothing  was  determined  on.  After  our  return  to  Wash- 
ington I  frequently  spoke  of  the  matter,  and  urged  the  sending  of 
General  Wool  up  James  River  with  all  his  disposable  force.  It  was 
thought  General  McClellan  could  be  reinforced  more  effectually  in 
another  direction. 

"General  McDowell  was  ordered  to  concentrate  his  whole  corps, 
including  Shields'  division,  at  Fredericksburg,  with  a  view  to  march 
upon  Richmond  from  that  point.  Shields'  division,  which  had  been 
in  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  was  marched  across  the  country 
and  joined  McDowell. 

"On  Friday,  May  23d,  the  President  and  Secretary  of  War  visited 
the  army  at  Fredericksburg,  and  returned  to  Washington  on  Satur- 
day morning,  highly  gratified  by  the  condition  of  the  troops,  and 
anticipating  an  imposing  and  successful  advance  on  the  Monday 
following.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  same  Saturday,  I  was  sent  for  to 
the  War  Department,  and  found  that  intelligence  had  been  received 
of  the  taking  of  Front  Royal  and  the  annihilation  of  Kenley's  regi- 
ment on  the  preceding  day.  The  enemy  was  reported  to  have 
pushed  forward  to  Middleton  and  cut  otf  the  retreat  of  Banks,  sup- 
pose'! to  be  at  Strasburg.  An  order  was  immediately  despatched  to 
General  Fremont  to  advance  to  Harrisonburg,  and  do  all  in  his 
power  for  the  relief  of  Banks.  An  order  was  also  sent  to  General 
McDowell  to  detach  20.000 — or  one-half  his  force — sending  them 
partly  by  land  to  Catlett's  Station,  and  partly  by  water  to  Alexan- 
dria and  Washington.  To  expedite  these  movements.  I  was  directed 
to  proceed  immediately  to  Fredericksburg,  and  confer  personally 
with  General  McDowell.  I  left  accordingly,  the  same  afternoon, 
and  reached  Fredericksburg  about  1  o'clock  Sunday.  I  found  that 
General  McDowell  had  given  all  the  necessary  orders  for  the  move- 
ments directed  by  the  President.  The  march  began  early  the  next 
morning,  and  successive  divisions  and  regiments  followed  until, 
during  the  course  of  the  day.  the  whole  20,000  were  on  their  march. 
I  returned  to  Washington  Sunday  night,  accompanied  by  General 
Shields,  and  found  the  President,  with  the  Secretary  of  War,  Secre- 
29 


436  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

tary  of  State,  and  several  senators  and  representatives,  at  the  War 
Department.  By  this  time  intelligence  had  been  received  that  Banks 
had  retreated,  early  on  Saturday  morning,  from  Strasburg,  reaching 
Winchester  the  same  night,  and  that  his  retreat  had  been  continued 
through  Sunday,  and  that  a  portion  of  his  troops  had  already 
arrived  at  Williamsport.  General  Saxton  had  been  ordered  to  Har- 
per's Ferry,  and  reinforcements  had  been  and  were  still  rapidly 
being  pushed  forward  to  that  point. 

"On  Monday  Shields' division  arrived  at  Catlett's  Station,  and 
Geary's  division,  which  had  been  stationed  along  the  line  of  the 
Manassas  Gap  Railroad,  had  fallen  back  to  Manassas.  Ord's  divis- 
ion followed,  partly  by  water  and  partly  by  land,  and,  with  Shields', 
was  concentrated  within  a  day  or  two  at  Manassas.  McDowell 
came  from  Fredericksburg,  at  the  instance  of  the  President,  and 
took  command  in  person,  having  ordered  King's  division  to  advance 
toward  Martinsburg  as  a  supporting  column.  Shields  pushed  for- 
ward to  Front  Royal,  which  place  he  reached  on  Friday.  McDowell 
followed,  also  reaching  Front  Royal  on  Saturday.  The  object  of 
this  movement  was  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  Jackson  through  Front 
Royal. 

"Meantime  Fremont,  observing  the  spirit  though  not  the  letter 
of  his  orders,  had  marched  to  Moorfield.  and  thence  to  Wardensville, 
and  cut  of  the  retreat  of  Jackson  by  that  road.  Unfortunately  Fre- 
mont did  not  reach  Strasburg  until  Jackson,  defeated  by  Saxton  on 
Friday  in  his  attack  upon  Harper's  Ferry,  and  being  apprised,  no 
doubt,  of  the  movements  in  his  rear,  had  passed  through  Strasburg, 
on  his  retreat  down  the  valley. 

"While  this  combined  movement,  intended  to  capture  Jackson 
and  his  force  was  in  progress,  General  McClellan  was  constantly 
asking  for  reinforcements  at  Richmond.  I  had  no  confidence  in  his 
ability  to  handle  a  great  army,  but,  inasmuch  as  the  President  icas  un- 
willing to  give  the  command  to  any  other  General,  I  thought  it  of  great 
importance  that  he  should  be  reinforced  as  far  as  possible.  To  this  end, 
in  the  course  of  the  week,  I  urged  on  several  occasions  that  one-half 
of  McCall's  division  be  sent  down  to  form  a  junction  with  McCIellan's 
army,  and  that  General  Wool,  with  10,000  of  his  force,  be  sent  up 
from  Fortress  Monroe  and  Norfolk,  by  James  River,  to  effect,  if  pos- 
sible, the  capture  of  Fort  Darling,  or  at  least  to  cooperate  with 
McClellan,  whose  lines,  I  supposed,  could  be  extended  from  Bottom's 
bridge  to  the  James  River.  These  reinforcements  were  not  sent,  partly, 
as  1  suppose,  because  the  President  was  unwilling  to  weaken  the 
advance  at  Fredericksburg,  and  partly  because  he  was  unwilling  to 
order  General  Wool,  who  was  at  variance  with  McClellan,  to  a  coop- 
erate, which  might  lead  to  collision  between  the  generals  and  so 
to  unpleasant  results. 

"  I  also  urged  that,  inasmuch  as  McDowell's  force  had  been  drawn 
over  into  and  near  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  his  three  divisions — 
Shields',  Ord's,  and  King's — should  be  massed  and  ordered  forward 
to  Charlottesville  and  Lynchburg.  This  movement  had  been  pro- 
posed by  General  Shields,  as  a  movement  to  be  executed  from  Fred- 
ericksburg.    General  McDowell  also  had  proposed  the  same.     As 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  437 

much  reluctance  was  manifested  against  undertaking  the  movement 
as  had  been  in  respect  to  the  reinforcement  of  Meridian. 

"On  Friday,  June  14,  the  President  determined  to  send  20,000 
men  to  McClellan.  To  effect  this  object,  he  directed  the  embarka- 
tion of  the  whole  of  McOall's  division  at  Fredericksburg,  and  an- 
nexed the  Department  of  Virginia,  which  had  been  under  General 
Wool,  to  the  command  of  McClellan,  Wool  was  transferred  to  Bal- 
timore, and  Dix  to  Fortress  Monroe,  to  avoid  the  apprehended  diffi- 
culties from  placing  the  department,  while  under  the  command  of 
General  Wool,  also  under  the  command  of  McClellan.  Most  of  the 
drilled  troops  of  Fortress  Monroe,  of  whom  there  were  about  14,000, 
were  sent  to  McClellan,  and  their  places  supplied  mainly  with  new- 
levies.  Thus,  long  after  I  had  proposed  the  reinforcement,  the  ar- 
rangement was  made  by  which  they  were  sent. 

"  On  the  same  day,  upon  the  President  expressing  his  gratifica- 
tion that  the  reinforcements  had  been  sent  to  McClellan,  I  replied  to 
him  that  his  satisfaction  would  be  much  increased  if  he  would  order 
McDowell,  with  his  three  divisions,  strengthened,  if  necessary,  by 
portions  of  Banks'  and  Fremont's  commands,  on  the  southward  ex- 
pedition to  Charlottesville  and  Lynchburg.  I  endeavored  to  impress 
upon  him  the  idea  that  this  movement  would  be  of  great  importance 
to  McClellan  by  creating  a  diversion  in  his  favor  by  cutting  off  the 
supplies  which  reached  Richmond  through  Lynchburg  from  East 
Tennessee.  I  was  not  successful  in  impressing  the  President  with 
the  correctness  of  my  views.  I  suppose  that  his  difficult}'  arose, 
partly  from  a  desire  to  have  McDowell  in  a  position  from  which 
he  could  directly  reinforce  McClellan,  and  partly  from  apprehen- 
sion of  disagreement  between  the  major-generals  commanding  the 
separate  bodies  which  it  might  be  necessary  to  combine  in  the 
Charlottesville  expedition.  This,  of  course,  is  mere  conjecture. 
What  is  certain  is,  that  the  expedition  was  not  organized  or  at- 
tempted. 

"Subsequently  (June  24),  the  President,  having  become  con- 
vinced of  the  necessity  of  combining  these  three  bodies  under  one 
command,  created  the  Army  of  Virginia  (to  consist  of  these  three 
bodies),  and  placed  it  under  the  command  of  General  Pope,  who 
was  junior  in  rank,  though  of  the  same  grade  as  major-generals 
Fremont,  Banks,  and  McDowell,  who  were  made  subject  to  his 
orders. 

"I  understand  that  the  object  of  this  consolidation  was,  to  make 
the  movement  upon  Charlottesville,  which  I  had  been  so  anxious 
to  see  attempted." 

Here  is  an  extract  from  the  locked  diary  : 

"Monday,  July  21,  1862. 
"Early  this  morning,  Count  Gurowski  called  and  told  me  that 
yesterday,  at  a  great  dinner  at  Mr.  Tassara's — the  only  Americans 
present  being  Governor  Seward  and  Senator  Carlile — Governor 
Seward  remarked  that  he  had  lately  begun  to  realize  the  value  of 
a  Cromwell,  and  to  appreciate  the  coup  d'etat;  and   that  he  wished 


438  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

wo  had  a  Cromwoll  or  a  coup  d'etat  for  our  Congress.  The  Count 
said  that  the  diplomats  present  were  very  much  disgusted,  and  that 
the  language  of  Governor  Seward  injured  the  administration  much 
in  the  estimation  of  all  intelligent  foreigners. 

"After  the  Count  left,  I  received  a  notice  to  attend  a  Cabinet  meet- 
ing, at  10  o'clock.  It  has  been  so  long  since  any  consultation  has 
been  held  that  it  struck  me  as  a  novelty." 

Adam,  Count  Gurowski,  was  not  a  trustworthy  witness,  so  far  as 
what  he  said  involved  judgment. 

Messrs.  Speed,  Holloway,  and  Casey  called  on  Mr.  Chase  on  the 
21st  day  of  July,  1862.  The  first  was  a  distinguished  lawyer,  of 
Louisville,  who  was  then  postmaster  of  that  city  and  had  been  State 
senator ;  the  second  was  a  large  slave-holder  in  south-western 
Kentucky ;  Mr.  Casey  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  the  south- 
western district,  Messrs.  Speed  and  Casey  were  decided  in  favor  of 
the  most  decided  measures  in  respect  to  slavery  and  the  employment 
of  negroes  in  whatever  capacity  they  were  fitted  for.  They  assured 
Mr.  Chase  that  Mr.  Holloway  (though  a  large  slave-holder)  was  in 
favor  of  every  measure  necessary  for  success,  and  that  he  held  no 
sacrifice  too  great  to  insure  it.  He  would  cheerfully  give  up  slavery, 
if  it  became  necessary  or  important. 

Mr.  Casey,  Mr.  Horton,  and  Gen.  Pope  dined  with  Secretary  Chase 
that  day.  Mr.  Horton  condemned  severely  the  conduct  of  the  cam- 
paign on  the  Peninsula  and  the  misrepresentations  made  to  the 
public  in  regard  to  it.  General  Pope  expressed  himself  freely  and 
decidedly  in  favor  of  the  most  vigorous  measures  in  the  prosecution 
of  the  war.  He  believed  that,  in  consequence  of  the  rebellion, 
slavery  must  perish;  and  with  him  it  was  only  a  question  of  pru- 
dence as  to  the  means  to  be  employed  to  weaken  it.  He  was  in 
favor  of  using  every  instrument  which  could  be  brought  to  bear 
against  the  enemy;  and  while  he  did  not  speak  of  a  general  arming 
of  the  slaves  as  soldiers,  he  advocated  their  use  as  laborers  in  the 
defense  of  fortifications,  and  in  any  way  in  which  their  services 
could  be  made  useful  without  impairing  the  general  tone  of  the 
service.  He  said  he  was  now  waiting,  by  request  of  the  President, 
the  arrival  of  General  Halleck,  and  he  regarded  it  as  necessary  for 
the  safety  and  success  of  his  operations  that  there  should  be  a  change 
in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  He  believed  that  General  McClel- 
lan's  incompetency  and  indisposition  to  active  movements  were  so 
great  that  if,  in  his  operations,  he  should  need  assistance,  he  could 
not  expect  it  from  him.     He  had  urged  upon  the  President  the  im- 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  439 

portance  of  superseding  General  McClellan  before  the  arrival  of 
Halleck,  representing  the  delicacy  of  Halleck's  future  position,  and  the 
importance  of  having  the  field  clear  for  him  when  he  assumed  the 
general  command.  The  President,  however,  had  only  promised  that 
he  (General  Pope)  should  be  present  at  his  interview  with  General 
Halleck,  when  he  would  give  the  latter  his  opinion  of  McClellan. 

From  the  same  register,  under  the  same  date,  are  taken  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  : 

"I  went  at  the  appointed  hour,  and  found  that  the  President  had 
been  profoundly  concerned  at  the  present  aspect  of  affairs,  and  had 
determined  to  take  some  definite  steps  in  respect  to  military  action 
and  slavery.  He  had  prepared  several  orders,  the  first  of  which 
contemplated  authority  to  commanders  to  subsist  their  troops  in  the 
hostile  territory;  the  second,  authority  to  employ  negroes  as  labor- 
ers; the  third,  requiring  that  both  in  the  case  of  property  taken  and  of 
negroes  employed  accounts  should  be  kept  with  such  degrees  of  cer- 
tainty as  would  enable  compensation  to  be  made  in  proper  cases. 
Another  provided  for  the  colonization  of  negroes  in  some  tropical 
country. 

"  A  good  deal  of  discussion  took  j)lace  upon  those  points.  The 
first  order  was  universally  approved.  The  second  was  approved 
entirely,  and  the  third  by  all  except  myself.  I  doubted  the  expedi- 
ency of  attempting  to  keep  accounts  for  the  benefit  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  rebel  States.  The  colonization  project  was  not  much 
discussed. 

"  The  Secretary  of  War  presented  some  letters  from  General 
Hunter,  in  which  he  advised  the  department  that  the  withdrawal  of 
a  large  proportion  of  his  troops  to  reinforce  General  McClellan  ren- 
dered it  highly  important  that  he  should  be  immediately  authorized 
to  enlist  all  loyal  persons,  without  reference  to  complexion.  Messrs. 
Stanton,  Seward,  and  myself  expressed  ourselves  in  favor  of  this 
plan,  and  no  one  expressed  himself  against  it.  (Mr.  Blair  was  not 
present.)  The  President  was  not  prepared  to  decide  the  question, 
but  expressed  himself  as  averse  to  arming  negroes." 

On  the  same  day,  Mr.  Stantou  brought  forward  a  proj30sition  to 
draft  50,000  men.  Mr.  Seward  proposed  that  the  number  should 
be  100,000.  The  President  directed  that  whatever  number  were 
drafted  should  be  part  of  the  300,000  already  called  for.  No 
decision  was  reached,  however. 

Tuesday,  July  22d,  1862,  has  this  record  : 

"This  morning  I  called  on  the  President  with  a  letter  received 
some  time  since  from  Colonel  Key,  in  which  he  stated  that  he  had 
reason  to  believe  that  if  General  McClellan  found  he  could  not  other- 
wise sustain  himself  in  Virginia,  he  would  declare  the  liberation  of 


440 


THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


the  slaves;  and  that  the  President  would  not  dare  to  interfere  with 
the  order.  I  urged  upon  the  President  the  importance  of  an  imme- 
diate change  in  the  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  repre- 
senting the  necessity  of  having  a  general  in  that  command  who 
would  cordially  and  efficiently  cooperate  with  the  movements  of 
Pope  and  others;  and  urging  a  change  before  the  arrival  of  General 
Halleck,  in  view  of  the  extreme  delicacy  of  his  position  in  this  re- 
spect, General  McClellan  being  his  senior  major-general.  I  said  that 
I  did  not  regard  General  McClellan  as  loyal  to  the  administration, 
although  I  did  not  question  his  general  loyalty  to  the  country. 

"  I  also  urged  General  McClellan 's  removal  upon  financial  grounds. 
I  told  him  that  if  such  a  change  in  the  command  was  made  as  would 
insure  action  in  the  army,  and  give  it  power  in  the  ratio  of  its 
strength,  and  if  such  measures  were  adopted  in  respect  to  slaver}'  as 
would  inspire  the  country  with  confidence  that  no  measure  would  be 
left  untried  which  promised  a  speed}-  and  successful  result,  I  would 
insure  that,  within  ten  days,  the  bonds  of  the  United  States,  except 
the  five-twenties,  would  be  so  far  above  par  that  conversions  into  the 
latter  stock  would  take  place  rapidly,  and  furnish  the  necessary 
means  for  carrying  on  the  government.  If  this  was  not  done,  it 
seemed  to  me  impossible  to  meet  necessary  expenses.  Already 
there  were  §10,000,000  of  unpaid  requisitions,  and  this  amount 
would  constantly  increase. 

"The  President  came  to  no  conclusion,  but  said  he  would  confer 
with  General  Halleck  on  all  these  matters.  I  left  him,  promising  to 
to  return  to  Cabinet,  when  the  subject  of  the  orders  discussed  yester- 
day would  be  resumed. 

"Went  to  Cabinet  at  the  appointed  hour.  It  was  unanimously 
agreed  that  the  order  in  respect  to  colonization  should  be  dropped; 
and  the  others  were  adopted  unanimously,  except  that  I  wished 
North  Carolina  included  in  the  States  named  in  the  first  order. 

"  The  question  of  arming  slaves  was  then  brought  up,  and  I  advo- 
cated it  warmly.  The  President  was  unwilling  to  adopt  this  mea- 
sure, but  proposed  to  issue  a  proclamation  on  the  basis  of  the  Con- 
fiscation Bill,  calling  upon  the  States  to  return  to  their  allegiance — 
warning  the  rebels  [that]  the  provisions  of  the  act  would  have  full 
force  at  the  expiration  of  sixty  days — adding,  on  his  own  part,  a 
declaration  of  his  intention  to  renew,  at  the  next  session  of  Congress, 
his  recommendation  of  compensation  to  States  adopting  the  gradual 
abolishment  of  slavery — and  proclaiming  the  emancipation  of  all 
slaves  within  States  remaining  in  insurrection  on  the  first  of 
January,  1863. 

"I  said  that  I  should  give  to  such  a  measure  my  cordial  support; 
but  I  should  prefer  that  no  new  expression  on  the  subject  of  com- 
pensation should  be  made ;  and  I  thought  that  the  measure  of  eman- 
cipation could  be  much  better  and  more  quietly  accomplished  by 
allowing  generals  to  organize  and  arm  the  slaves  (thus  avoiding 
depredation  and  massacre  on  one  hand,  and  support  to  the  insurrec- 
tion on  the  other),  and  by  directing  the  commanders  of  departments 
to  proclaim  emancipation  within  their  districts  as  soon  as  practi- 
cable ;  but  I  regarded  this  as  so  much  better  than  inaction  on  the 
subject,  that  I  should  give  it  my  entire  support. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  441 

"The  President  determined  to  publish  the  first  three  orders  forth- 
with, and  to  leave  the  other  for  some  farther  consideration.  The 
impression  left  upon  my  mind  by  the  -whole  discussion  was,  that, 
while  the  President  thought  that  the  organization,  equipment,  and 
arming  of  negroes,  like  other  soldiers,  would  be  productive  of 
more  evil  than  good,  he  was  not  unwilling  that  commanders  should, 
at  their  discretion,  arm,  for  purely  defensive  purposes,  slaves  coming 
within  their  lines. 

"  Mr.  Stanton  brought  forward  a  proposition  to  draft  fifty  thousand 
men.  Mb.  Seward  proposed  that  the  number  should  be  one  hundred 
thousand.  The  President  directed  that,  whatever  number  were 
dratted,  should  be  part  of  the  three  hundred  thousand  already  called 
for.     No  decision  was  reached,  however." 

It  appears  to  me  that  these  and  other  entries  furnish  indications 
that  too  much  attention  was  devoted  by  our  hero  to  war  measuros 
and  to  military  men.  Perhaps  he  would  have  been  better  able  to 
promote  a  financial  reform  had  he  been  more  devoted  to  finance  and 
less  to  war. 

We  have,  under  date  Friday,  July  25,  1862: 

"No  Cabinet  to-day.  Went  to  War  Department  in  the  morning, 
where  I  found  the  President  and  Stanton.  We  talked  about  the  ne- 
cessity of  clearing  the  Mississippi,  and  Stanton  again  urged  sending 
Mitchell.  The  President  said  he  would  see  him.  Stanton  sent  for 
him  at  Willard's,  and  sent  him  to  the  President. 

"In  the  evening,  I  called  for  Mitchell  to  ride,  with  H.  Walbridge 
Asked  him  the  result.  He  said  the  President  had  asked  him  with 
what  tone  he  could  take  Yicksburg  and  clear  the  river,  and,  with 
the  black  population  on  its  banks,  hold  it  open  below  Memphis;  and 
had  bid  him  consider.  He  had  replied  that,  with,  his  own  division 
and  Curtis'  army,  he  could  do  it,  he  thought,  but  he  would  consider 
and  reply. 

"I  told  him  now  was  the  time  to  do  great  things." 

The  next  entries  to  be  offered  read  as  follows  : 

"  Saturday,  July  26. 

"  Sent  order  to  close  and  en  crape  the  department,  in  respect  to  ex- 
President  Van  Buren,  just  deceased. 

"  The  President  came  in  to  talk  about  the  controversy  between 
the  Postmaster-general  and  sixth  Auditor,  in  regard  to  rooms. 
Agreed  to  see  the  Attorney-general,  for  whom  I  afterward  sent.  The 
Attorney  General  had  not  heard  Of  Babe's  removal,  of  which  I  spoke 
to  him,  and  I  directed  Mr.  Harrington  to  telegraph  Eabe  that  the 
removal  had  been  made  without  my  knowledge  or  that  of  the  At- 
torney-General. 

"General  Pope  came  in  about  1  p.m.,  and  went  to  photograph- 
er's with  me  and  Colonel  Welch.  He  talked  as  if  McClellan  might 
be  retained  in  command,  and  retrieve  himself,  by  advancing  on  Rich- 


442  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

mond,  which  was  now  quite  feasible,  there  being  but  few  troops  on 
the  north  side  of  the  James.  I  replied  that  no  such  advance  would 
be  made  ;  or,  if  made,  and  successful,  would  only  restore  undeserved 
confidence  and  prepare  future  calamities. 

"  Mitchell  called.  He  had  seen  the  President,  who  had  postponed 
his  decision  until  he  could  consult  Halleck.  Mitchell  had  all  his  or- 
ders ready  for  rapid  movement.  Told  him  his  only  course  was  to 
wait  and  see. 

"  Talked  with  Pope  about  Mitchell,  who  inclined  to  think  him  vis- 
ionary.    Asked  him  to  get  acquainted  with  him,  which  he  promised. 

••  Wrote  Mrs.  E.  in  reply  to  letter  received  from  her." 

Saturday,  July  27,  has  a  notice  of  a  telegram  from  General  Mor- 
gan to  the  Secretary.  In  that  dispatch,  General  M.  advised  Mr. 
Chase  of  his  resignation,  and  signified  his  wish  that  the  Secretary 
would  procure  its  prompt  acceptance. 

"I  went,  therefore,  to  the  War  Department,"  records  Mr.  Chase, 
"wishing  to  oblige  him,  and  also  to  secure  Garfield's  appointment  in 
his  place.     Mr.  Stanton  was  not  in,  but  I  saw  Watson." 

From  the  War  Department,  after  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Wat- 
son, to  which  I  have  elsewhere  asked  attention,  Secretary  Chase  be- 
took himself  to  the  President's,  to  whom  he  spoke  of  Morgan's  res- 
ignation, and  suggested  Garfield's  substitution.  This,  he  says,  seemed 
to  please  the  President. 

Conversing  with  the  President  on  the  27th  of  July,  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  spoke  "  of  the  financial  importance  of  getting  rid 
of  McClellan  ;  and  expressed  the  hope  that  Halleck  would  approve 
his  project  of  sending  Mitchell  to  the  Mississippi."  But  the  record 
says  of  the  President :     "  On  these  points  he  said  nothing." 

Then  the  conversation  turned  on  Jones,  the  sculptor ;  and  Mr. 
Chase  suggested  the  fitness  of  giving  him  some  consulate  in  Italy 
which  the  President,  we  learn,  "  liked  the  idea  of." 

Mr.  Lincoln  read  a  statement  (pronounced  "  very  good"  by 
Chase),  which  was  in  course  of  preparation,  in  reply  to  a  letter,  for- 
warded by  Mr.  Bullit,  from  some  one  in  New  Orleans. 

After  some  farther  talk,  and  reminding  the  President  of  the  im- 
portance of  a  talk  between  Halleck  and  Chase  about  finances,  as  af- 
fected by  the  war,  Secretary  Chase  went  home,  too  late  for  church. 

A  parenthesis  of  the  paragraph  from  which  I  draw  the  last  forego- 
ing information,  reads  as  follows  : 

"  (By  the  way,  he  told  me  he  desired  Halleck  to  come  and  see  me 
last  Monday,  but  he  didn't  come.)  " 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  443 

Halleck  was  not  without  caution.  He  was  a  slow  man — a  real 
worthy — but  a  little  slow. 

Being,  as  we  have  just  seen,  too  late  for  church,  Mr.  Chase  read 
various  books — among  others,  Whitfield's  Life.  "  What  a  worker!" 
is  the  comment  on  the  last  perusal. 

Spending  the  evening  with  his  daughters,  he  read  Beecher's  last 
sermon  in  the  Independent. 

The  conclusion  of  the  entry  here  made  tributary  is  as  follows  : 

"  Not  a  caller  all  day — 0  si  sic  omnes  dies!  " 


444  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 


HALLECK    AND     THE     CABINET — MERITS    OF    GENERALS — TOWARD    EMAN- 
CIPATION. 

4    UGUST  1  is  thus  characterized  : 

"Xo  events  of  much  importance  to-day.  A  Cabinet  meeting  was 
held,  and  a  great  deal  of  talk  took  place,  but  no  results.  Blair  sent 
me  his  paper  on  colonization,  to  which  he  referred  in  our  long  talk 
of  yesterday.  A  nice  letter  from  my  friend,  Mrs.  Eastman.  Spent  a 
few  moments  at  the  War  Department — telegram  came  that  the  enemy 
had  been  shelling  McCiellan's  position  from  Point  Coggin.  Wrote 
to  General  Pope  and  General  Butler,  touching,  in  both  letters,  the 
slavery  question.  Called  on  General  Halleck  in  the  evening,  and 
talked  a  good  while  with  him.  Judged  it  prudent  not  to  say  much 
of  the  war.  He  spoke  of  Buell  as  slow  but  safe  ;  of  Grant,  as  a 
good  general,  and  brave  in  battle,  but  careless  of  his  command;  of 
Thomas,  he  spoke  very  highly." 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  Secretary  Chase  had  several  call- 
ers. Here  is  the  close  of  the  entry  relating  to  that  day,  noticing  the 
callers : 

"  Beebe,  from  Ravenna,  a  faithful  friend  ;  John  R.  French,  Smith 
Homans,  Chas.  Selden,  and  some  others.  Selden  says  that,  at  Cincin- 
nati, old  Mr.  Molitor  and  Rev.  Edw.  Purcell  spoke  very  kindly  of  me." 

Had  not  this  man  a  kind  heart?  Was  he  a  mere  politician? 
Was  his  soul  absorbed  by  ambition  ? 

August  2,  Secretary  Chase  went  neither  to  the  President's  nor  to 
the  War  Department.     He  was  all  day  in  his  own  department. 

General  Shields  called  and  talked  over  the  movement  up  the  Shen- 
andoah. "He  told  me,"  says  Mr.  Chase,  "that  when  he  received 
peremptory  orders  to  return,  he  had  held  communication  with  Fre- 
mont, and  Jackson's  capture  was  certain.  I  told  him  of  my  urg- 
ing that  McDowell  should  be  ordered  forward  with  his  entire 
command  from  Warrenton  and  from  Front  Royal  to  Charlottes- 
ville and  Lynchburg;  that  the  President  was  not  ready  to  act; 
that  McDowell  himself  was  apparently  disinclined,  preferring  con- 
centration   at    Manassas,    and    then    advance  to  Richmond.     Plain 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  445 

enough  now,  lie  said,  that  this  was  the  true  movement.  He  had 
himself  telegraphed  McDowell  that  Jackson  would  be  Patterson- 

ized  by  recall  of  troops  from  pursuit.  The  troops  were  neverthe- 
less recalled;  and,  by  peremptory  order  from  the  President  him- 
self, those  of  Shields  were  directed  to  return  to  Manassas,  and 
those  of  Fremont  to  resume  position  as  a  corps  of  observation. 

"  Here,"  proceeds  the  record  I  am  citing,  "  was  a  terrible  mis- 
take. It  would  have  been  easy  to  take  Charlottesville  and  Lynch- 
burg, very  easy  :  the  capture  of  Jackson,  though  not  at  the  time 
seen  at  Washington  to  be  practicable,  was,  nevertheless,  within  easy 
possibility  ;  his  defeat  and  the  dispersion  of  his  force  certain.  Our 
troops  were  called  off  when  they  were  just  upon  him.  The  course  of 
the  whole  movement  was  changed,  for  no  reason  that  I  could 
see.  Charlottesville  and  Lynchburg  were  saved  to  the  enemy,  with 
their  stores,  and  the  railroads  on  which  they  are  situated,  forming 
the  great  east  and  west  communications  of  the  rebels.  A  wide 
door  for  Jackson  to  Richmond  was  opened — the  very  door  through 
which,  a  little  later,  he  passed;  fell,  in  cooperation  with  the  rebel 
army  at  Richmond,  on  McClellan's  right,  left  unsupported  as  if  to 
invite  disaster ;  defeated  it,  and  then,  with  the  same  army,  pursued 
the  Union  main  body  to  the  James.  Sad  !  sad  !  yet  nobody  seems 
to  heed.  General  Shields  and  I  talked  all  this  over,  deploring  the 
strange  fatality  which  seemed  to  preside  over  the  whole  transaction. 
He  dined  with  us,  and,  after  dinner,  rode  out  with  brother  Edward 
and  Nettie." 

Next  morning,  General  Shields  came  to  breakfast  and  to  visit 
the  Ohio  men  of  his  command  in  the  Cliff  burne  Hospital.  "  He 
told  me,"  records  Mr.  Chase,  "  he  desired  greatly  to  have  a  com- 
mand of  5,000  men,  and  be  allowed  to  dash  as  he  could,  breaking 
the  lines  of  communication  of  the  enemy.  My  daughters  went 
with  him  to  the  hospital.  Soon  after  they  left,  I  received  a  sum- 
mons to  a  Cabinet  meeting." 

At  the  Cabinet  meeting  of  August  3,  1862,  "there  was  a  good 
deal  of  conversation  on  the  connection  of  the  slavery  question  with 
the  rebellion."     Having  so  stated,  Secretary  Chase  subjoins: 

"I  expressed  my  conviction  for  the  tenth  or  twentieth  time, 
that  the  time  for  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion,  without  interfer- 
ence with  slavery,  had  long  passed — that  it  was  impossible,  proba- 
bly, at  the  outset,  by  striking  the  insurrectionists  wherever  found, 
strongly  and  decisively ;  but  we  had  elected  to  act  on  the  principles 


446 


THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 


of  a  civil  war,  assuming  that  the  whole  population  of  every  seceding 
State  was  engaged  against  the  Federal  Government,  instead  of  treat- 
ing the  active  secessionists  as  insurgents  and  exerting  our  utmost 
energies  for  their  arrest  and  punishment;  that  the  bitterness  of 
the  conflict  had  now  substantially  united  the  white  population  of 
the  rebel  States  against  us;  that  the  lo3'al  whites  remaining,  if  they 
would  not  prefer  the  Union  without  slavery,  certainly  would  not 
prefer  slavery  to  the  Union  ,  that  the  blacks  were  really  the  only 
loyal  population  worth  counting;  and  that,  in  the  Gulf  States,  at 
least,  their  right  to  freedom  ought  to  be  at  once  recognized  ;  while 
in  the  Border  States,  the  President's  plan  of  emancipation  might  be 
made  the  basis  of  the  necessary  measures  for  their  ultimate  enfran- 
chisement ;  that  the  practical  mode  of  effecting  this  seemed  to  me 
quite  simple;  that  the  President  had  already  spoken  of  the  impor- 
tance of  making  the  freed  blacks  on  the  Mississippi,  below  Tennes- 
see, a  safeguard  to  the  navigation  of  the  river;  that  Mitchell,  with  a 
few  thousand  soldiers,  could  take  Vickshurg;  assure  the  blacks  free- 
dom on  condition  of  loyalty  ;  organize  the  best  of  them  in  compa- 
nies, regiments,  etc.;  and  provide,  as  far  as  practicable,  for  the 
cultivation  of  the  plantations  by  the  rest;  that  Butler  should  signify 
to  the  slave-holders  of  Louisiana  that  they  must  recognize  the  free- 
dom of  their  work-people  by  paying  them  wages;  and  that  Hunter 
should  do  the  same  thing  in  South  Carolina. 

"Mr.  Seward  expressed  himself  in  favor  of  any  measures  likel}*  to 
accomplish  the  results  I  contemplated,  which  could  be  carried  into 
effect  without  proclamation  :  and  the  President  said  he  was  pretty 
well  cured  of  objection  to  any  measure  except  want  of  adaptedness 
to  put  down  the  rebellion,  but  did  not  seem  satisfied  that  the  time 
had  come  for  the  adoption  of  such  a  plan  as  I  proposed. 

'•  There  was  also  a  great  deal  of  conversation  concerning  the 
merits  of  generals.  I  objected  pretty  decidedly  to  the  policy  of 
selecting  nearly  all  the  highest  officers  from  among  men  hostile  to 
the  administration,  and  continuing  them  in  office  after  they  had 
proved  themselves  incompetent,  or  at  least  not  specially  competent, 
and  referred  to  the  needless  defeat  of  McClellan  and  the  slowness  of 
Buell.  Seward  asked  what  I  would  do.  I  replied,  -Remove  the 
men  who  failed  to  accomplish  results,  and  put  abler  and  more  active 
men  in  their  places.'  He  wished  to  know  whom  I  would  prefer  to 
Buell.  I  answered  that  if  I  were  President,  or  Secretary  of  War, 
authorized  to  act  by  the  President,  I  would  confer  with  the  General- 
in-Chief;  require  him  to  name  to  me  the  best  officers  he  knew  of; 
talk  the  matter  over  with  him;  get  all  the  light  I  could,  and  then 
designate  my  man. 

''As  much  as  anything,  the  clearing  of  the  Mississippi  by  the 
capture  of  Vickshurg,  was  discussed.  I  reminded  the  President  that 
after  the  evacuation  of  Corinth,  it  would  have  been  an  easy  matter 
to  send  down  a  few  thousand  men  and  complete  our  possession  of 
the  river;  and  of  his  own  plan  of  putting  General  Mitchell  at  the 
head  of  his  own  division  and  Curtis'  army,  and  sending  him  to  take 
Vickshurg,  almost  adopted  more  than  two  weeks  ago.  Mr.  Usher 
suggested  that,  since  General  Halleck  had  decided  against  this  plan, 
on  the   ground   that  Mitchell's  division    could   not  be    spared   from 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  1  IT 

Buell's  command,  and  Curtis'  army  was  needed  to  prevent  a  foray 

from  Arkansas  into  Missouri,  it  might  be  well  to  raise  a  special 
force  by  volunteering  for  this  one  object,  of  taking  Vicksburg,  open- 
ing the  Mississippi,  and  keeping  it  open.     I  heartily  seconded  the 

idea,  and  it  was  a  good  deal  talked  over. 

"At  length,  the  President  determined  to  send  for  General  Halleck, 
and  have  the   matter  discussed  with  him. 

"The  General  came,  ami  the  matter  was  fully  stated  to  him,  both 
b}*  Governor  Seward  and  myself.  He  did  not  absolutely  reject  the 
idea,  but  thought  the  object  could  be  better  accomplished  by  hasten- 
ing the  new  levies;  putting  the  new  troops  in  the  positions  now  oc- 
cupied by  the  old  regiments,  and  setting  these  last  to  the  work  of 
opening  the  Mississippi.  He  expressed  the  strongest  convictions  as 
to  the  importance  of  the  work,  and  his  desire  to  see  it  accomplished 
at  the  earliest  possible  period.  At  this  moment,  however,  the  neces- 
sary troops  could  not  be  spared  for  the  purpose.  Taking  into  con- 
sideration the  delay  incident  to  raising  a  special  force,  equal  perhaps 
to  that  demanded  by  General  Halleck's  plan,  and  the  other  disad- 
vantages, it  was  thought  best  to  drop  the  idea. 

" In  connection  with  this  subject,  General  Halleck  spoke  of  the 
distribution  of  troops  in  the  West.  He  said  that  Hardee  had  hroke 
up  his  camp  south  of  Corinth,  and  transferred  his  arm}-  to  Chatta- 
nooga, where  he  now  had  probably  40,000  or  50,000  men  ;  that  Price 
had  attempted  to  cross  the  river  into  Arkansas,  but  had  as  yet  failed 
to  accomplish  his  purpose;  that  a  considerable  force  was,  however, 
advancing  northward  into  Missouri ;  that  he  had  sent  a  division  and 
brigade,  say,  7,000  men,  to  Curtis,  (making  his  whole  force  about 
17.000),  and  instructed  him  to  prevent  the  invasion  of  Missouri  ;  that 
he  had  also  detached  from  Grant  about  15,000,  say  three  divisions, 
to  take  position  at  Decatur,  to  support  Buell,  if  necessary;  that 
Grant  had  still  under  his  command   about   43,000,    of  whom  7,000, 

under   Jackson,   had   been  ordered   to  the ,   to  watch   Price; 

that  Buell  had  00,000.  with  which  force  he  was  approaching  Chatta- 
nooga. These  numbers  gave  the  whole  force  in  the  West,  exclusive 
of  troops  occupying  St.  Louis,  and  various  posts  and  camps  north 
of  the  Ohio:  Buell,  60,000  ;  Grant,  including  detachments,  excc])t 
Curtis,  58,000;  Curtis,  17,000;  in  all,  135,000  men—- excellent  troops. 
lie  stated  McClellan's  army  at  present,  and  fit  for  duty,  at  88,000; 
absent  on  leave,  33,000;  absent  without  leave,  3,000;  present,  bat 
sick,  10,000;  in  all,  say,  140,000.  Another  statement  makes  the 
number  fit  for  duty  91,000;  and  the  total,  143,000." 

This  book  promises  to  make  a  rather  lively  contribution  to  the 
history  of  the  great  war  against  secession  in  the  interest  of  slavery. 

"The  President,"  continues  Mr.  Chase,  "read  a  communication 
from  General  H.,  proposing  that  200,000  militia  should  be  drafted 
for  nine  months,  and  that  the  300,000  men  to  fill  old  and  form  new 
regiments  should  be  obtained  without  delay;  and,  to  prevent  the  evil 
of  hasty  and  improper  appointments  and  promotions,  that  a  hoard 
of  officers  should  be  organized,  to  which  all  proposed  action  of  that 


448  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

sort  should  be  referred.  The  General  condemned,  respectfully,  but 
as  decidedly,  the  inconsideration  which  has  hitherto  marked  the 
action  of  the  government  in  this  respect,  and  stated  one  case  where 
a  colonel  had  been  tried  and  convicted  of  gross  misconduct,  and  was 
on  the  point  of  being  dismissed,  when  he  came  on  to  "Washington  and 
returned  with  a  brigadier's  commission  ! 

"The  General  commanded  m}"  sincere  respect  by  the  great  intelli- 
gence and  manliness  he  displayed,  and  excited  great  hopes  by  his 
obvious  purpose  to  allow  no  lagging,  and  by  his  evident  mastery  of 
the  business  he  has  taken  in  hand.  I  can  not  agree  with  him  as  to  the 
expediency  of  retaining  McClellan  and  Buell  in  their  important  com- 
mands; and  I  was  sorry  to  hear  him  say,  in  reply  to  a  question  by 
the  President,  as  to  what  use  could  be  made  of  the  black  population 
of  the  borders  of  the  Mississippi,  '  I  confess  I  do  not  think  much  of 
the  negro.'  " 

The  conclusion  of  the  entry  relating  to  August  3d  is  as  follows  : 

"  Neither  Mr.  Stanton  nor  Mr.  Blair  was  present  at  the  meeting 
to-day. 

"  When  the  Cabinet  council  broke  up,  I  proposed  to  Mr.  Usher,  who 
made  a  most  favorable  impression  on  me,  to  ride  home  in  my  car- 
riage;  but  he  was  called  back  by  the  President,  and  I,  finding  my 
carriage  had  not  come,  rode  home  with  Mr.  Bates." 

At  the  Cabinet  meeting  of  August  3,  Mr.  Usher,  Assistant  Sec- 
retary of  the  Interior,  "mentioned  a  report  that  the  Louisville 
Democrat  had  come  out  openly  for  disunion,  saying  that  it  "was 
now  manifest  that  the  government  was  in  the  hands  of  the  aboli- 
tionists. The  President  said,  this  was  equivalent  to  a  declaration 
of  hostility  by  the  entire  Douglas  party  of  Kentucky,  and  mani- 
fested much  uneasiness." 

At  the  same  Cabinet  meeting  the  President  spoke  of  the  treaty 
said  to  have  been  formed  between  the  Cherokees  and  the  Confeder- 
ates, and  suggested  the  expediency  of  organizing  a  force  of  whites 
and  blacks,  in  separate  regiments,  to  invade  and  take  possession  of 
their  country.  Statistics  of  the  Indians  were  sent  for,  from  which 
it  appeared  that  the  whole  fighting  force  of  the  Cherokees  could 
hardly  exceed  2,500  men.  Mr.  Usher,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  was  not  in  favor  of  the  expedition.  He  thought  it  better 
to  deal  indulgently  with  deluded  Indians,  and  make  their  deluders 
feel  the  weight  of  the  Federal  authority.  Most,  on  the  whole, 
seemed  to  concur  with  him." 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  on  the  sixth  of  August,  1862, 
made  a  memorandum  to  this  effect : 

"Nothing  much  thought  of  to-day  except  the  great  war  meeting — 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  449 

which  was  immense.  Nona  of  the  Cabinet  there  except  myself  and 
Mr.  Bate*     The  President,  after  Mr.  Chittenden   had  finished,  said 

to  me  (the  people  clamoring  for  him),  'Well!  hadn't  I  better  Bay  a 
few  words  and  get  rid  of  myself?'  Hardly  waiting  for  an  answer,  he 
advanced  at  once  to  the  stand.  He  was  received  with  most  uproar- 
ious enthusiasm.  His  frank,  genial,  generous  face,  and  direct  sim- 
plicity of  bearing,  took  all  hearts.  His  speech  is  in  all  the  prints, 
and  evinces  his  usual  originality  and  sagacity." 

The  entry  dated  August  6th  also  contains  the  words  : 

"Professor  Bead  and  his  son,  Captain  Read,  and  Assistant  Secre- 
tary Usher  dined  with  me.  Mr.  Bates  and  Dr.  Schmidt  came  from 
meeting  with  me,  and  stopped  at  my  house.  After  Mr.  Bates  went, 
I  played  chess  with  the  Doctor,  who  was  far  my  overmatch — he  heat- 
ing me  with  ease  two  or  three  times,  while  I,  only  by  accident,  beat 
him  once." 

Yet  Chase  was  himself  a  veteran  chess  player. 
August  7,  Mr.  Chase  recorded  as  follows : 

"Very  little  accomplished  as  j-et,  though  much,  I  hope,  in  the 
train  of  accomplishment.  Engaged  nearly  all  day  on  selections  for 
recommendation  of  collectors  and  assessors.  Prepared  letter  to 
President,  containing  names,  etc.,  of  candidates,  with  my  recommen- 
dations, for  Connecticut;  made  up,  in  very  small  part,  on  my  own 
personal  knowledge,  but  mainly  on  the  representations  and  advice — 
sometimes  agreeing  and  sometimes  not — of  the  senators,  representa- 
tives. State  officers,  and  Secretary  Welles. 

"  In  the  evening,  went  to  War  Department,  where  I  saw  Curtis' 
ih -patch  from  Helena,  urging  the  clearing  out  of  the  Mississippi, 
before  attempting  inland  operations;  and  McClellan's,  announcing 
advance  of  the  enemj-  on  Malvern  Hill,  and  his  purpose  to  order  the 
retirement  of  Hooker's  division  ;  and  those  of  various  governors, 
announcing  progress  of  volunteering  and  preparations  for  drafting — 
on  the  whole,  very  encouraging,  and  denoting  the  greatest  possible 
earnestness  and  determination  among  the  people. 

"  Home,  Taylor,  Davis,  and  Hopper  (all  blacks)  called.  Wrote 
my  friend  E.  and  sent  some  pencil  scribblings.  Mr.  Gest  called,  but 
not  able  to  see  him." 

The  next  entry  in  the  same  book  is  under  date  of  the  next  day. 
It  runs  as  follows : 

"  Sent  letter  and  scrap  to  my  friend  E.,  and  sundry  other  letters 
to  sundry  people — particularly  General  Pope's  recommendation  of 
young  Perkins,  with  my  heartiest  indorsement,  to  Governor  Tod. 
Also  sent  General  Pope,  by  Major  Johnson,  some  photographs  of 
himself  and  Colonel  Welch,  taken  by  the  Treasury  artist  before  he 
went  to  the  field. 

"  Attended  Cabinet  meeting.  Autograph  letter  from  Queen  Vic- 
toria, announcing  marriage  of  Princess  Alice.     Seward  gave  account 


450 


THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


of  order  prepared  by  General  Halleck,  Secretary  Stanton,  and  him- 
self, forbidding  changes  of  domieil  and  granting  of  passports  until 
after  the  draft.  Nothing  proposed  and  nothing  done  of  any  moment. 
"Directed  Connecticut  abstract  and  my  letter  of  recommendation 
to  be  sent  to  President." 

Is  not  this  a  good  indication  ? 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  August  12,  1862. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Accept  my  thanks  for  the  Advertise?'  containing 
your  admirable  address.  Every  word  finds  its  echo  in  my  deepest 
convictions. 

"Have  you  considered  whether  it  will  not  soon  be  necessary  to 
terminate  slavery,  at  least  in  South  Carolina  and  the  Gulf  States,  by 
a  military  order  proceeding  from  the  President,  or  by  like  orders 
from  the  commanding  generals  of  the  departments,  acting  under  the 
President's  direction  ?  I  resisted  the  conviction  of  this  necessity  a 
long  time,  hoping  the  war  might  be  successfully  terminated  and 
slavery  left  to  the  disposition  of  the  State  authorities  ;  but  events  of 
the  last  six  months  have  expelled  this  hope,  and  that  conviction  is 
now  established  firmly  in  my  mind. 

"  With  the  greatest  respect  and  esteem, 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  Hon.  Edward  Everett.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  451 


CHAPTER     XXXIII. 

CHASE    AND    M'DOWELL — THE    WAR    ON    M'CLELLAN. 

AUGUST  15th  (Friday)  is  the  next  day  distinguished  by  an 
entry  in  the  diary  of  Mr.  Chase.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
entry  are  the  characters,  "p.,  and  r.  un  pen  de  Marius."  These 
characters  appear  to  be  a  mixing  of  three  tongues  at  least ;  but,  like 
"  Bill  Sykes,  his  mark,"  they  may  be  simpler  than  they  seem.  About 
the  meaning  of  the  characters  in  association  with  them  there  can  be 
no  question.     In  plain,  nervous  English,  we  are  told : 

"  Saw  in  Republican  account  of  interview  invited  by  President 
with  colored  people,  and  his  talk  to  them  on  colonization.  How 
much  better  would  be  a  manly  protest  against  prejudice  against 
color !  and  a  wise  effort  to  give  freemen  homes  in  America  !  A  mili- 
tary order,  emancipating  at  least  the  slaves  of  South  Carolina, 
Georgia,  and  the  Gulf  States,  would  do  more  to  terminate  the  war 
and  insure  an  earl}T  restoration  of  solid  peace  and  prosperity  than 
anything  else  that  can  be  devised." 

On  the  15th  of  August  Secretary  Chase  rode  out  with  Mr.  Par- 
sons. At  night,  Judge  Harris  called  while  the  Secretary  and  Mr. 
Boutwell  were  engaged  on  tax  appointments.  He  was  invited  to 
breakfast  the  next  morning. 

The  next  day  (Saturday)  was  written  of  as  follows  by  our  mar- 
tial-minded, then  most  melancholy  hero  : 

"Nothing  in  public  affairs  of  special  note  to-day  New  regiments 
begin  to  arrive  ;  but  what  reason  to  hope  more  from  new  levies  than 
old?  None  that  I  see,  except  General  Hallcck  ;  if  he  fails,  all  fails. 
Pope  telegraphs  that  his  whole  force  is  as  near  the  Rapidan  as  the 
nature  of  the  country  will  permit,  and  that  he  is  pushing  strong 
reconnoissance  beyond.  Grant  telegraphs  that  15.000  men  have 
gone  to  Decatur,  to  replace  15,000  sent  to  reinforce  Buell ;  that  he  is 
now  weak,  and  may  be  attacked,  though  there  is  no  indication  yet  of 
more  than  feints  toward  Missouri.  Nothing  from  Burnside  or 
McClellan." 

The  entry  in  Mr.  Chase's  diary  of  August  15th,  already  cited, 

30 


452 


THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 


contains  also  this  language,  following  remarks  on  the  subject  of  the 
Connecticut  tax  appointments : 

"No  Cabinet  to-day.  Went  to  War  Department.  Stanton  said 
Halleck  had  sent  Burnside  to  James  River  to  act  as  second  in 
command,  or  as  adviser  of  McClellan — in  reality,  to  control  him. 
He  thought  the  experiment  would  fail,  and  wished  I  would  go  and 
see  Halleck.  Went.  Asked  about  the  mission  of  Burnside.  Hal- 
leck said  he  could  not  disclose  it,  as  it  was  uncertain  what  it  would 
really  turn  out  to  be.  Asked  him  what  was  the  hostile  force  at 
Richmond?  He  thought  75,000  to  80,000  men.  Before  Pope? 
About  60,000.  Whole  army  in  Virginia?  About  150,000.  I 
thought  it  not  possible,  unless  western  force  was  much  reduced. 
He  thought  a  levy  en  masse  had  been  made,  and  that  it  was  possible 
for  the  enemy  to  bring  000,000  to  700,000  into  the  field.  I  thought 
the  whole  number  could  not,  at  this  time,  exceed  300,000  to  350,000; 
of  which  at  least  180,000  to  230,000  were  in  the  West,  South-west, 
and  South-east.  I  inquired  about  East  Tennessee  and  the  Mississippi 
River,  but  got  no  satisfactory  information  on  either  point.  He  said, 
however,  that  15,000  men  had  been  sent  from  Decatur  to  reinforce 
Buell,  and  15,000  from  Grant  to  Decatur  ;  and  that  Curtis  was  needed 
to  prevent  further  inroads  into  Missouri.  The  whole  interview  was 
very  unsatisfactory,  though  the  general  was  very  civil.  Left  with 
him  memoranda  in  behalf  of  Colonel  Carrington. 

"  The  papers  show  that  the  rebels  mean  to  execute  their  threat  of 
treating  Pope's  officers  and  soldiers  as  felons,  and  not  as  prisoners  of 
war.  This  can  not  be  permitted  without  shameful  disgrace.  When 
wiil  the  administration  awake  to  its  duty?" 

The  next  letter,  under  date  August  25th,  introduces  an  unpleas- 
ant subject  in  this  fashion  : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  came  too  late.  The  President  ap- 
pointed Mr.  Raymond,  on  my  recommendation,  which  was  founded 
in  part  on  my  personal  knowledge  and  in  greater  part  on  the  opin- 
ions of  General  Ashley  and  every  other  person,  without  an  excep- 
tion, I  believe,  to  whom  I  spoke  on  the  subject. 

"Had  any  one  intimated  to  me  that  Mr.  Mott  would  accept  the 
office  I  should  certainly  have  hesitated  before  offering  it  to  any 
other  person.  But  he  had  declined  a  higher  position,  when  I  pro- 
posed it  to  him,  and  I  had  no  thought  of  his  accepting  this. 

11  Only  one  thing  would  have  caused  me  doubt  as  to  my  duty,  and 
that  is  the  unfortunate  difficulties  which  have  arisen  in  the  Toledo 
district.  General  Ashley  has  been  too  faithful  a  representative  in 
Congress  of  the  great  cause  to  which  I  have  devoted  my  life,  and  too 
true  a  friend  to  myself,  to  allow  me,  without  dishonor,  to  do  anything 
which  could  be  interpreted  into  distrust  or  disregard  of  him. 

"  Of  course,  he,  as  every  other  man,  must  take  such  positions  as 
the  people  choose  to  give  him  ;  or,  if  they  choose  to  give  him  none,  ac- 
quiesce loyally  in  their  decision.  But,  certainly  no  man  in  Congress 
less  than  he  merits  any  mark  of  disapproval  from  his  constituents, 


OP  SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  453 

or  more  deserves  to  have  a  fair  hearing  and  unprejudiced  judgment 
from  them.  Of  course,  there  should  be  a  hearty  acquiescence  of  all 
in  the  decision  of  the  majority  concerning  him. 

"I  have  had  neither  time  nor  opportunity  to  inform  myself  cor- 
rectly in  respect  to  the  present  complications  in  the  district  ;  hut  my 
sympathies  mast  be  (knowing,  as  I  do,  what  important  services  he 
has  rendered  our  cause)  with  General  Ashley. 

"With  sincere  respect,  I  remain,  very  truly,  your  friend, 

"C.  Waggoner,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Here  is  another  letter  of  interest  in  the  same  connection,  under 
date  September  17th : 

"My  Dear  Judge:  I  have  seldom  been  so  much  surprised  and 
pained,  as  by  your  letter  of  the  10th  inst.,  and  the  copies  of  General 
Ashley's  letters  which  came  with  it.  I  received  also,  by  the  same 
mail  to-day.  copies  of  the  same  letters  in  print. 

••  You  know  how  warm  a  regard  I  have  ever  cherished  for  General 
Ashley,  as  a  true  friend  and  faithful  advocate  of  our  cause,  and  how 
glad  i  have  always  been  to  promote  his  advancement,  believing  that 
I  was  thcrebjT  promoting  the  great  political  principles  which  I  em- 
braced  early  and  have  defended  perseveringly. 

"  I  never  dreamed  until  to-day  that  he  was  capable  of  seeking  an 
appointment  for  anybody,  stranger,  acquaintance,  or  friend,  upon  any 
understanding,  direct  or  indirect,  that  any  share  of  its  emoluments 
or  opportunities  for  emolument  should  belong  to  him. 

"  I  can  never  approve  or  attempt  to  justify  any  such  understand- 
ings. He  who  enters  into  them  must  vindicate  them  if  capable  of 
vindication. 

"It  may  be  properly  observed,  however,  and  it  may  somewhat 
extenuate  the  culpability  attaching  to  him,  that  very  loose  ideas  on 
these  matters  have  been  current  in  Washington  ;  the  prevalence  of 
which  may  be  attributed,  in  large  part,  to  the  system  of  parcelling 
out  executive  patronage  to  members  of  Congress — a  system  against 
which  I  have  constantly  and  earnestly  protested. 

"  His  letters  can  not  have  appeared  to  General  Ashley  as  they 
appear  to  me,  and  I  am  confident  that,  once  impressed  with  a  sense 
of  their  impropriety,  he  will  never  expose  himself  again  to  such  a 
censure.  Indeed,  an  act  of  Congress,  for  which  I  believe  he  voted, 
now  expressly  forbids  such  transactions. 

"Under  these  circumstances.  I  think,  if  I  were  a  voter  in  his  dis- 
trict. I  should  not  withhold  from  him  my  support,  to  the  detriment 
of  our  cause.  I  think  I  should  do  by  Ashley  what  Clay  once  asked 
one  of  his  constituents,  whom  he  had  displeased  by  voting  for 
the  compensation  bill,  to  do  by  him,  'Pick  the  flint  and  try  t lie  old 
gun  again.' 

"You  see  I  have  answered  your  letter  though  3-011  have  asked  for 
no  answer.  And  I  must  not  close  without  a  word  or  two  on  other 
matters. 

"  We  have  fallen  on  very  evil  days.  Under  the  influence  of  a  short  - 
sighted  notion,  that  the  old  Union  can  be  reconstituted,  after  a  year's 


454  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

civil  war  of  free  States  and  slave  States,  just  as  it  was,  the  Presi- 
dent has  hitherto  refused  to  sanction  any  adequate  measure  for  tho 
liberation  of  the  loj'al  population  of  the  South  from  slavery  to  the 
rebels.  Hence  we  are  fighting  rebellion  with  one  hand  and  with  the 
other  supplying  its  vital  elements  of  strength.  Then  we  have  placed 
and  continued  in  command  generals  who  have  never  manifested  the 
slightest  sympathy  with  our  cause,  as  related  to  the  controlling  ques- 
tion of  slavery.  These  naturally  have  never  been  more  than  half  in 
earnest :  and,  instead  of  their  being  impelled  to  the  most  vigorous 
action,  their  influence  has  been  suffered  to  paralyze,  in  a  great  de- 
gree, the  activity  of  the  administration.  In  addition  to  this  there 
has  been  enormous  waste  and  profusion,  growing  out  of  high  pay 
and  excessive  indulgence.  All  these  causes  tend  to  demoralization, 
and  we  are  demoralized.  I  can  not  go  into  particulars,  but  tho 
instances  abound. 

"  It  is  some  consolation  to  me  that  my  voice  and,  so  far  as  oppor- 
tunity has  allowed,  my  example  has  been  steadily  opposed  to  all 
this.  I  have  urged  my  ideas  on  the  President  and  my  associates, 
till  I  begin  to  feel  that  they  are  irksome  to  the  first,  and  to  one  or 
two,  at  least,  of  the  second. 

"  What  to  do  I  know  not.  I  confess  I  should  like  to  complete  the 
work  of  bringing  in  a  sound  system  of  national  currenc}',  and  of 
relieving  the  people  of  the  evils  of  our  existing  bank-note  circulation. 
Besides  this  I  see  nothing  for  me  to  do  here  ;  and  whether  I  should 
remain  here  for  this  is  the  question.     What  do  you  think  of  it? 

"We  have  lost  Harper's  Ferry,  but  are  hoping  for  good  news  from 
McClellan's   main   army.       Man}-   think  the  surrender  of   Harper's 
Ferry  entirely  unnecessary.     It  is  a  heavy  blow,  and  may  precede 
imjjortant  events.     I  will  not,  however,  anticipate. 
"  As  ever  most  cordially  your  friend, 

"Hon.  A.  S.  Latty.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

I  do  not  propose  to  comment  on  these  letters.  Certainly,  never 
having  examined  the  evidence  relating  to  the  matters  of  fact,  stated 
or  referred  to  in  them,  I  do  not  present  them  as  affording  indica- 
tion against  any  one  named  therein  They  serve  to  aid  in  charac- 
terizing the  public  spirit  of  their  writer,  and  they  serve  so  well 
that  purpose  that  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  suppress  them.  On  the 
other  hand,  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  use  them  without  reminding 
readers  of  the  presumption  of  innocence  in  every  case,  and  warning 
them  not  to  receive  the  letters  in  question  as  even  tending  to  prove 
that  any  one  was  guilty  of  any  wrong  whatever. 

On  the  whole,  however,  I  can  not  set  down  to  the  credit  of  our 
hero  the  two  letters  relating  to  the  Ashley  matter.  They  belong,  it 
seems  to  me,  rather  to  the  debit  side  of  the  account,  all  things  con- 
sidered. But  of  that  each  reader  is  to  judge,  with  full  ability  to 
form  his  judgment  for  himself. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  456 

August  25,  1862,  was  marked  by  the  writing  of  several  pleasant 
letters,  of  which  the  following,  addressed  to  A.  A.  Gutherie,  Esq., 
is  a  fair  sample  : 

■  .My  Dear  Friend  :  Your  letter  was  duly  received,  and  I  thank 
you  for  it. 

■■  Now  and  then  I  have  the  pleasure  of  calling  into  public  service, 
without  expectation  or  solicitation,  a  man  of  such  integrity  and 
capacity  that  his  appointment  honors  the  office. 

"Among  these  instances  it  gives  me  real  pleasure  to  place  j-our 
appointment,  which  the  President  lias  kindly  made  at  my  instance. 
With  best  regards  to  all  your  family.  Yours  faithfully, 

"S.  P.  CHASE.'1 

But  here  is  one  which  many  residents  of  Ohio  will  regard  with 
unutterably  painful  interest : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  August  25,  1862. 

"  My  Dear  Stone  :  I  have  recommended,  and  the  President  has 
appointed,  you  collector  for  the  Seventh  District,  understanding  that 
O'Harra  did  not  desire  to  be  a  candidate  in  opposition  to  you. 

"  Please  see  that  O'Harra  does  not  suffer  because  of  what  I  do. 
You  know  his  merits,  and  will,  I  am  sure,  confer  with  him  freely  as 
to  appointments  of  deputies.  Do  not  overlook  among  them  Powers, 
whose  capacity  and  fidelity  you  know.  Yours  truly. 

"Hon.  A.  P.  Stone.  S.  P.  CHASE.'' 

Of  the  Columbus  life  of  our  hero  quite  imperfect  notice  has  been 
taken.  One  of  the  least  creditable  things  therein  was  the  hold  that 
such  men   as  A.  P.  Stone,  then,  somehow,  managed  to  get  on  him. 

August  28  yields  this  letter : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  August  28,  1862. 

"  My  Dear  Seward  :  Young  Mr.  Cameron,  of  Harrisburg,  is  here 
at  the  request  of  his  father,  to  urge  that  leave  be  granted  the  general 
to  come  home  on  a  furlough — say  three  or  four  months. 

"  1  called  on  the  President  this  morning  about  it.  He  seemed  to 
think  that  the  request  must  ultimately  be  granted,  but  expressed  no 
opinion  as  to  the  expediency  of  granting  it,  saying  that  he  desired 


'Here  is  another: 

"Washington,  D.  C,  August  25,  1862. 
"My  Dear  Friend:     It  is  a  real  pleasure  to  me  to  offer  to  you    some  positive 
evidence  of  my  respect  and  friendship,  in  the  form  of  an  appointment    as  collector 
for  the  Eleventh  District.     The  President,  at  my  instance,  has  signed  your  commis- 
sion, which  will  be  sent  you  forthwith  by  the  commissioner. 
"  With  best  regards  to  your  family,  I  remain  as  ever, 

"  Faithfully  your  friend, 
"John  Campbell,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


45C  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

to  do  nothing  until  after  consulting  you.  He  proposed  to  wait  till 
your  return  therefore.  But  as  there  has  been  a  good  deal  of  delay 
already  I  suggested  I  would  write  you.  To  this  he  assented,  say- 
ing that  I  might  say  to  you  that  he  had  no  objection  if  you  had 
none.  I  said,  '  may  I  say  that  you  think  it  best  to  grant  the  leave?  ' 
He  replied.  '  no,  I  wish  to  leave  it  to  him.'  I  then  said,  'have  you 
any  objection  that  I  should  say  on  my  own  account  that  1  think  it 
right?'     And  he  answered,  '  not  at  all.' 

"On  the  whole  it  does  seem  to  me  best,  and  I  hope  you  will  con- 
cur with  me,  and  if  you  do,  grant  the  leave  to  go  by  next  steamer. 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  Hon.  W.  H.  Seward.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

August  29th  is  thus  recorded  : 

"The  Secretary  of  War  called  on  me  in  reference  to  General  Mc- 
Clellan.  He  has  long  believed,  and  so  have  I.  that  General  McClellan 
ought  not  to  be  trusted  with  the  command  of  any  army  of  the  Union,  and 
the  events  of  the  last  few  days  have  greatly  strengthened  our  judg- 
ment. We  called  on  Judge  Bates,  who  was  not  at  home;  called  on 
General  Halleck.  and  remonstrated  against  General  McClellan  com- 
manding ;  Secretary  wrote  and  presented  to  General  H.  a  call  for  a 
report,  touching  McC.'s  disobedience  of  orders  and  consequent  delay 
of  support  to  Army  of  Virginia;  General  H.  promised  answer  to- 
morrow morning." 

Saturday,  August  30,  affords  the  following : 

u  Judge  Bates  called,  and  we  conversed  in  regard  to  General  Mc- 
Clellan, he  concurring  in  our  judgment.  Afterwards  I  went  to  the  War 
Department,  where  Watson  showed  me  a  paper  expressing  it.  I  sug- 
gested modifications.  Afterward  saw  Stanton.  He  approved  the 
modifications,  and  we  both  signed  the  paper.  I  then  took  it  to  Sec- 
retary Welles,  who  concurred  in  judgment,  but  thought  the  paper  not  ex- 
actly right,  and  did  not  sign  it.     fleturned  the  paper  to  Stanton. 

'•  Promised  report  from  General  Halleck  was  not  made.'' 

That  last  sentence  looks  not  insignificant.     But  let  that  pass. 

"  Much  busied  at  department  to-day,  although  it  is  Sunday/' 
savs  Mr.  Chase,  August  31,  1862,  adding  :  "  and  spent  much  time 
with  the  President,  endeavoring    to    close   appointments    under  tax 

law." 

The  same  day  offers  the  record  : 

'•David  Dudley  Field  called  and  said  we  had  sustained  a  serious 
defeat  yesterday,  and  that  the  Secretary  of  War  wished  to  see  me. 
Went  to  the  Department  and  found  that  General  Pope  had.  in  fact. 
been  defeated  partially,  and  had  fallen  back  to  Centreville.  Fitz 
John  Porter  was  not  in  the  battle,  nor  was  Franklin  or  Sumner,  with 
whose  corps   the   result   would    have  probably  been  very  different. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  1  :>7 

Little  fighting  to-day.     Clerks  went  out  to  battle-field  as  nurses,  Mr. 
Harrington  with  them." 

On  the  same  day,  our  hero  wrote  as  follows  to  Hon.  Thadeus 
Stevens : 

"I  read  your  letter  to  the  President,  and  he  has  concluded  to 
send  Senator  Pomeroy  to  Chiriqui  to  report  before  conclusively 
doing  anything. 

"Colonization  may  do  something  in  the  way  of  creating  an  Amer- 
ico-Afric  state  in  Central  America,  hut  it  will  not  solve  our  home 
problem,  nor,  in  my  judgment,  does  it  suit  our  present  exigencies. 

"Pope,  after  a  great  success  Friday,  was  compelled  to  tall  back  to 
Centreville  yesterday.  Neither  Franklin  nor  Sumner  were  sent 
forward  fast  enough  *by  McClellan  to  reach  him.  But  I  think  they 
are  with  him  to-day,  and  that  he  is  stronger  than  the  enemy. 

"McClellan,  at  last,  is  reduced  to  the  command  of  the  residue  of 
the  Arm}-  of  the  Potomac  not  sent  to  Pope.  This  is  late,  but  well, 
though  not  well  enough." 

September  1st,  we  have  these  letters : 

"  My  Dear  Sir:  I  presume  the  article  from  the  Bulletin  from 
'B.  G.'  is  from  your  pen. 

"Its  temper  is  excellent,  and  its  advice,  upon  the  information 
possessed,  sound. 

•No  one  gave  to  General  McClellan  more  unreserved  confidence 
than  I.  It  was  withdrawn  only  when  painfully  convinced  that  it 
was  not  wan-anted.  Then,  for  a  long  time,  I  hoped  it  might  be  re- 
stored, but  failure  succeeded  failure  and  mistake — to  use  the  mildest 
word — mistake. 

"lam  now  thoroughly  satisfied  that  he  ought  no  longer  to  be 
intrusted  with  the  command  of  any  arm}-  of  the  United  States;  and 
I  do  not  see  how  I  can  reconcile  my  duty  to  the  country,  with 
sharing  the  responsibilities  of  the  administration,  if  it  continues  to 
allow-  its  military  actions  to  be  guided  in  any  considerable  degree 
by  his  counsel  or  control. 

"My  heart  acquits  me  of  all  personal  hostility  to  him.  My  coun- 
try requires  me  to  look  only  to  capacity  and  will  to  serve  her.  He 
is  my  best  friend  who  is  her  best  friend. 

"  Your  faithfully,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Gallagher  :  Your  parcel  of  extracts  from  news- 
papers came  to-day.  and  alarmed  me  a  good  deal ;  I  supposed  that 
each  -crip  chronicled  some  defeat,  and  that  the  aggregate  would 
sum  up  in  the  loss  of  Missouri. 

"But.  unwilling  to  accept  so  unsatisfactory  a  conclusion  without 
more  examination.  I  patiently  went  to  work  and  analyzed  the  whole 
mass,  and  was  agreeably  surprised  to  find  that  many  papers  related 
to  the  same  affair,  and  that  the  summing  up  was,  that  the  rebels  had 
been  routed  every-where  in  Missouri,  and  driven  out  of  the  entire 
State,  except  in  the  north-east,  where  they  could  not  maintain  them- 


458  THE   PRIVATE     LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

solves  against  even   a  tolerably  respectable  force  under  any  active 
leader — brave  as  well. 

"Of  course  tbere  is  an  unsettled  condition  of  society — many 
robberies — not  a  few  murders;  but  these  things  ought  to  be  sup- 
pressed without  the  excitement  of  any  alarm. 

"  It  would  be  very  satisfactory  to  me,  and  might  be  very  useful, 
if  I  could  have,  from  week  to  week,  a  chronologized  account  of 
events  and  incidents,  with  references  to  the  paper  extracts  accom- 
panying and  sustaining  it;  just  such  as  I  have  extracted  from  the 
extracts  you  have  sent  me — which  I  would  send  you  as  a  specimen, 
if  my  abbreviations  were  legible.     Can't  you  give  me  this? 

"Yours  truly, 

"  W.  D.  Gallagher,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE, 

"I  see  no  danger  here,  but  am  not  very  well  informed,  and  don't 
care  to  speculate." 

Under  the  same  date  was  written  : 

"  This  has  been  an  anxious  day.  An  order  appears  declaring 
command  of  his  corps  in  Burnside  ;  of  that  portion  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  not  sent  forward  to  Pope,  in  McClellan  ;  of  the  Army 
of  Virginia  and  all  forces  temporarily  attached,  in  Pope;  of  the 
whole,  in  Halleck.  Reports  from  Pope's  army  state  that  its  losses 
are  heavy,  but  in  good  spirits — confirm  that  neither  Franklin  nor 
Sumner  arrived,  and  that  McClellan  failed  to  send  forward  ammuni- 
tion. 

"On  suggestion  of  Judge  Bates,  the  remonstrance  against  Mc- 
Clellan, which  had  been  previously  signed  by  Smith,  was  modified; 
and,  having  been  further  slightly  altered  on  m}r  suggestion,  was 
signed  by  Stanton,  Bates,  and  1113' self,  and  afterward  by  Smith. 
Welles  declined  to  sign  it,  on  the  ground  that  it  might  seem  un- 
friendly to  the  President — though  this  was  the  exact  reverse  of  its 
intent.  He  said  he  agreed  in  opinion,  and  was  willing  to  express  it, 
personally.  This  determined  us  to  await  the  Cabinet  meeting  to- 
morrow. 

"Meantime  McClellan  came  up,  on  invitation  of  Halleck.  and  had 
personal  conference  with  him  and  the  President.  Soon  after,  a  rumor 
pervaded  the  town  that  McClellan  was  to  resume  his  full  command. 
Colonel  Key  called  at  my  house,  and  told  me  that  he  supposed  such 
was  the  fact." 

Queer  Colonel  Key !  How  often  he  did  harm  where  he  was  even 
over-earnestly  endeavoring  to  do  good  !  Yet  he  did  great  things 
and  good  things  in  his  day. 

September  2d  furnishes  this  account: 

"  Cabinet  met,  but  neither  the  President  nor  Secretary  of  War 
were  present.  Mr.  P.  W.  Seward  (the  Secretaiy  of  State  being  out  of 
town)  said  nothing.  All  others  agreed  that  we  needed  a  change  in 
commander  of  the  army.     Mr.  Blair  referred  to  the  report  [support] 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  459 

he  had  constantly  given  to  McClellan,  but  confessed  that  he  now 
thought  he  could  not  wisely  be  trusted  with  the  chief  command. 
Mr.  Bates  was  very  derided  against  his  competency,  and  Mr.  Smith 
equally  so.  Mr.  Welles  was  of  the  same  judgment,  though  less  posi- 
tive in  expression." 

How  characteristic!     Secretary  Chase  continues: 

"After  some  time,  while  the  talk  was  going  on,  the  President  came 
in,  saving  that,  not  seeing  much  for  a  Cabinet  meeting  to-day.  he  had 
been  talking  at  the  department  and  head-quarters  about  'the  war.' 
The  Secretary  of  War  came  in.  In  answer  to  some  inquiry,  the  fact 
was  stated  by  the  President  or  the  Secretary,  that  McClellan  had 
been  placed  in  command  of  the  forces  to  defend  the  Capital — or. 
rather,  to  use  the  President's  own  words,  'he  had  set  him  to  putting 
these  troops  into  the  fortifications  about  Washington,'  believing  that 
he  could  do  that  thing  better  than  any  other  man.  I  remarked, 
that  this  could  be  done  equall}-  well  by  the  engineer  who  constructed 
the  forts,  and  that  putting  General  McClellan  in  command  for  this 
purpose  was  equivalent  to  making  him  second  in  command  of  the 
entire  army.  The  Secretary  of  War  said  that  no  one  was  now 
responsible  for  the  defense  of  the  Capital;  that  the  order  to  Mc- 
Clellan was  given  by  the  President  direct  to  McClellan,  and  that 
General  Halleck  considered  himself  relieved  from  responsibility, 
although  he  acquiesced  and  approved  the  order;  that  McClellan 
could  now  shield  himself,  should  anything  go  wrong,  under  Halleck, 
while  Halleck  could  and  would  disclaim  all  responsibility  for  the 
order  given.  The  President  thought  General  Halleck  as  much 
responsible  as  before,  and  repeated  that  the  whole  scope  of  the  order 
was,  simply,  to  direct  McClellan  to  put  the  troops  into  the  fortifica- 
tions, and  command  them  for  the  defense  of  Washington.  I  re- 
marked that  this  seemed  to  me  equivalent  to  making  him  comman- 
der-in  chief  for  the  time  being,  and  that  I  thought  it  would  prove 
very  difficult  to  make  any  substitution  hereafter,  for  active  opera- 
tions;  that,  I  had  no  feeling  whatever  against  McClellan;  that  he 
came  to  the  command  with  my  most  cordial  approbation  and  sup- 
port; that  until  I  became  satisfied  that  his  delays  would  greatly 
injure  our  cause,  he  possessed  my  full  confidence;  that,  after  I  had 
felt  myself  compelled  to  withhold  that  confidence,  I  had  (since  the 
President,  notwithstanding  my  opinion  that  he  should,  refrained 
from  putting  another  in  command),  given  him  all  possible  support 
in  every  way,  raising  means  and  urging  reinforcements;  that  his 
experience  as  a  military  commander  had  been  little  else  than  a  series 
of  failures;  and  that  his  omission  to  urge  troops  forward  to  the 
battles  of  Friday  and  Saturday  evinced  a  spirit  which  rendered  him 
unworthy  of  trust,  and  that  I  could  not  but  feel  that  giving  com- 
mand to  him  was  equivalent  to  giving  Washington  to  the  rebels. 
This,  and  more.  I  said.  Other  members  of  the  Cabinet  expressed  a 
general  concurrence,  but  in  no  very  energetic  terms.  [Mr.  Blair 
must.be  excepted,  but  he  did  not  dissent.] 

"The  President  said  it  distressed   him  exceedingl}'  to  find  himself 
differing  on  such  a  point  from  the  Secretary  of  War  and  the  Secre- 


460 


THE  PRIVATE  EIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 


tary  of  the  Treasury;  that  he  would  gladly  resign  his  place;  but  he 
could  not  see  who  could  do  the  work  wanted  as  well  as  McClellan. 
1  named  Hooker,  or  Sumner,  or  Burnside,  either  of  whom  could  do 
the  work  better. 

"At  length  the  conversation  ended,  and  the  meeting  broke  up, 
leaving  the  matter  as  we  found  it. 

"A  few  tax  appointments  were  lying  on  the  table.  I  asked  the 
President  to  sign  them,  which  he  did.  saying  he  would  sign  them 
just  as  they  were,  and  ask  no  questions.  I  told  him  that  they  had 
all  been  prepared  in  accordance  with  his  directions,  and  that  it  was 
necessary  to  complete  the  appointments. 

"  They  were  signed,  and  I  returned  to  the  department." 

Wednesday,  September  3,  the  record  muses  and  narrates  as 
follows  : 

"The  getting  the  army  into  the  works,  and  making  general 
arrangements,  went  on  to-day.  General  McClellan  assumed  the  com- 
mand, and  returned  to  his  old  head-quarters  as  if  the  disastrous  ex- 
pedition of  near  eight  months  had  been  only  the  absence  of  a  few 
days,  unmarked  by  special  incident;  and,  with  the  same  old  staff, 
except  the  French  princes,  Mr.  Astor,  and  Mr.  Gantt,  he  went  out,  as 
of  old,  to  visit  the  fortifications  and  the  troops.  Pope  came  over  and 
talked 'with  the  President,  who  assured  him  of  his  entire  satisfac- 
tion with  his  conduct;  assured  him  that  McClellan's  command  was 
only  temporary;  and  gave  him  reason  to  expect  that  another  army 
of  active  operations  would  be  organized  at  once,  which  he  (Po])e) 
would  lead. 

"  In  my  department,  nothing  especial  occured  ;  but  the  expenses 
are  becoming  enormous." 

Thursday,  September  4,  witnessed  this  memorandum  : 

"McDowell  came  over  to-day,  and  gave  me  a  circumstantial 
account  of  the  recent  battles — attributing  our  ill-success  to  the  con- 
duct of  McClellan  in  not  urging  forward  reinforcements,  and  es- 
pecially to  the  conduct  of  Porter,  aud  his  division,  on  the  day  of 
the  last  battle.     He  sta}-ed  all  night." 

The  same  day,  Secretary  Chase  wrote,  I  know  not  to  whom, 
this  deeply  interesting  letter: 

[Private.] 

"  Washington,  September  4.  1862. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  see  the  World  connects  me  with  General 
McDowell.     Is  it  worth  while  to  take  an)-  notice  of  it? 

"  I  recommended  General  McDowell  as  I  did  General  McClellan; 
neither  more  warmly  than  the  other,  and  am  perfectly  willing  to 
take  my  share,  with  others  who  recommended  them  just  as  I  did,  of 
the  responsibility  of  their  appointments. 

"My  expectations  of  General  McDowell  have  been  better  satisfied 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  4G1 

than  thoso  I  formed  of  General  McClellan  ;  but  the  latter  is  supported 
by  all  the  enemies  of  the  administration  and  by  many  of  its  friends, 
and  the  President  declaring  himself  unable  to  do  better,  and 
acknowledging  that  he  is  not  doing  well,  places  McClellan  in  com- 
mand of  the  troops  and  fortifications  around  Washington,  so  that,  for 
tho  time  being  at  all  events,  he  is  restored  virtually  to  Imposition  as 
commander-in-chief.  Of  course  it  is  a  good  time  for  secession, 
semi-secession,  anti-administration,  and  semi-administration  papers 
to  unite  in  laudations  of  McClellan  and  denunciations  of  McDowell. 

"For  my  part,  I  know  a  large  part  of  the  truth,  and  my  opinions 
are  unchanged. 

M  McDowell  has  been  unfortunate;  but  he  is  a  loyal,  brave,  truth- 
ful, capable  officer.  He  is  a  disciplinarian.  While  he  never  hesi- 
tated to  appropriate  private  property  of  rebels  to  public  use,  he 
repressed,  as  far  as  possible,  private  marauding  as  incompatible 
with  the  laws  of  civilized  war,  and  equally  incompatible  with  the 
discipline  and  efficiency  of  troops.  He  believes  that  the  immense 
trains  with  which  our  armies  move  are  fatal  to  rapidity  of  move- 
ments, and  so  dangerous  to  final  success.  He  has  sought,  therefore,  to 
cut  them  down  to  the  lowest  point  compatible  with  the  effective  con- 
dition of  the  troops.  From  these  two  causes  come  a  large  share  of  the 
complaints  against  him.  Then  he  never  drinks,  or  smokes,  or  chews, 
or  indulges  in  any  kind  of  license.  He  is  serious  and  earnest.  He 
resorts  to  no  acts  of  popularity.  He  has  no  political  aims,  and  per- 
haps not  an}-  very  pronounced  political  opinions,  except  the  convic- 
tion that  this  war  sprung  from  the  influences  of  slavery,  and  that, 
whenever  slavery  stands  in  the  way  of  successful  prosecution,  slavery 
must  get  out  of  the  way.  He  is  too  indifferent  in  manner.  His  offi- 
cers are  sometimes  alleniated  by  it.  He  is  too  purely  military  in 
his  intercourse  with  his  soldiers.  There  is  an  apparent  hauteur,  no, 
that  is  not  the  word,  rough  indifference  expresses  better  the  idea,  in 
his  way  towards  them,  that  makes  it  hard  for  them  to  feel  any  warm 
personal  sentiments  towards  him,  unless  they  find,  what  they  hith- 
erto have  not  found,  that  he  leads  them  successfully,  and  the  honor 
of  serving  under  .him  compensates  for  their  griefs. 

"A  Colonel  Tileston,  who  had  the  best  opportunities  of  observa- 
tion in  the  late  battles,  tells  me  that  McDowell  did  his  whole  duty, 
and  more  than  his  share  of  the  work,  and  it  does  seem  to  me  that 
if  Pope  had  been  supported,  as  he  should  have  been,  by  McClellan, 
the  first  success  would  have  been  a  complete  victory,  and  the  last 
reverses  would   have  been  converted  into  successive  triumphs. 

"  I  meant  to  add  something  about  the  criticisms  of  my  financial 
policy.  Will  those  who  condemn  indicate  a  better?  I  shall  be  glad 
to  learn. 

'•  Under  difficult  circumstances  I  have  accomplished  all  I  believe 
that  could  be  accomplished.  It  is  pretty  hard  to  endure  censures  so 
completely  undeserved,  and  I  have  often  felt  it  would  be  well  to 
retire  and  leave  the  administration  to  other  hands." 

The  next  day  is  marked  by  the  following  account : 

"The   President,  at  Cabinet  meeting,  read    Pope's  report,  which 


462  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

strongly  inculpates  MeClellan,  Porter,  Franklin,  and  Griffin  ;  and 
asked  opinion  as  to  its  publication.  All  against  it,  on  the  score  of 
policy  under  existing  circumstances.  President  stated  that  Porter, 
Franklin,  and  Griffin  would  be  relieved  from  command  and  brought 
before  a  Court  of  Inquiry;  and  also,  I  think,  that  the  order  had 
been  made. 

"  The  President  had  previously,  at  the  department,  told  me  that 
the  clamor  against  McDowell  was  so  great  that  he  could  not  lead 
his  troops  unless  something  was  done  to  restore  confidence;  and  pro- 
posed to  me  to  suggest  to  him  the  asking  for  a  Court  of  Inquiry.  I 
told  him  I  had  already  done  so.  and  would  do  so  again.  So,  avail- 
ing myself  of  a  messenger  from  General  Pope,  who  came  during  the 
meeting,  I  sent  a  note  to  McDowell,  asking  him  to  come  over.  He 
accordingly  came  in  the  evening,  and  I  suggested  the  matter  to  him. 
He  thought  it  hard  to  make  the  demand  when  there  were  no  charges. 
I  told  him  I  thought  he  could  assume  the  charge  made  by  the  Michi- 
gan officer,  who,  when  dying,  scrawled  a  letter,  saying  he  died  a 
victim  to  Pope's  imbecility  and  McDowell's  treachery.  He  reflected, 
and  then  said  he  would  make  the  demand.  He  stayed  again  all 
night." 

The  same  day  affords  this  letter : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Mr.  Stanton  has  read  me  your  telegram  to  him, 
and  his  answer. 

"Perhaps  it  is  well  enough  for  me  to  say,  that  his  answer  is  the 
only  one  which,  in  my  judgment,  he  can  give,  without  giving  rise 
to  more  evils  than  the  measure  proposed  will  cure. 

"General  Mitchel  ought  to  have  fifteen  thousand  men  to  go  with 
him  to  his  department;  but  it  seems  impossible,  just  now,  to  get 
them  furnished  by  General  Halleck.  But  he  ought  not  to  wait  for 
them.  He  ought  to  go  immediatel}7  to  his  department,  and  avail 
himself  of  the  authorities  he  has. 

"  The  country  ought  to  demand  that  he  be  fully  sustained,  and 
enabled  at  once  to  commence  most  vigorous  operations  in  that 
quarter. 

"There  seems  to  be  no  immediate  danger  apprehended  here.  In- 
deed, I  am  inclined  to  think,  that  if  our  generals  could  have  only 
acted  in  concert  and  harmony,  the  routed  enemy  would  now  be  fly- 
ing toward  Richmond.  But  I  know  too  little  to  have  any  confident 
opinion  about  anj^  military  matter.  I  do  know,  however,  that  if  the 
old  McClellan  policy  is  to  be  resumed  here,  and  not  counterpoised  by 
vigor  elsewhere,  the  chance  of  ultimate  success  sinks  near  zero. 

"Yours  cordially, 

"Hon.  George  Opdyke.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Is  not  that  a  remarkable  conclusion  ?  Here  is  a  man  coolly  con- 
fessing that  he  knows  too  little  to  have  any  confident  opinion  about 
any  military  matter  whatever,  yet  proceeding,  in  the  very  next  sen- 
tence, to  express  an  absolutely  confident  opinion  about  one  of  the 
most  important  military  matters  ever  studied  by  an  educated 
soldier. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  463 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

THE    INTEREST   DEEPENS — PURSE   AND    SWORD. 

THE  interest  deepens  as  we  go    forward.      Saturday,   Septembei 
6th,  furnished  the  matter  of  this  memorandum  : 

"General  and  Mrs.  Worth  ington  breakfasted  with  me;  also  Gen- 
eral McDowell  and  Mr.  Haven. 

"After  breakfast,  General  McDowell  read  to  me  the  di*aft  of  his 
letter,  which  I  thought  excellent,  but  suggested  one  or  two  modifica- 
tions which  he  adopted.     I  then  went  to  the  department. 

"Soon  after,  the  President  came  in,  and  asked  what  McDowell  had 
determined  to  do.  I  told  him.  'Where  is  the  letter?'  He  took  it, 
intending  to  have  it  copied,  I  suppose.  '  Well,  it  ought  to  be  done 
immediately ;  for  the  corps  must  march,  and  General  Halleck 
feels  that  he  must  be  relieved,  at  all  events,  from  command.  Where 
can  he  be  found?'  'I  can  not  tell.  An  orderly,  no  doubt,  can  find 
him.'  The  President  went  away,  and,  later  in  the  day,  I  heard  that 
General  McDowell  had  been  relieved  at  his  own  request.  He  came 
in  himself,  afterward,  stating  the  fact,  and  adding,  '  I  did  not  ask  to 
be  relieved — I  only  asked  for  a  court.'  I  explained  as  well  as  I 
could,  and  he  left  me. 

"Afterward,  I  started  to  War  Department,  but  met  Seward,  who 
said  Stanton  was  not  there.  Went  to  President's,  where  Stanton 
was.  He  spoke  of  McDowell's  letter,  and  praised  it  in  the  strongest 
terms." 

The  same  entry  states  : 

"In  the  evening,  General  Pope  came  in.  He  expressed  strong  in- 
dignation against  Fitz  John  Porter  and  McClellan,  who  had.  as  he 
believed,  prevented  his  success.  He  wanted  his  report  published,  as 
an  act  of  justice  to  himself  and  his  army.  I  stated  my  objections  to 
present  publication  on  the  ground  of  injury  to  service  at  this  critical 
time  ;  but  said  that  a  general  order,  thanking  his  army  for  what  they 
had  done,  ought  to  be  promulgated.  He  said  this  would  be  satisfac- 
tory (partially  so.  at  least),  but  that  Halleck  would  not  publish  one. 
I  said  I  would  see  the  President  and  urge  it." 

On  the  same  day,  in  the  morning,  Mr.  Barney  came  to  see  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  about  the  last  contract  in  New  York. 
Concerning  this,  it  seems,  "  quite  a  difference  of  opinion  and  inter- 
est "  existed,  "  one  or  two  of  our  most  influential  journals  being  con 


464  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE   AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

cerned  in  its  continuance.  The  question,"  according  to  the  Secre- 
tary's version,  "  was,  whether  the  contract,  by  its  own  terms,  was 
not  limited  to  three  years,  and  whether  an  extension  of  it  beyond 
that  time  would  be,  in  reality,  a  new  contract.  Doubting  on  the 
point,"  Mr.  Chase  "  referred  it  to  the  Attorney-General, who  returned 
an  answer  expressing  a  decided  opinion  that  the  contract  was  so 
limited  and  could  not  be  extended  without  a  new  contract.  "  Before 
receiving  this  answer  the  Secretary  had  telegraphed  to  Mr.  Field  to 
"  come  on,  if  he  desired  to  say  anything  further." 

The  conclusion  of  this  variously  interesting  entry  is  as  follows : 

"Mr.  Barney  and  others  also  called,  B.  having  declined  invitation 
to  breakfast,  but  said  he  wonld  come  at  9,  to  meet  Field,  who  tele- 
graphed he  would  come  and  call  at  that  hour.  Major  Andrews  came 
in  and  spoke  so  of  Colonel  Crook,  that  I  agreed  to  ask  that  he  be 
made  a  brigadier-general.  Major  Andrews  wrote  a  statement  of 
what  Crook  did  in  Western  Virginia." 

Sunday,  September  7,  1862,  the  Secretary  made  this  record  : 

"Mr.  Field  called  after  breakfast,  and  proposed  to  go  to  "War  De- 
partment, and  we  'went  together.  Met  Gurowski,  who  denounced 
what  he  called  military  usurpation,  saying  that  Franklin's  corps, 
marching  out,  cheered  McClellan.  Found  Stanton,  Pope,  and  Wads- 
worth  uneas}T  on  account  of  critical  condition  of  affairs.  Spoke  to 
Stanton  about  Crook,  and  he  promised  to  give  him  a  commission. 
Saw  Halleck,  and  he  approved. 

"  Went  to  President's,  and  spoke  of  general  order  commending 
Pope's  arm}'.     He  thought  it  due,  and  said  he  would  speak  to  Halleck. 

"Coming  home,  met  McDowell  and  T.  C.  H.  Smith.  Smith  came 
home  with  me  and  spoke  of  battles,  eulogizing  in  strong  terms  both 
Pope  and  McDowell." 

In  the  same  entry  I  find  the  memorandum  : 

"Received,  to-day,  telegram  from  Paymaster-General  of  Xew 
York:  'Cannot  forward  troops  for  want  of  means  to  pay  State 
bounty.  Will  you  exchange  smaller  United  States  notes  for  one 
thousand's  and  five  hundreds'  dollars  to  enable  State  to  do  it?  '  An- 
swered, 'yes  !  Be  as  prompt  in  sending  your  troops  ; '  and  sent  neces- 
sary directions  to  Mr.  Cisco." 

Then  follow  these  two  paragraphs  : 

"In  the  afternoon,  McDowell  called  to  say,  'Good-bye.'  The 
Court  of  Inquiry  demanded  by  him  had  been  postponed,  and  he  had 
fifteen  days'  leave  of  absence.  He  went  away,  feeling  very  sad,  in- 
deed. 

"In  the  night,  a  large  part  of  the  army  moved  northward,  follow- 
ing the  force  already  sent  forward  to  meet  the  rebels  invading  Mary- 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  465 

land.     Generals  Bnrnside,  Hooker,  Sumner,  and  Reno   in   command 
(Burnside  chief),  as  reported." 

Under  date  September  7,  we  have  also  this  account : 

"Had  long  talk  about  labor  contract,  and  dissatisfaction  of  our 
friends  with  Mr.  Barney.  So  far  as  I  could  see,  the  dissatisfaction 
-was  unreasonable.  I  said  I  could  not  hold  the  contract  to  be  contin- 
uing, unless  the  Attorney-General  should  reserve  his  opinion,  of 
which  there  was  too  little  probability  to  warrant  postponment  of 
action,  and  so  virtual  continuance,  until  his  review  of  his  decision. 
Said  I  would  gladly  oblige  party  friends,  but  not  at  the  expense  of 
any  breach  of  public  duty.  Field  and  Barney  left  together,  and  soon 
after  Harrington." 

Monday,  September  8,  1862,  the  Secretary  made  his  diary  say: 

"  Clay  came  in,  and  Cooke  left.  Clay  and  I  rode  toward  depart- 
ment in  wagon.  Clay  said  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  take  depart- 
ment, and  that  the  President  and  Stanton  were  willing  he  should 
take-that  beyond  the  Mississippi.  '  Would  I  go  with  him  to  see  Hal- 
leck?'  'Certainly.'  Halleck  received  us  kindly,  but  was  unwell. 
Showed  no  favor  to  the  new  department  project. 

"Returned  to  department  and  attended  to  general  business.  Noth- 
ing of  special  financial  moment.  Barney  came  in  and  said  that 
Stanton  and  Wadsicorth  had  advised  him  to  leave  for  New  York  this 
evening,  as  communication  with  Baltimore  might  be  cut  off  before  to-mor- 
row. He  would  be  governed  by  my  advice.  Told  him  I  did  not 
think  the  event  probable,  but  he  had  best  govern  himself  by  the  ad- 
vice received. 

"After  he  had  gone  General  Mansfield  came  in  and  talked  very 
earnestly  about  the  necessity  of  ordering  up,  from  Suftblk,  First  Del- 
aware and  Third  and  Fourth  New  York,  trained  and  disciplined  now 
fourteen  months,  each  800  strong,  say  2,400  men  ;  and  from  Norfolk 
Nineteenth  Wisconsin  and  Forty-eighth  Pennsylvania,  say  1,600 
men;  leaving  at  Suffolk,  Forey's  brigade  of  four  diminished  reg- 
iments, say  1,800  men  in  all,  late  of  Shields'  division;  Eleventh 
Pennsylvania  cavalry  (a  full  and  good  regiment),  say  900  men  ; 
and  Dodge's  regiment  of  mounted  rifles,  except  one  company  ;  and 
at  Norfolk,  Ninety-ninth  New  York,  and  one  company  of  Dodge's, 
sufficient  for  military  police.  He  favored  leaving  Keys  and  Peck  at 
Yorktown.  He  said  the  defenses  of  the  city  were  weak  on  the  east- 
ern side ;  and  that  there  ought  to  be  at  least  65,000  good  men  to  hold 
it  if  McClellan  is  defeated — to  improve  victory  if  he  is  successful 

"  He  referred  to  old  times.  Was  in  Texas  the  winter  before  re- 
bellion broke  out.  Saw  Twiggs,  who  hated  him  because  he  was  on 
a  court-martial.  Was  then  told  by  officer  in  Council  of  War  of  K. 
G.  C.,  that  Floyd  and  Cobb  in  Cabinet,  and  Jeff.  Davis  and  Breckin- 
ridge, were  members.  In  this  Council  of  War,  orders  were  given  to 
seize  navy-yards,  forts,  etc.,  while  its  members  were  yet  Cabinet 
officers  and  senators.  The  Order  of  the  K.  G.  C.  ramified  through- 
out the  South.     First  offered  services  to  Juarez,  who  refused  them 


466  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

because  too  dangerous.  They  then  plotted  the  invasion  of  Cuba, 
which  failed.  Then  declared  themselves  protectors  of  Southern 
rights,  and  levied  a  contribution  upon  all  planters  and  slave-holders, 
some  giving  S5  and  some  810.  and  some  more  or  less.  In  this  way 
they  got  large  sums  and  commenced  operations.  They  designed  to 
seize  Washington  and  inaugurate  Breckinridge;  and,  with  reference 
to  this,  Mason  wrote  Faulkner,  advising  him  not  to  resign — this  let- 
ter being  now  in  Seward's  possession.  This  plot  only  failed  through 
the  bringing  of  troops  to  Washington  and  the  unwillingness  of  lead- 
ers to  make  a  bloody  issue  so  early.  He  spoke  of  General  Scott. 
Said  he  had  not  treated  him  well — had  placed  McDowell  in  com- 
mand over  the  river,  last  year,  superseding  himself;  and,  when  he 
had  asked  for  explanation  he  simply  replied  that  his  orders  had  been 
given.  He  felt  himself  wronged  ;  but  did  his  duty  to  the  best  of  his 
ability.  He  was  afterward  treated  badly  by  General  Wool,  who  did 
not  like  him,  though  he  treated  him  civilly.  Had  lately  been  in 
command  at  Suffolk  (an  insignificant  post)  until  summoned  here 
to  Court  of  Inquiry.  Wanted  active  employment,  but  was  unable  to 
get  any.  Had  sent  for  his  horses,  and  proposed  to  visit  all  the  for- 
tifications around  the  city  on  his  own  account. 

"  I  was,"  records  Mr.  Chase,  "  a  good  deal  affected  by  the  manifest 
patriotism,  and  desii*e  to  do  something  for  his  country,  manifested  by 
the  old  general,  and  could  not  help  wishing  that  he  was  younger, 
and  thinking  that,  perhaps,  after  all,  it  would  have  been  better  to 
trust  him." 

The  entry  concludes  as  follows: 

"After  the  general  left,  went  to  War  Department,  where  I  found 
the  President,  Stanton,  and  Wadsworth.  The  President  said  he  had 
felt  badly  all  day.  Wadsworth  said  there  was  no  danger  of  an  at- 
tack on  Washington,  and  that  the  man  ought  to  be  severely  pun- 
ished who  intimated  the  possibility  of  its  surrender.  The  President 
spoke  of  the  great  number  of  stragglers  he  had  seen  coming  into 
town  this   morning,  and  of  the  immense  losses  by  desertion. 

"  Returned  home  ;  Major  Andrews  and  others  called." 

In  the  entry  of  next  day,  we  have  : 

"Major  Andrews  came  to  breakfast.  Told  him  1  had  seen  Sec- 
retary of  War,  who  had  assured  me  that  Colonel  Crook's  commis- 
sion as  brigadier  had  been  sent  him. 

"Went  to  department.  Directed  commision  for  Tenth  New  York 
district  to  be  sent  to  Hyatt.  Directed  Mr.  Rogers  to  proceed  to 
Xew  York  and  expedite  alterations  in  Exchange  and  Custom  House, 
and  make  proper  contracts  for  the  same. 

"Went  to  President's  to  attend  Cabinet  meeting;  but  there  was 
only  a  talk.  I  proposed  the  creation  of  a  department  beyond  the 
Mississippi,  and  that  Clay  be  placed  in  command,  with  whom  Frank 
P.  Blair  should  be  associated  ;  and  that  an  expedition  should  be 
organized  to  Petersburgh,  and  afterward  to  Charleston." 

General   Van   Rensellaer  called  to  ask  the  interest  of  Secretary 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  467 

Chase  for  him  as  Paymaster-General  j  and  Mr.  Carroll  to  ask  the 
same  for  General  Griffin.  We  have  these  memoranda,  under  the 
same  date : 

"Went  to  War  Department,  where  Watson  told  me  that  General 
MeClellan  had  telegraphed,  expressing  doubt  if  there  was  any  large 
rebel  force  in  Maryland,  and  apprehension  that  their  movement 
might  be  a  feint.  Watson  dined  with  me.  Read  him  Denison's  let- 
ter from  New  Orleans  about  evacuation  of  Baton  Rouge,  Butler's 
black  regiment,  etc.,  etc. 

''Just  after  dinner.  Captain  came  in  with  Mr.  G.,  who  had 

been  arrested  near  Soldiers'  Home  as  a  suspicious  character;  taken 
before  General  Wadswortli,  to  whom  he  said  he  was  known  to  me; 
sent  by  General  W.  to  me;  identified  and  discharged.  He  is  an 
Englishman,  of  a  Manchester  house,  who  brought  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Lagard  to  Acting-Minister  Stewart,  by  whom  he  had  been  com- 
mended to  me.  Riding  around  to  gratify  curiosity,  he  had  fallen 
into  trouble.'' 

Wednesday,  September  10,  has  this  most  interesting  statement: 

"  Mr.  Skinner  at  breakfast.  Soon  after  Mr.  Hamilton  (James  A.) 
came,  and  we  conversed  about  the  condition  of  things.  He  said  the 
committee  from  Xew  York  had  arrived,  representing  the  views  of 
the  five  Xew  England  governors  who  met  lately  ;  and  that  they 
would  insist  on  the  resignation  of  Messrs.  S.  and  B.  I  told  him  I 
thought  the  mission  vain  ;  that  it  might  be  useful  if  all  the  heads  of 
departments  were  to  resign,  and  that  I  was  not  only  read}'  but  anx- 
ious to  do  so,  either  with  my  associates  or  alone.  He  criticized 
severely  some  passages  in  Mr.  Seward's  diplomatic  correspondence; 
especially  those  in  the  letter  of  April  10,  to  Mr.  Adams,  which  con- 
cede the  proposition  that  the  Federal  government  could  not  reduce 
the  seceding  States  to  obedience  by  conquest,  and  affirm  that  '  only 
an  imperial  or  despotic  government  could  subjugate  thoroughly  dis- 
affected and  insurrectionary  members  of  the  State.'  He  said  in 
them  was  the  key  to  the  whole  temporizing  policy,  civil  and  military, 
which  had  been  pursued.  I  could  make  no  reply  to  this,  except  to 
say,  that  I  had  never  known  Mr.  Seward  to  object  to  any  action,  how- 
ever vigorous,  of  a  military  nature,  though  his  influence  had  been 
cast  in  favor  of  harmonizing  the  various  elements  of  support  to  the 
administration,  by  retaining  General  MeClellan  in  command,  and  by 
avoiding  action  which  would  be  likely  to  alienate  the  Border  States. 
I  added  that  in  his  wishes  of  harmony  I  concurred  ;  and  that  I 
credited  him  with  good  motives  in  the  choice  of  means  to  ends, 
though  I  could  not  always  concur  with  him  in  judgment  as  to  their 
adaptation." 

Is   not   that  an   indication   of   a  good   heart  and   a   clear   head  ? 
There  was  no  cultivated  jealousy,  no  self-conscious  envy,  no  unehar- 
itableness,  in  the  man  whose  wonderful  career  we  are  retracing. 
31 


468  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

After  conversation  with  Mr.  Hamilton  about  Seward,  September 
10,  1862,  Mr.  Chase  went  to  the  department  and  transacted  the 
routine  business.  He  also  examined  the  tax  law  for  insurgent 
States;  sent  for  Commissioner  Boutwell  ;  read  and  approved  regu- 
lations drafted  by  Judge  Smith,  and  "  determined  to  overcome  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  putting  the  law  into  operation,  arising 
from  the  omission  of  any  appropriation  for  the  purpose  by  Congress, 
by  applying,  so  far  as  the  district  of  South  Carolina  is  concerned, 
the  necessary  amount  from  a  small  fund  legally  at"  his  "disposal." 

Then  occur  the  words  : 

"  Received  letter  from  Birney,  desiring  that  his  brother  should 
command  Kearney's  corps,  and  sent  it  to  War  Department  with 
strong  commendation. 

"  General  Kane  called  to  thank  me  for  my  support  to  his  appoint- 
ment as  brigadier,  to  which  I  answered,  most  sincerel}T.  that  'he 
was  indebted  for  the  appointment,  not  to  my  support,  but  to  his  own 
merits.'  Indeed,  while  I  will  most  gladly  aid  merit  to  place,  and 
seek  it  out  in  order  to  give  it  place,  I  am  resolved  never,  from  sym- 
pathy or  compliance,  to  help  unfit  persons  to  position.  The  condi- 
tion of  the  country  is  too  critical  for  it  now,  were  it  ever  excusable." 

Here  is  part  of  the  very  interesting  entry,  dated  September  10  : 

"At  dinner,  Mr.  Hamilton  told  me  of  the  interview  between  the 
New  York  committee  and  the  President.  The  committee  urged  a 
change  of  policy.  The  President  became  vexed,  and  said,  in  sub- 
stance, '  It  is  plain  enough  what  you  want — you  want  to  get  Seward 
out  of  the  Cabinet.  There  is  not  one  of  you  who  would  not  see  the 
country  ruined  if  you  could  turn  out  Seward.'  " 

After  dinner,  the  Secretary  "  rode  to  Mr.  Cutts',  proposing  to  in- 
vite Mrs.  D.  to  ride,  and  was  very  sorry  to  learn  from  her  mother 
that  she  was  much  indisposed." 

Thereupon  he  went  to  the  War  Department.     He  records : 

"No  satisfactory  information  yet  from  army,  and  no  satisfactory 
account  of  numbers  or  position  of  the  enemy.  David  Taylor  called 
with  Mr.  Northcott,  of  Champaign,  who  wants  to  be  commissary. 
Indorsed  his  paper,  'recommended.' 

"  Received  telegram  from  McDowell,  asking  if  it  was  right  to  pub- 
lish his  letter.     Answered,  '  Will  see  it  done.'  " 

Next  day,  our  warlike  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  recorded  as  fol- 
lows meditations  of  a  gloomy  mood : 

"  Two  weeks  since,  Hooker  drove  Ewell  at  Bristow  Station — and 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  469 

what  weeks!    Ten  days  of  battle,  and  then   such  changes — changes 

in  which  it  is  difficult  to  see   the  public  good  I     How  singularly  all 

our  worst  defeats  have  followed  administrative  cr ;  no,  blunders! 

McDowell  defeated  at  Bull  Run,  because  the  administration  would 
not  supersede  Patterson  by  a  general  of  more  capacity,  vigor,  and 
devotion  to  the  cause.  McClellan  defeated  at  Richmond,  because  the 
administration  recalled  Shields  and  forced  Fremont  to  retire  from 
the  pursuit  of  Jackson,  in  order  that  McClellan's  force  might  he 
concentrated  at  Manassas  to  he  sent  to  McClellan  before  Richmond. 
Pope  defeated  at  Bull  Run,  because  the  administration  persisted  in 
keeping  McClellan  in  command  of  the  Armj7  of  the  Potomac,  after 
full  warning  that,  under  his  lead  and  influence,  that  army  could  not 
cooperate  effectively  with  Pope." 

The  entry  of  September  11  contains  also  this  passage  : 

"After  breakfast,  this  morning,  Mr.  Hamilton  took  leave  of  me, 
and  I  prepared  to  go  to  Fairfax  Seminary  to  visit  Butterfield,  who, 
according  to  the  papers,  is  sick  there.  Before  starting,  however,  I 
thought  it  best  to  send  Bannister  to  the  War  Department  to  learn  if 
any  thing  of  importance  had  occurred.  He  returned  with  a  note  to 
the  effect  that  nothing  important  had  come  from  the  army,  but  that 
an  important  question  was  for  consideration  and  decision,  and  if  I 
would  come  up  he  would  send  for  General  Hal  leek  and  the  President. 
"Went  up  immediately.  It  rained.  On  arriving  at  the  "War  Depart- 
ment, found  General  Wright,  of  Pennsylvania,  there,  with  a  request 
from  Governor  Curtin  to  call  into  active  service  all  the  able-bodied 
men  of  the  State.  The  President,  General  Halleck,  and  Mr.  Stanton 
submitted  the  question,  '  What  answer  shall  be  returned  to  Governor 
Curtin?'  General  H.  thought  the  important  thing  was  to  mass  all 
the  force  possible  on  this  side  the  enemy,  and  defeat  him  ;  and  that 
a  general  arming  of  Pennsylvania  would  not  be  sufficiently  availa- 
ble to  warrant  the  vast  expense  sure  to  be  incurred.  Mr.  Stanton  ex- 
pressed no  opinion  as  to  defeat  of  the  enemy  from  this  side,  but 
thought  Governor  Curtin's  proposal  too  large  to  be  entertained, 
and  stated  that  the  arms  for  such  a  general  arming  could  not  be 
furnished. 

"I  asked  General  H:  'What  force,  in  your  opinion,  has  the 
enemy?'  'From  the  best  evidence  I  have — not  satisfactory,  but  the 
best — I  reckon  the  whole  number  in  Maryland  and  the  vicinity  of 
Washington  at  150,000.'  'How  many  in  Maryland?'  '  Two-thirds, 
probably,  or  100,000.'  '  What,  in  your  judgment,  as  a  soldier,  are 
the  designs  of  the  enemy?'  'Impossible  to  judge  with  certainty. 
Suppose  he  will  do  what  I  would  do,  if  in  his  place — rest,  recruit, 
get  supplies,  augment  force,  and  obtain  all  possible  information  ;  and 
then  strike  the  safest  and  most  effectual  blow  he  can — at  Washing- 
ton, Baltimore,  or  Philadelphia.  If  not  Btrong  enough  to  strike  a 
blow,  he  will,  after  getting  till  he  can,  attempt  to  recross  into  Vir- 
ginia.' 'You  think,  then,  there  is  no  probability  of  an  advance  into 
Pennsylvania  at  present  ?  '  '  None,  unless  a  raid.'  Upon  these  state- 
ments, I  expressed  the  opinion  that,  considering  the  situation  of  our 
troops  sent  out  to  attack  the  rebel  army,  it  was  not  impossible  that 


470  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

a  raid  at  least  would  be  attempted  into  Pennsylvania,  and  that  Gov- 
ernor Curtin  was  wise  in  making  provision  for  it;  that  the  proposi- 
tion to  arm  the  whole  people  was,  however,  too  broad  ;  and  that  I 
thought  it  would  be  well  to  authorize  the  governor  to  call  out  as 
many  troops  as  could  be  armed  with  the  arms  ho  reported  himself  as 
having — say  30,000.  The  President  said  ho  was  averse  to  giving  the 
order,  on  the  score  of  expenses,  but  would  think  of  it  till  to- 
morrow. 

"  The  President  and  Secretary  Stanton  having  left  the  room,  I 
took  occasion  to  ask  General  Halleck  what,  in  his  judgment,  were 
the  causes  of  the  demoralization  of  the  troops.  He  replied,  there 
were  several  causes:  first,  the  incapacity  of  officers,  from  inexperi- 
ence, or  want  of  ability,  or  character;  second,  the  want  of  proper 
discipline;  third,  a  political  cause — the  action  of  the  late  Congress  in 
its  abolition  and  confiscation  measures,  which  were  very  distasteful 
to  the  Army  of  the  West,  and,  as  he  understood,  also  to  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac.  I  expressed  my  conviction  that  the  influence  of  the 
last  was  exaggerated,  and  dropped  the  subject. 

"I  abandoned  the  idea  of  visiting  Butterfield,  and  returned  to  the 
department,  where  I  transacted  usual  routine  business. 

"In  the  evening,  called  to  inquire  for  Mrs.  Douglas,  taking 
some " 

Under  date  September  12  we  have: 

"Little  of  interest  occurred  at  the  department  to-day.  Expenses 
are  enormous,  increasing  instead  of  dinmiishing ;  and  the  ill-successes  in 
the  field  have  so  affected  government  stocks  that  it  is  impossible  to  obtain 
money  except    on    temporary  deposit,   and    these    deposits  very  little 

exceed  .     We  are  forced,  therefore,  to  rely  on  the  increased 

issue  of  United  States  notes,  which  hurts  almost  as  much  as  it  helps; 
for  the  omission  of  Congress  to  take  my  measures  to  restrict  bank- 
note circulation,  make3  the  issue  of  these  notes  a  stimulant  to  its 
increase,  so  that  the  augmentation  of  the  currency  proceeds  by  a 
double  action,  and  prices  rise  proportionably.  It  is  a  bad  state  of 
things;  but  neither  the  President,  his  counselors,  nor  his  commanding 
general,  seem  to  care.  They  rush  on  from  expense  to  expense,  and 
from  defeat  to  defeat,  heedless  of  the  abyss  of  bankruptcy  and  ruin 
which  yawns  before  us.  May  God  open  the  eyes  of  those  who  con- 
trol us,  before  it  is  too  late ! 

"  Went  over  to  the  War  Department  about  two.  Found  that  no 
important  intelligence  of  rebel  movements  had  been  received.  The 
Secretary  informed  me  that  he  had  heard  from  General  H.  that  the 
President  is  going  out  to  see  General  McClellan  ;  and  commented 
with  some  severity  on  his  humiliating  submissiveness  to  that  officer. 
It  is  indeed  humiliating,  but  prompted,  I  believe,  by  a  sincere 
desire  to  serve  the  country,  and  a  fear  that,  should  he  supersede 
McClellan  by  any  other  commander,  no  advantage  would  be  gained 
in  leadership,  but  much  harm  in  the  disaffection  of  officers  and 
troops.  The  truth  is,  I  think,  that  the  President,  with  the  most 
honest  intentions  in  the  world,  and  a  naturally  clear  judgment,  and 
a  true,  unselfish  patriotism,  has  yielded  so  much  to  Border  State 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  171 

and  negrophobic  counsels,  that  he  now  finds  it  difficult  to  arrest  his 
own  descent  toward  the  most  fatal  concessions.  He  has  already 
separated  himself  from  the  great  body  of  the  party  which  elected 
him;  distrusts  most  those  who  represent  its  spirit,  and  waits.  For 
what?" 

Under  the  same  date : 

"Before  I  left  the  department,  the  Secretary  kindly  promised  me 
a  paj'mastership  for  Wm,  I).  Bickham  ;  which  will,  when  given,  be 
a  great  gratification  to  a  very  worthy  friend.  We  talked  also  of  Port 
Royal  and  matters  there.  I  advised  the  removal  of  Brannan,  who 
is  hostile  to  the  plans  of  the  department  and  the  measures  of  Sax- 
ton.  He  said  he  would  be  ordered  to  the  North  ;  but  did  not  seem 
inclined  to  talk  much  about  it. 

"Speaking  of  the  number  of  rebels,  he  said  he  thought  it  could 
not  exceed  100,000  ;  but  that  his  judgment  was  founded  upon  prob- 
abilities of  supplies  and  transportation — not  on  reports." 

The  same  entry  contains  this  paragraph  : 

"Called  on  President,  and  spoke  of  leave  of  absence  to  Cameron. 
He  referred  me  to  Seward,  to  whom  I  went,  and  was  informed  that 
leave  was  sent  by  last  steamer.  We  talked  on  many  things — Bar- 
ney's appointments,  conduct  of  the  war,  etc.,  etc.  Engaged  to  go  to- 
gether to-morrow,  and  urge  expedition  to  C'n.  He  said  someone  had 
proposed  that  the  President  should  issue  a  proclamation,  on  the  in- 
vasion of  Pennsylvania,  freeing  all  the  apprentices  of  that  State,  or 
willi  some  similar  object.     I  thought  the  jest  ill-timed." 

Judge  Adams  (Sixth  Auditor),  Mr.  Burnam,  of  the  Kentucky 
legislature,  but  then  a  refugee  from  his  home,  and  Mr.  Case,  then 
of  Portland,  Maine,  but  formerly  of  Patriot,  Indiana,  dined  with 
Mr.  Chase.  "  The  Kentucky  slave-holders  were  more  against  slavery 
than  the  Northern  conservative.  Strange,  yet  not  strange!"  re- 
marks our  hero. 

In  the  evening,  Major  D.  Taylor,  Mr.  O'Harra,  and  Mr.  Cooke 
called  ;  later,  Mr.  Cummings.  "  General  talk,  and  not  very  profit- 
able." 

Mr.  Cooke  and  Mr.  O'Harra  wanted  introduction  to  General 
Mitchell  for  Pitt  Cooke  and  Mr.  O'Harra,  who,  relates  the  diary, 
wanted  "  to  buy  cotton  at  Port  Royal."  It  appears  from  the  entry 
of  the  next  day  that  a  letter  of  introduction  to  General  Mitchell  was 
given,  as  requested,  to  Mr.  Pitt  Cooke  and  Mr.  O'Harra. 

''Colonel  Kane  called,  and  left  note  about  Mr.  McDowell.  Mr. 
Cummings  talked  about  '  Bulletin ;'  about  removal  of  one  of  the  edi- 


472  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

tors  from    custom    house  ;  about  support  to  himself  for  assembly  ; 
about  distribution  of  stamps,  etc.;  I  got  tired." 

No  wonder!  All  the  wonder  is  that  our  hero  did  not  kill  himself 
by  listening,  or  suffer  death  by  being  talked  to,  as  the  gentle  reader 
pleases. 

The  next  morning,  Mr.  Chase  breakfasted  alone,  a  thing  he  did 
too  seldom.  It  would  seem,  however,  that  he  had  expected  company. 
"  What  has  become  of  Mr.  Skinner?"  he  inquires. 

After  breakfast,  he  went  to  the  Treasury  Department.  Having 
there  attended  to  matters  of  routine,  he  went  with  Mr.  Seward,  by 
appointment,  to  the  Navy  Department,  about  expedition  to  Charles- 
ton. The  visiting  secretaries  with  Secretary  "Welles  and  Assistant- 
Secretary  Fox,  "  examined  chart."  They  learned  that  the  "  Iron- 
sides ''  and  Passaic  would  be  ready  for  sea  by  the  first  of  October, 
which  was  more  than  two  weeks  longer  than,  ten  days  before  that 
visit,  Secretary  Welles  had  given  Mr.  Chase  to  understand  would  be 
required. 

"We  have  this  memorandum  also: 

"  Fox  thinks  that  James  Island  ought  to  have  been  held  and  that 
Hunter  was  wrong  in  withdrawing  our  force  from  it ;  but  it  is  now 
commanded  by  our  gunboats,  so  that  a  landing  upon  it  is  easy,  and  a 
force  of  10,000  or  15,000  men  would  suffice  for  the  reduction  of 
Charleston.  A  land  force,  however,  would  have  to  act  mainly  inde- 
pendently of  the  naval  ;  and  no  naval  force  but  iron-elads  could 
act  with  any  efficiency,  because  the  harbor  being  a  cul  de  sac,  wooden 
vessels  entering  it  to  bombard  the  town  would  be  exposed  to  fire 
from  all  sides,  and  could  not  pass  and  repass  the  enemy's  batteries  as 
at  Port  Royal,  and  by  motion,  make  the  enemy's  fire  comparatively 
ineffectual.  Iron-clads,  however,  such  as  the  '  Passaic  '  and  the  '  Iron- 
sides,' could  go  right  into  the  harbor,  with  little  or  no  risk,  and  de- 
stroy the  forts,  batteries,  and  the  town  itself,  if  not  surrendered. 
After  all,  it  seemed  to  me  that  it  would  contribute  greatly  to  the 
certainty  of  the  result  it  a  land  force  should  be  organized,  and  I  de- 
termined to  confer  with  the  Secretary  of  War  on  the  subject,  as  soon 
as  possible.  No  time  should  be  lost  in  making  every  arrangement 
for  such  overwhelming  blows,  just  as  soon  as  the  iron-clads  are  ready, 
as  will  effectually  annihilate  the  possibility  of  rebel  success." 

And  this  is  the  man  who  so  distrusts  his  judgment  as  to  matters 
appertaining  to  the  art  of  war  !  Assuredly,  one  can  not  sufficiently 
wonder  at  so  strange  a  spectacle  of  inconsistency  in  a  man  in  genera] 
sufficiently  consistent,  of  presumption  in  a  man  generally  far  from 
presumptuous. 

The  same  entry,  however,  has  this  relieving  passage: 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  473 

"  From  the  Navy  Department,  we  went  to  head-quarters,  where  we 
found  General  Cullom,  who  said  : 

"'We  have  got  whipped  again.  We  have  just  received  a  telegram 
that  the  rebels"  have  defeated  our  people  in  Fayette  county,  Va.,  and 
are  driving  them  down  the  Kanawha.  The  trouble  is  that  our  men 
won't  fight.' 

"  The  style  of  remark  did  not  suit  me  ;  but  it  is  too  common  among 
our  generals.    In  my  opinion,  the  soldiers  are  better  than  the  officers." 

God  bless  the  sacred  memory  of  the  true-hearted    pen  for  which 
we  are  indebted  to  those  words  of  simple  justice,  perfect  truth ! 
Chase  goes  on  as  follows  : 

"  General  Halleck  came  in,  and  we  asked  the  situation.  There 
was  nothing  new,  he  said,  except  confirmation  that  Burnside  drove 
the  rebels  out  of  Frederick  yesterday,  and  had  renewed  the  fight  to- 
day. Heavy  firing  had  been  heard  from  the  direction  of  Harper's 
Ferry  and  the  Frederick  and  Hagerstown  road.  We  left  head- 
quarters, and  I  returned  to  the  department." 

On  the  13th  of  September  we  have  also  these  words : 

"Visited  Mr.  Clark's  sealing  and  trimming  machines  for  the  ones 
and  twos,  and  found  them  a  perfect  success;  and  the  ones  and  twos 
are  sealed  and  trimmed  by  machinery,  attended  for  the  most  part  by 
women,  with  such  prodigious  advantage  to  the  government  that  it 
seems  difficult  to  imagine  that  coining,  except  in  large  masses,  can 
be  of  much  utilitj*  hereafter. 

"  Jay  Cooke  writes  that  he  has  visited  New  York  and  conversed 
with  bankers,  and  thinks  that  $10,000,000  in  gold  will  be  gladly  de- 
posited at  four  per  cent.  I  think  that  in  this  way  all  the  gold  needed 
can  be  obtained  at  very  small  cost,  and  without  affecting  the  market 
in  any  way.  If  it  succeeds,  it  will  form  not  the  least  remarkable 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  financial  success  which  has  attended 
me  thus  far. 

"  Wrote  to  Katie  and  Nettie,  andtollorton — to  Katie,  advising  her 
not  to  return  immediately;  to  Horton  about  Pope. 

"  In  the  evening  went  to  Willard's  to  call  on  General  Schenck,  but 
did  not  see  him.  Met  Weed,  and  went  to  his  room  and  talked  of 
sundry  matters.  He  says  I  have  done  as  well  in  the  New  York  ap- 
pointments as  was  possible,  and  advises  care  as  to  securities  taken  ; 
which  advice  I  think  very  good.  He  thinks  the  time  has  come  for 
vigorous  measures  South  ;  and  is  for  freeing  the  slaves,  and  arming 
them,  as  far  as  useful,  without  noise  or  excitement.  He  saw  Hunter 
in  New  York,  who  says  that  if  he  had  been  sustained  he  would  have 
emasculated  the  rebellion  in  South  Carolina  before  now — which  he 
(Weed)  seemed  to  believe,  and  which  I  believe  absolutely. 

"Went  to  War  Department.  Telegraph  men  told  me  that  tele- 
graph was  built  to  Point  of  Rocks,  and  several  miles  be}-ond  the 
Monocacy  toward  Frederick,  and  that  heavy,  continuous  firing  was 
heard  by  the  operator  at  the  former  place,  from  the  direction  of 
Harper's  Ferry,  till  between  three  and  four  this  afternoon  ;  and  that 


474  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

firing,  though  not  so  heavy,  was  also  heard  from  the  direction  of 
Middleton,  between  Frederick  and  Hagerstown.  There  was  also  a 
rumor  that  we  had  captured  a  lai'ge  wagon  train,  with  a  considerable 
number  of  prisoners.  The  inference  from  the  firing  heard  is,  that  an 
attack  has  been  made  on  Harper's  Ferry  by  a  large  rebel  force,  and 
a  stout  defense  with  an  unknown  result;  and  that  a  less  important 
conflict  has  taken  place  between  the  advance  under  Burnside  and  the 
rebel  rear  falling  back  toward  Hagerstown  or  Harper's  Ferry  (prob- 
ably the  former),  and  that  the  rebels  have  been  worsted. 

"  Telegram  from  Governor  Curtin  yesterday  states  that  a  reliable 
gentleman  of  Maryland,  who  had  opportunities  to  converse  freely 
with  officers  of  the  rebel  army,  says  that  the  rebel  force  in  Maryland 
is  190,000,  and  on  the  other  side  of  the  Potomac  250,000— in  all, 
440,000.     This  is  a  specimen  of  information  collected  and  believed! 

"  Came  home,  and  Cooke  called  with  Mr.  Davis,  General  Birney's 
partner,  who  wants  him  made  a  major-general,  with  command  of 
Kearney's  corps.  I  think  this  should  be  done.  We  must  advance 
all  our  ^Republican  officers  who  have  real  merit,  so  as  to  counterpoise 
the  too  great  weight  already  given  to  Democratic  officers  without 
much  merit.  They  have  been  more  pushed  than  the  Eepublicans, 
and  we  have  been  more  than  just — more  than  generous  even — we 
have  been  lavish  toward  them.     It  is  time  to  change  the  policy." 

On  Sunday,  September  14,  1862,  the  Secretary  went  to  the 
Methodist  church,  where,  according  to  his  diary,  Mr.  Brown 
preached  a  good  sermon.  Afterward  he  called  to  inquire  for  Mrs. 
Douglas,  who,  he  found,  had  passed  a  bad  night,  but  was  better. 
Then  he  went  to  the  War  Department,  where  he  found  that  there 
were  despatches  from  McClellan  to  the  President,  and  also  to 
General  Halleck.     Of  these  his  diary  gives  the  following  account : 

"First,  complimentary — respects  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  ;  ladies'  enthusi- 
astic welcome  of  McClellan  and  his  army,  'us.'  The  second  states 
getting  possession  of  Lee's  order  to  Hill  of  10th — troops  from  vari- 
ous directions  to  attack  Martinsburg  and  Harper's  Ferry  on  the 
12th,  capture  both,  and  then  reunite  at  Hagerstown.  White  had 
anticipated  the  enemy  by  joining  Miles  at  Harper's  Ferry,  where 
the  enemy  made  vigorous  attack  yesterday  ;  courier  from  Miles  says 
he  can  hold  out  two  days,  but  enemy  is  in  possession  of  Maryland 
Heights;  McC.  hopes  before  two  days  to  relieve  Miles — is  already 
in  possession  of  Middleton  and  Jefferson;  estimates  rebel  force  in 
Maryland  at  125,000  ;  thinks  defeat  of  his  army  would  be  ruinous, 
and  therefore  better  to  spare  all  troops  from  Washington  than  suffer 
it;  anticipates  great  battle  to-morrow,  Monday;  enemy  don't  mean 
to  go  back  to  Virginia,  but  thinks  Lee  has  blundered,  and  hopes  to 
make  him  repent  of  it." 

Next  we  have,  in  the  same  entry : 
"Watson  rode  with  me. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  475 

''Head  several  books,  especially  article  in  Revue  des  acux  Mondes, 
on  the  soul.  In  the  evening,  Mr.  Case  called  and  talked  of  politics 
and  spiritualism,  especially  th«  last,  in  which  he  is  a  firm  believer. 
Says  lie  receives  letters  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  sixth  and  other 
spheres,  among  whom  arc  Calhoun,  Brutus,  and  others;  that  there 
is  a  council  in  the  sixth,  presided  over  by  Washington,  to  which  the 
control  of  this  war  is  committed  ;  that  Richmond  will  be  taken 
about  December  1st,  and  Charleston  early  in  the  spring." 

The  climatic  notions  of  those  upper  spheres  appear  to  have  been 
as  much  at  fault  as  their  vaticinations,  Charleston  should  have 
been  required  to  fall  in  winter,  Richmond  in  the  spring.  That 
would  have  "convened"  us  better,  n'est  ce  pas?  But  let  us  attend 
again  to  matters  of  exclusively  terrestrial  purport. 

On  the  15th  of  September,  Secretary  Chase,  soon  after  9  o'clock, 
A.  M.,  went  to  the  Treasury,  stopping  at  Franklin's  to  buy  glasses, 
but  not  field  glasses.1  After  attending  to  important  letters2  and 
other  matters,  he  discussed  military  things  with  Colonel  Lloyd,  of 

Ohio  cavalry,  and  Colonel  Mason,  of Ohio  infantry, 

and  with  two  captains.  Afterward  he  talked  with  Mr.  Wetmore 
about  cotton  and  tobacco.  After  mentioning  these  talks,  the  diary 
narrates  as  follows : 

<:  Weed  called,  and  we  had  a  long  talk.  He  expressed  again  his 
conviction  that  more  decided  measures  are  needed  in  an  anti- 
slavery  direction ;  and  said  there  was  much  dissatisfaction  with 
Seward  in  New  York,  because  he  is  supposed  to  be  averse  to  such 
measures.  I  told  him  I  did  not  doubt  Mr.  Seward's  fidelity  to  his 
ideas  of  progress,  amelioration,  and  freedom;  but  that  I  thought  he 
adhered  too  tenaciously  to  men  who  proved  themselves  unworthy 
and  dangerous,  such  as  McClellan  ;  that  he  resisted  too  persistently 
decided  measures;  that  his  influence  encouraged  the  irresolution  and 
inaction  of  the  President  in  respect  to  men  and  measures,  although 
personally  he  was  as  decided  as  anybody  in  favor  of  vigorous  prose- 
cution of  the  war,  and  as  active  as  anybody  in  concerting  plans  of 
action  against  the  rebels.  Mr.  Weed  admitted  that  there  was  much 
justice  in  my  views,  and  said  he  had  expressed  similar  ideas  to  Mr. 
Seward  himself.  He  said  he  would  see  him  again,  and  that  Seward 
and  I  must  agree  on  a  definite  line,  especially  on  the  slavery  ques- 
tion, which  we  must  recommend  to  the  President.  We  talked  a 
good  deal  about  other  matters — about  the  absence  of  proper  Cabinet 
discussion  of  important  subjects — about  tax  appointments  in  New 
York,  with  which  he  is  well  satisfied,  etc.,  etc. 


xThe  minute  adds:    "Got  a  pair,  not,  I  fear,  exactly  the  best  for  me."     Alas  I 
our  glasses  of  all  kinds  deceive  us  often  and  most  grievously. 
2  One  from  Horace  Greeley. 


476 


THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 


"  Went  to  War  Department  between  3  and  4,  and  saw  telegrams 
of  McClellan.  They  state  that  the  action  of  yesterday  resulted  in  a 
decided  success — that  the  enemy,  driven  from  Mountain  Crest,  did 
not  renew  the  action  this  morning,  but  retreated  in  disorder;  that 
Lee  confessed  himself  '  shockingly  whipped,'  with  loss  of  15.000 
killed,  wounded,  missing,  and  prisoners;  that  he  has  700  prisoners 
at  Frederick,  and  that  1,000  have  been  taken  by  Hooker  and  hold; 
that  he  proposed  pursuit  as  rapidly  as  possible;  that  Franklin,  on 
the  right,  in  advance,  toward  Harper's  Ferry,  had  succeeded  as  well 
as  the  troops  on  the  right.  News  from  the  West  also  good.  Noth- 
ing from  Miles  at  Harper's  Ferry,  but  it  is  believed  that  he  still 
holds  out." 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  477 


U 


CHAPTER    XXXY. 

THE    EMANCIPATION    PROCLAMATION — HOOKER   AND    M'CLELLAN. 

NDER  date,  September  15,  1862,  we  have  the  memoranda 


"  Received  letters  from  John  Sherman,  O.  Follett,  Horace  Greeley, 
and  others.  Greeley  assured  me  that  he  had  no  interest  in  the  Labor 
Contract,  which  I  was  very  glad  to  learn.  Called  on  Attorney-Gen- 
eral about  citizenship  of  colored  men.  Found  him  adverse  to  ex- 
pressing official  opinion.  Met  Eliot,  and  Tabor,  mayor  of  New  Bed- 
ford, and  invited  them  to  dine  with  me.  Commenced  letter  to  Gree- 
ley ;  when  I  was  reminded  of  my  promise  to  accompany  Mr.  Case  to 
the  President's.  AVent  with  him.  Found  Eliot  and  Tabor  in  ante- 
chamber. Went  in  and  found  Blair  with  the  President  discussing 
affairs.  Told  him  of  the  gentlemen  outside,  and  was  permitted  to 
bring  them  in.  Did  so.  Introduced  Case,  who  shook  hands,  and  we 
came  away. 

'•Parted  from  Case  at  department.  Finished  letter  to  Greeley, 
and  wrote  Judge  Mason  about  Rodney,  promising  to  do  what  I  could 

for  trial.     Several  callers — among  them  Colonel  Lloyd-;  of Ohio 

cavalry,  and  Colonel  Mason,  of Ohio  infantry,  with  two  captains. 

Lloyd  said  that  the  cavalry  was  very  badly  used  ;  that  forage  was  in- 
sufficient and  irregular,  and  needlessly  wasted;  thatsometimes  a  squad- 
ron, compan}',  or  regiment  was  ordered  out  early  in  the  morning  and 
left  all  day  without  any  further  orders.  Pope,  he  said,  had  nomin- 
ally about  2,000  cavalry  when  he  went  South,  and  when  he  returned 
had  not  500  fit  for  duty.  Sometimes  the  cavalry  was  ordered  to 
march,  when  five  or  six  horses  in  a  company  would  die  from  sheer  ex- 
haustion. Artillery  horses  better  cared  for.  Lloyd  desired  Mason 
to  be  made  brigadier-general.  Promised  to  make  inquiries,  and,  ii 
found  all  right,  promote  object. 

"  Mr.  Wetmore  called  about  cotton  and  tobacco.     Proposed  that 

government  should  take  all  cotton  at  20  cents,  and  tobacco  at 

cents — pay  the  price,  send  it  to  New  York,  sell  it  for  gold,  keep  ac- 
count with  each  owner,  and,  at  the  end  of  the  war,  pay  him  the  dif- 
ference, if  loyal.  The  idea  struck  me  very  favorably,  and  I  prom- 
ised to  see  him  again  to-morrow." 

"  Returned  to  the  department ;  "  "  wrote  the  Secretary  in  his  memo- 
randum for  September  15,"  closed  the  business  of  the  day,  and  went 
home.  Eliot,  Taber,  and  Harrington  dined  with  me.  After  dinner, 
rode  with  Harrington.  Stopped  at  Mr.  Cutts'  to  inquire  for  Mrs. 
Douglas;  glad  to  hear  she   was  better.     Stopped  also  at  War  De- 


478  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  A3TD   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

partment.  No  further  news.  Stanton  thinks  Halleck  begins  to  real- 
ize his  mistake.  Said  he  intended  to  make  Birney  major-general, 
but  Halleck  (or  rather  MeClellan)  had  designated  Stoneman.  Told 
him  that  Birney  had  sent  his  letter  of  resignation  to  me,  but  I  had 
declined  to  present  it.  Nothing  new  from  the  army,  except  report 
from  operator  at  Point  of  Bocks  of  firing,  apparently  between  that 
place  and  Harper's  Ferry,  which  may  indicate  Franklin  or  Miles  in 
that  position.     Nothing  from  MeClellan  since  noon. 

"Dropped  Harrington  at  Ebbitt  House,  and  called  on  General 
Schenek.  at  Willard's.  Helped  dress  his  wound,  which  looked  very 
bad,  but  surgeons  say  he  is  improving  rapidly,  and  will  be  able  to 
sit  up  in  a  few  days.  His  daughter  is  with  him,  and  most  assidu- 
ous and  devoted. 

"Home.  Friends  Butler  and  Benedict  called,  wishing  to  be  intro- 
duced to  the  President,  in  order  to  present  petition  for  exemption  of 
society  from  draft.  Promised  to  go  with  them,  or  write  note  to- 
morrow morning.  Governor  Boutwell  called,  and  we  talked  of  tax 
law.  stamp  distribution,  etc." 

The  next  morning,  having  had  "  Bannister  at  breakfast,"  the 
Secretary,  never  idle,  went  to  his  department,  and  thence  with  the 
deputation  of  Friends  from  Mount  Pleasant,  Ohio,  and  Wilmington, 
Delaware,  to  the  President.  He  introduced  the  delegation  to  Mr. 
Lincoln,  of  whom  he  afterward  asked  "  for  Bishop  Mcllvaine" 
the  appointment  of  Rev.  Mr.  Telford,  as  chaplain,  at  Camp  Chase, 
which  was  directed. 

Then  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  visited  Mr.  "Welles  and  ad- 
vised an  expedition  up  the  James  River,  and  said,  if  General  Wool 
or  other  good  general  could  be  sent,  he  would  go  himself  as  volun- 
teer aid.  Mr.  Welles  seemed  pleased  with  the  idea,  and  said  the 
"Ironsides"  and  "Passaic"  would  be  ready  by  the  time  troops 
could  be,  and  might  take  Richmond  as  preliminary  to  Charleston. 

Mr.  Chase  "spoke  to  the  Secretary  of  Commodore  Barbhead's  re- 
mark to  Harrington  that  the  government  ought  to  be  superseded  by 
MeClellan." 

Going  to  the  War  Department,  the  martial-minded  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  found  confirmation  of  the  news  of  the  surrender  of 
Harper's  Ferry.  In  his  memorandum  of  the  day  he  entered  the 
words:  "  McClellau's  victory  of  Sunday  was  probably  over  the 
rear  of  Longstreet's  division,  which  made  a  stand." 

The  next  paragraph  reads  thus : 

"  Weed  called  with  Morgan,  who  wished  to  inquire  about  Texas 
bonds  issued  under  authority  of  the  rebel  government.  Told  him 
they  would  not  be  recognized,  and  promised   him   copies  of  papers 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  479 

relating  to  the  subject  from  files  and  records  of  the  department, 
Told  Weed  that  we  must  have  decided  action,  and  thai  he  could 
insure  it.  Was  going  to  meeting  of  heads  of  departments,  not  to 
Cabinet.  Went  over  to  White  House.  Met  Seward,  who  said  the 
President  was  busy  with  General  Halleck  and  there  would  bo  no 
meeting." 

Next  we  have  the  paragraphs  : 

"Keturned  to  department.  Rode  out  to  Siegel's  camp,  by  way  of 
Chain  bridge,  with  Harrington  and  Dr.  Schmidt.  Saw  Siegel  and 
Schurz.  They  want  to  have  corps  organized  for  operations  in  the 
field.  Siege]  said  scouts  returned  from  Drainesville  report  large 
rebel  force  at  Leesburgh. 

"Home  to  late  dinner.  Harrington  with  me.  Sent  message  to 
War  Department  for  news.     Nothing  of  importance." 

Under  date  of  the  next  day  I  find  that,  after  breakfast,  at  which 
Major  Bannister  assisted,  Secretary  Chase  finished,  at  the  depart- 
ment, a  "  proclamation  declaring  States  in  insurrection,  without  the 
exception  formerly  made,  with  view  to  taking  exclusive  control  of 
all  purchases  of  cotton,  sugar,  tobacco,  and  rice  in  insurgent  States." 

On  the  same  day  Mr.  Chase  went  with  Judge  Hoadly,  of  Cin- 
cinnati, to  the  War  Department.  It  appears  that  the  judge  wanted 
generals  appointed,  and  had  other  wants  and  wishes  of  a  public 
nature.  We  are  told  that  "  Stanton  promised  the  generals  he  wanted, 
but  could  promise  nothing  else." 

Then  we  have  the  entry  : 

"Went  also  to  General  Halleck's.  Found  the  President  and  Kev- 
erdy  Johnson  there,  talking  with  a  Union  captain  who  was  at  Har- 
per's Ferry  at  the  time  of  its  surrender.  Says  Maryland  Heights 
were  surrendered  to  the  surprise  of  everyone;  that  Miles  was 
struck  by  a  shell  after  surrender  of  the  post,  just  as  he  had  put  the 
white  flag  in  the  hands  of  an  orderly  ;  that  there  was  no  necessity 
■whatever  for  the  surrender,  and  that  the  officers  were  very  in- 
dignant." 

Under  the  same  date,  we  have  these  paragraphs  : 

"  Warrants  to-day  enormous,  over  $4,000,000,  and  unpaid  requisi- 
tions still  accumulating — now  over  $40,000,000.     Where  will  this  end? 

''General  Hunter  came  to  dine  with  me.  Expressed  his  decided 
opinion  that  if  his  order  had  not  been  revoked  he  would  now  have 
had  the  whole  coast  lined  with  disciplined,  loyal  Southern  men — 
black,  to  be  sure,  but  good  soldiers  and  true." 

On  the  nineteenth  of  September,  the  Secretary  noted  the  receipt 
of   a   letter    "  eloquently  urging  general  emancipation."      It   was 


480  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

penned  by  Robert  Dale  Owen.  Mr.  Chase  handed  it  to  the 
President. 

On  the  same  day  the  Secretary  of  War  showed  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  a  telegram  from  Halleck  to  McClellan,  dated  August 
31.  It  was  "substantially  as  follows:  'I  do  not  know  the  terms 
of  order.  I  expected  to  leave  you  in  full  command,  except  of 
troops  temporarily  detached  to  Pope.  I  beg  you  to  come  up  and 
give  me  the  benefit  of  your  talents,  experience  and  judgment  at  this 
critical  moment.     Am  completely  tired  out.' 

"  This  telegram,"  continues  Chase,  "  announced  the  surrender  of 
Halleck  to  McClellan.  It  saddens  me  to  think  that  a  commander- 
in-chief,  whose  opinion  of  his  subordinate's  military  conduct  is  such 
as  I  have  heard  Halleck  express  of  McClellan's,  should,  in  a  mo- 
ment of  pressure,  so  yield  to  that  very  subordinate.  Good  may 
come  of  it,  but  my  fears  are  stronger  than  my  hopes.  How  differ- 
ently old  General  Scott  would  have  acted!  When  up  all  night  at 
the  critical  period  immediately  following  the  first  battle  of  Bull 
Run,  he  was  never  heard  to  complain  of  being  '  completely  tired 
out/  or  known  to  try  to  shift  any  part  of  his  responsibility  upon 
another." 

Saturday,  September  20th,  having  made  the  tender  memorandum, 
"  Katie  came  home  this  morning,  looking  very  well,"  the  "enigma" 
we  are  reading  noted  as  follows  : 

"  Nothing  of  spechil  importance  in  any  department.  Mr.  Garrett 
called  expressing  great  uneasiness  about  the  B.  &  0.  R.  R.,  and  the 
probable  invasion  of  Western  Virginia  if  the  enemy  is  not  followed 
up.  General  Mason  dined  with  me.  He  is  extremely  anxious  to 
have  a  trial  in  the  case  of  Rodney  Mason,  who  was  lately  dismissed 
the  service  for  the  surrender  of  Clarksville.  Received  letter  from 
Mr.  Hamilton.  He  will  come  on  Monday  to  see  the  President  about 
proclamation. 

"Received  a  letter  from  Miss  Virginia  Smith,  asking  my  interest 
for  Colonel  Bulow's  appointment  as  brigadier;  to  which  I  replied 
that  I  would  say  a  good  word  for  the  colonel,  and  thought  the  pros- 
pect not  desperate,  as  no  man  is  safe,  now-a-days,  from  being 
made  a  brigadier,  not  even  a  man  of  merit." 

Sunday,  September  21,  Chase  was  at  home  under  doctor's  or- 
ders.1 Mr.  Montgomery,  of  Philadelphia,  dined  with  him.  We 
have  the  memorandum  : 

"  Called  on  Harrington,  to  have  Dr.  F.  go  to  sec  General   Hooker 
»Dr.  F. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  481 

if  possible.  Harrington  made  arrangements.  Towards  sundown, 
called  at  Mr.  C's  to  inquire  for  Mrs.  1).,  and  was  much  gratified  to 
find  her  so  far  recovered  as  to  be  in  the  parlor.  Mr.  Montgomery 
went  to  church  with  Katie.     Bannister,  Taylor,  and  others  called. 

"Dr.  F.  spoke  of  having  been  to  the  President's,  who,  being  very 
busy  writing,  could  not  see  him. 

"Thought  to  myself,  'Possibly  engaged  on  proclamation.'  " 

September  twenty-second,  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
two  of  the  Christian  annals,  is  to  be  remembered,  age  after  age,  as 
one  of  the  supreme  days  of  all  time. 

The  hero  of  this  work  thus  narrates  the  thing  that  made  that  day 
so  memorable  : 

"Monday,  September  22,  1862. 

"To  department  about  9.  State  Department  messenger  came  with 
notice  to  heads  of  departments  to  meet  at  12.  Received  sundry 
callers.  Went  to  White  House.  All  the  members  of  the  Cabinet 
were  in  attendance.  There  was  some  general  talk;  and  the  Presi- 
dent mentioned  that  Artemus  "Ward  had  sent  him  his  book.  Pro- 
posed to  read  a  chapter  which  he  thought  very  funny.  Head  it,  and 
seemed  to  enjoy  it  very  much  ;  the  heads  also,  (except  Stanton)  of 
course.     The  chapter  was  '  High  Handed  Outrage  at  Utica.' 

"  The  President  then  took  a  graver  tone,  and  said  : 

"  '  Gentlemen  :  I  have,  as  you  are  aware,  thought  a  great  deal  about 
the  relation  of  this  war  to  slavery  ;  and  you  all  remember  that,  sev- 
eral weeks  ago,  1  read  to  j'ou  an  order  I  had  prepared  on  this  sub- 
ject, which,  on  account  of  objections  made  by  some  of  you,  was  not 
issued.  Ever  since  then  my  mind  hasbeen  much  occupied  with  this 
subject,  and  I  have  thought,  all  along,  that  the  time  for  acting  on  it 
might  probably  come.  I  think  the  time  has  come  now.  I  wish  it 
was  a  better  time.  I  wish  that  we  were  in  a  better  condition.  The 
action  of  the  army  against  the  rebels  has  not  been  quite  what  I 
should  have  best  liked.  But  they  have  been  driven  out  of  Maryland, 
and  Pennsylvania  is  no  longer  in  danger  of  invasion.  When  the 
rebel  army  was  at  Frederick  I  determined,  as  soon  as  it  should  be 
driven  out  of  Maryland,  to  issue  a  proclamation  of  emancipation, 
such  as  I  thought  most  likely  to  be  useful.  I  said  nothing  to  any 
one;  but  I  made  the  promise  to  myself  and  [hesitating  a  little]  to 
my  Maker.  The  rebel  army  is  now  driven  out,  and  I  am  going  to 
fulfill  that  promise.  I  have  got  you  together  to  hear  what  I  have 
written  down.  I  do  not  wish  your  advice  about  the  main  matter; 
for  that  I  have  determined  for  myself.  This  I  say  without  intend- 
ing anything  but  respect  for  any  one  of  you.  But  I  already  know 
the  views  of  each  on  this  question.     They  have  been  heretofore  ex- 

fressed,  and  I  have  considered  them  as  thoroughly  and  carefully  as 
can.  What  I  have  written  is  that  which  my  reflections  have  de- 
termined me  to  say.  If  there  is  anything  in  the  expressions  I  use, 
or  in  any  minor  matter,  which  any  one  of  you  thinks  had  best  be 
changed,  I  shall  be  glad  to  receive  the  suggestions.  One  other  ob- 
servation 1  will  make.     I  know  very  well  that  many   others   might, 


482  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

in  this  matter  as  in  others,  do  better  than  I  can;  and  if  I  was  satis- 
fied that  the  public  confidence  was  more  fully  possessed  by  any  one  of 
them  than  by  me,  and  knew  of  any  constitutional  way  in  which  he 
could  be  put  in  my  place,  be  should  have  it.  I  would  gladly  yield 
it  to  him.  But,  though  I  believe  that  I  have  not  so  much  of 
the  confidence  of  the  people  as  I  had,  some  time  since,  I  do  not 
know  that,  all  things  considered,  any  other  person  has  more  ;  and, 
however  this  may  be,  there  is  no  way  in  which  I  can  have  any 
other  man  put  where  I  am.  I  am  here.  I  must  do  the  best  I  can, 
and  bear  the  responsibility  of  taking  the  course  which  I  feel  I  ought 
to  take.' 

"The  President  then  proceeded  to  read  his  Emancipation  Procla- 
mation, making  remarks  on  the  several  parts  as  he  went  on,  and 
showing  that  he  had  fulljT  considered  the  whole  subject,  in  all  the 
lights  under  which  it  had  been  presented  to  him. 

"After  he  had  closed,  Governor  Seward  said:  'The  general  ques- 
tion having  been  decided,  nothing  can  be  said  farther  about  that. 
Would  it  not,  however,  make  the  proclamation  more  clear  and  decided 
to  leave  out  all  reference  to  the  act  being  sustained  during  the  incum- 
bency of  the  present  President;  and  not  merely  say  that  the  gov- 
ernment "recognizes,"  but  that  it  will  maintain,  the  freedom  it  pro- 
claims?' 

"I  followed,  saying:  'What  you  have  said,  Mr.  President,  fully 
satisfies  me  that  you  have  given  to  every  proposition  which  has  been 
made,  a  kind  and  candid  consideration.  And  3-011  have  now  expressed 
the  conclusion  to  which  you  have  arrived,  clearly  and  distinctly. 
This  it  was  your  right,  and,  under  your  oath  of  office,  your  duty,  to 
do.  The  Proclamation  does  not,  indeed,  mark  out  exactly  the  course 
I  would  myself  prefer.  But  I  am  ready  to  take  it  just  as  it  is  writ- 
ten, and  to  stand  by  it  with  all  my  heart.  I  think,  however,  the  sug- 
gestions of  Governor  Seward  very  judicious,  and  shall  be  glad  to 
have  them  adopted.' 

"The  President  then  asked  us  severally  our  opinions  as  to  the 
modifications  proposed,  saying  that  he  did  not  care  much  about  the 
phrases  he  had  used.  Every  one  favored  the  modification,  and  it 
was  adopted.  Governor  Seward  then  proposed  that  in  the  passage 
relating  to  colonization,  some  language  should  be  introduced  to  show 
that  the  colonization  proposed  was  to  bo  only  with  the  consent  of  the 
colonists,  and  the  consent  of  the  States  in  which  colonies  might  be 
attempted.  This,  too,  was  agreed  to;  and  no  other  modification 
was  proposed.  Mr.  Blair  then  said  that,  the  question  having  been 
decided,  he  would  make  no  objection  to  issuing  the  Proclamation; 
but  he  would  ask  to  have  his  paper,  presented  some  days  since, 
against  the  policy,  filed  with  the  Proclamation.  The  President  con- 
sented to  this  readily.  And  then  Mr.  Blair  went  on  to  say  that  he 
was  afraid  of  the  influence  of  the  Proclamation  on  the  Border  States 
and  on  the  army,  and  stated,  at  some  length,  the  grounds  of  his 
apprehensions.  He  disclaimed  most  expressly,  however,  all  objec- 
tion to  emancipation  perse,  saying  he  had  always  been  personally  in 
favor  of  it — always  ready  for  immediate  emancipation  in  the  midst 
of  Slave  States,  rather  than  submit  to  the  perpetuation  of  the 
system." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  483 

I  do  not  propose,  at  present,  to  advance  the  last  word  of  this  work 
about  the  remarkable  man  by  whom  the  Proclamation  here  in  ques- 
tion was  produced,  and  remarked  upon  as  we  have  just  seen.  But 
I  wish  to  offer,  at  once,  a  few  words  of  remark  on  Chase's  account 
of  the  speech  made  by  Abraham  Lincoln  to  his  Cabinet  on  that 
memorable  22d  of  September,  1862. 

Of  course,  the  report  was  made  from  memory.  Does  it  show  us 
Lincoln's  oratory  as  it  was?     It  seems  to  me  it  does. 

Twice  I  beard  Lincoln  in  public  discourse,  and  once  I  had  a  few 
words  of  private  conversation  with  him.  Chase's  account  of  his 
remarks,  introductory  to  the  reading  of  that  famous  Proclamation, 
reproduces  to  me  the  very  manner  of  the  orator,  as  I  remember  it, 
this  moment,  my  remembrance  being  clear  and  vivid. 

Lincoln  seemed  to  me  a  born  orator  of  the  unfervid  order.  Clear- 
ness, great  simplicity,  straightforwardness,  originality,  sagacity,  and 
quiet  will,  appeared  to  me  his  most  marked  psychical  distinctions,  as 
indicated  in  his  public  speaking.  After  he  had  fairly  entered  on  a 
sentence  of  considerable  length,  one  could  foresee  how  it  must  go 
forward,  how  it  must  come  to  its  unaffected  close.  He  was,  I  would 
say,  with  the  exception  of  lisping  Caleb  Smith,  the  most  effective 
public  speaker  present  in  the  scene  on  which  we  have  been  looking. 

In  a  letter  dated  August  20,  1863,  and  addressed  by  Secretary 
Chase  to  Hon.  Benjamin  F.  Flanders,  appears  this  reference  to  a 
letter  from  Lincoln  to  General  Banks: 

"The  letter  was  worded  with  that  caution  and  respect  for  the  opin- 
ions and  wishes  of  others  which  is  characteristic  of  the  writer,  and 
did  not  express  his  preference  as  strongly  as  he  felt  it." 

Here,  again,  I  find  indication  that,  defective  as  Chase's  reading 
of  his  fellow-men  generally  was,  he  could,  in  favorable  circum- 
stances, come  to  a  very  accurate  conception  of  a  character  which  he 
had  time  and  taken  pains  to  study.  Certainly,  caution,  respect  for 
the  opinions  and  wishes  of  others,  and  a  habit  of  expressing  prefer- 
ence less  strongly  than  he  felt  it,  were  remarkably  characteristic  of 
the  man  to  whose  distinctions  we  are  here  attending. 

"After  this  matter  was  over.''  continues  Chase,  in  the  last  quoted 
entry.  ••  I  stated  to  the  Cabinet  that  it  had  been  strongly  recom- 
mended that  all  cotton,  sugar,  tobacco,  and  rice  should  henceforward 
be  purchased  only  by  government  officers,  paying  to  the  owners, 
loyal  or  disloyal,  a  certain  proportion  of  the  price  in  Xew  York, 
amounting  to  nearly,  or  quite  the  full  price  in  the  producing  States  : 
32 


484  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

and  giving  a  certificate  which  would  entitle  the  owner  to  the  remain- 
der of  the  proceeds,  deducting  taxes  and  charges,  at  the  end  of  the 
rebellion,  if  loyal.  I  said  I  would  like  to  have  the  matter  reflected 
on,  and  that  I  should  bring  it  up  at  our  next  meeting. 

'•  Before  going  to  Cabinet,  and  on  my  walk  to  Mr.  Seward's  room, 
I  met  Judge  Pierpont,  and  invited  him  to  dinner.  Coming  from 
Cabinet,  I  found  a  letter  from  Barne}*  about  Wadsworth's  nomina- 
tion and  "Weed's  willingness  to  make  it  unanimous,  if  it  is  not  to  be 
considered  a  triumph  over  him.  and  wrote  a  note  to  the  general,  ask- 
ing him  also  to  dine.  Both  he  and  the  judge  came,  and  we  had  a 
pleasant  time.  Wadsworth  had  but  one  objection  to  saying  he  would 
be  governor,  if  at  all,  of  the  State,  and  not  of  a  section  of  a  party; 
which  was,  that  it  might  be  considered  as  in  some  sort  a  pledge, 
which  he  would  not  give  to  anybody.  Told  Wadsworth,  in  confi- 
dence, that  the  Proclamation  might  be  expected  to-morrow  morning 
which  surprised  and  gratified  him  equally. 

"Mr.  Smith,  chief  clerk  of  the  Third  Auditor's  office,  his  brother, 
associated  with  Fowler,  and  Dr.  Smith  called;  also.  Donn  Piatt.  A 
good  deal  of  speculation  about  Proclamation,  of  which  some  said 
a  rumor  was  current  a  day  or  two  since.  I  said  I  thought  we  need 
not  despair  of  one  yet.  Chief  clerk  Smith  said  he  had  eagerly 
looked  at  the  newspapers,  one  morning  lately,  on  the  strength  of 
the  rumor,  for  it,  and  was  really  disappointed.  I  told  him  to  keep 
looking. 

"Donn  Piatt  wanted  j'oung  Este  made  clerk.  I  told  him  I  would 
be  glad  to  do  so,  but  could  not  promise.  Mr.  Piatt  called  to  learn 
about  Colonel  Hays,  and  Dr.  Harkness  about  his  son-in-law." 

Let  us  now  go  back  a  little  to  review  the  situation  in  war  mat- 
ters, as  discerned  by  Secretary  Chase.  Two  days  before  hearing  the 
first  reading  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  he  wrote  to  Senator 
Sherman  as  follows : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  September  20,  1862. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  Thanks  for  your  letter  from  Cincinnati.  Let  me 
often  be  so  indebted  to  you. 

"  The  future  does  not  look  promising  to  me;  but  it  may  be  brighter 
than  it  seems  likely  to  be. 

"  Since  General  Halleck  has  been  here  the  conduct  of  the  war  has 
been  abandoned  to  him  by  the  President  almost  absolutely.  We — 
who  are  called  members  of  the  Cabinet,  but  are  in  reality  only  sepa- 
rate heads  of  departments,  meeting  now  and  then  for  talk  on  what- 
ever happens  to  come  uppermost,  not  for  grave  consultation  on 
matters  concerning  the  salvation  of  the  country — we  have  as 
little  to  do  with  it  as  if  we  were  heads  of  factories  supplying  shoes 
or  cloth.  No  regular  and  systematic  reports  of  what  is  done  are 
made,  I  believe,  even  to  the  President :  certainly  not  to  the  so-called 
Cabinet. 

"  Of  course  we  may  hope  for  the  best — that  privilege  remains. 
As  outsiders,  too,  I  suppose  we  may  criticise,  but  I  prefer  to  forego 
that  privilege." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  485 

Indeed  !     A  queer  foregoing  that !     But  Chase  goes  on  to  say  : 

"It  is  painful,  however,  to  hear  complaints  of  remissness,  delays, 
discords,  dangers,  and  to  feel  that  there  must  be  ground  for  such 
complaints,  and  to  know  that  one  has  no  power  to  remedy  the 
evils  and  yet  is  thought  to  have.  I  saw  the  Neil  House1  on  fire,  and 
felt  sick  at  heart  to  think  I  could  do  nothing  to  avert  the  progress 
of  the  conflagration.  Comparing  targe  things  to  small,  I  experience 
similar  feelings  now.  The  difference  is  that  no  one  thought  me 
responsible  in  any  degree  for  the  administration  of  the  fire  depart- 
ment of  Columbus. 

"  Well,  the  rebel  army  is  withdrawn  from  Maryland.  That  is 
something,  but  far  less  than  we  anticipated.  We  hoped  it  would  not 
be  permitted  to  withdraw,  except  in  flight  and  utter  demoralization. 
It  is  in  fact,  however,  to-day  relatively  stronger  than  our  own.  It 
has  lost  less;  it  has  taken  more  prisoners,  more  guns,  more  supplies 
of  every  sort.  Still  we  must.  I  hope  Ave  shall,  reduce  the  disparity 
from  day  to  day,  and  soon  shift  the  balance  and  complete  the  work. 
Let  us  hope  in  Providence. 

"  The  surrender  of  Munsfordsville  is  a  sad  blow  to  our  cause  in  the 
West,  I  fear.     I  look  most  anxiously  for  intelligence. 

'•  Speaking  of  the  West,  I  am  reminded  that  within  the  last  few  days 
I  heard  an  officer  say  that  he  heard  your  brother,  the  general,  abuse 

you  roundly  at  Corinth,  as  one  of  the abolitionists  who  had 

brought  on  this  war,  Baying  that  he  '  was  ashamed  to  own  you  for  a 
brother.'  Is  it  possible  that  the  pro-slavery  views  of  West  Point 
can  have  affected  him  in  this  way?  I  hear  from  all  sources  that 
nearly  all  the  officers  in  Buell's  army,  and  Buell  himself,  are  pro- 
slavery  to  the  last  degree. 

"  With  the  greatest  regard,  yours  faithfully, 

"  Hon.  John  Sherman.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Xow  I  ask  attention  to  this  letter,  written  the  day  after  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  was  put  forth  : 

"  Washington,  September  23,  1862. 
"  My  Dear  General  :  I  am  delighted  by  your  great  success  at 
New  Orleans.  You  know,  of  course,  that  all  I  can  do  to  promote  it 
will  be  most  gladly  done.  Happily,  you  are  less  oppressive  in  your 
demands  on  the  treasury  than  any  other  of  our  generals  in  important 
positions.  I  wish  3-ou  could  have  men  enough  to  move  up  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  clear  it  out.  What  a  crown  to  your  achievements  that 
would  be.  When  General  Halleck  came  here  the  President  requested 
him  to  call  on  me  about  the  financial  measures  necessary  to  the  pros- 
ecution of  the  war.  I  told  him  that  the  most  important,  in  my 
judgment,  were:  First,  the  substitution  of  an  active,  energetic. 
fearless  general,  for  McClellan,  in  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac, then  stranded  on  James  River  ;  and,  second,  the  opening  of  the 
Mississippi.     Another,  less  vitally  important  financially,  seemed  to 


JAt  Columbus,  Ohio. 


486  THE   TRIVATE     LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

me  equally  important  politically  and  militarily,  and  that  was  the 
prompt  advance  of  Buell's  army  into  East  Tennessee.  The  first  was 
not  done,  the  second  was  nut  done,  the  third  was  not  done;  and 
to-day  the  treasury  is  almost  836.000,000  behind,  and  almost  without 
resources,  except  treasury  notes,  of  which  the  faculty  to  issue  only 
S56.000.000  remains,  and  customs  supply  about  $200,000  per  day. 
The  bonds,  on  which,  necessarily,  our  chief  reliance  must  be  placed, 
the  5-20  sixes,  can  not  be  negotiated. 

••  But  we  have  something  else — defeat  before  "Washington,  poorly 
compensated  by  the  expulsion  of  the  rebels  from  Maryland  ;  Ohio  and 
Indiana  menaced;  military  stagnation  throughout  the  South,  with 
danger  of  expulsion  from  the  points  gained  on  the  Atlantic  coast ; 
Tennessee  nearly  lost,  and  Kentucky  nearly  overrun.  Was  there 
ever  anything  like  it  ?" 

There  was  surely  never  anything  like  such  writing,  by  such  a  man 
as  Salmon  Portland  Chase  to  such  a  man  as  Benjamin  Franklin 
Butler,  about  such  men  as  Lincoln,  Halleck,  and  McClellan — 
worthies  each,  however  either  of  them  may  have  erred. 

AVe  must  do  justice  to  McClellan,  Halleck,  and  Lincoln,  as  well 
as  to  our  hero.  That  this  work  discerns  in  Salmon  Portland  Chase 
a  man  whose  memory,  preserved  in  praise,  should  be  immortal,  has 
been  clearly  shown  already.  More  decided  indications  of  the  same 
matter  are  presented  in  the  final  chapter.  But  I  can  not  take  too 
many  opportunities  of  holding  up  to  censure,  rather  than  to  praise, 
the  conduct  of  our  hero  toward  martial  men  and  martial  measures. 
Occupied  as  he  was,  he  could  not  make  the  studies  necessary  to  ex- 
cuse writing,  as  we  have  just  seen,  to  a  man  so  hard,  so  shrewd,  so 
capable  of  unbecoming  things,  and  apparently  so  incapable  of  truly 
noble  deeds  and  truly  noble  aims  and  aspirations,  as  the  man  to 
whom  the  letter  here  in  question  was  addressed. 

Whatever  cultivated  shrewdness  without  real  wisdom  may  accom- 
plish, men  like  Butler  may,  in  favorable  circumstances,  bring  to 
pass.  But  to  no  such  man  as  he  should  Salmon  Portland  Chase 
have  so  written  about  Lincoln,  Halleck,  and  McClellan.  Had  cir- 
cumstances enabled  Chase  to  study  Butler  as  he  studied  Lincoln, 
never  would  such  a  letter  to  Butler  have  issued  from  the  pen  of 
Chase. 

The  document  in  question,  however,  thus  goes  on : 

'•  Mr.  Denison  writes  me  in  your  praise.  He  says  your  adminis- 
tration is  eminently  successful,  and  that  you  are  getting  on  admira- 
bly with  your  free-colored  regiments  ;  enlisting  without  much  inquiry 
into  the  status  prior  to  enlistment.     This  is  well." 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  487 

Evil  communications  ever  did  corrupt  good  manners.  Only 
think  of  Chase's  antecedents,  and  then  think  of  his  writing  the 
words  just  distinguished  by  italics.  Does  the  end,  then,  justify  the 
means?     But  this  curious  letter  thus  proceeds: 

"You  must  anticipate  a  little  the  operation  of  the  Proclamation  in 

New  Orleans  and  Louisiana.  The  law  frees  all  slaves  of  rebels  in 
any  city  occupied  by  our  troops  and  previously  occupied  b}"  rebels. 
This  is  the  condition  of  New  Orleans.  Is  it  not  clear,  then,  that  the 
presumption  is  in  favor  of  every  man,  only  to  be  set  aside  in  case  of 
some  by  clear  proof  of  continuous  loyalty?" 

This  is  too  thin.  It  is  a  pitiful  specimen  of  the  thing  which — 
perhaps  unjustly  toward  the  Society  of  Jesus — a  society  which,  no 
doubt,  has  virtues  as  well  as  vices  all  its  own — we  call  Political 
Jesuitism. 

The  conclusion  of  this  remarkable  letter  almost  makes  me  sick  at 
heart.     It  runs  : 

"Yours  faithfully, 
"  Major  General  B.  F.  Butler.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Now  we  come  to  another  matter  which,  it  seems  to  me,  can  not 
be  praised.  The  entry,  dated  September  23,  contains  the  following 
account  of  a  visit  to  General  Hooker : 

"  At  breakfast  this  morning  I  proposed  to  Katie  to  ride  over  to  the 
Insane  Asylum,  and  see  General  Hooker,  to  which  she  agreed  ;  and 
she  having  provided  a  basket  of  grapes,  peaches,  etc.,  we  went.  We 
were  very  kindly  received  by  Mrs.  Nichols,  who  ushered  us  into  the 
general's  room.  He  was  lying  on  a  couch,  but  suffering  no  pain. 
He  talked  very  freel}T,  as  far  as  time  would  permit,  of  the  recent 
events.  He  said  that  at  Richmond,  when  the  order  came  to  with- 
draw the  army,  he  advised  McClellan  to  disobey,  and  proposed  a 
plan  for  an  advance  on  Richmond.  McClellan  gave  him  the  order  to 
advance;  but,  before  the  time  for  movement  came,  recalled  it,  and 
gave  orders  for  evacuation.  When  Hooker  expected  to  march 
to  Richmond,  therefore,  he  found  himself,  to  his  stirprise,  com- 
pelled to  fall  back  to  the  Chickahominy  on  his  wa}~  to  Aquia.  I  said 
to  him,  'General,  if  my  advice  had  been  followed,  you  would  have 
commanded  after  the  retreat  to  James  River,  if  not  before.'  He  re- 
plied,'If  I  had  commanded,  Richmond  would  have  been  ours.'  He 
then  spoke  of  thebattle  of  Antietam,  where  he  received  his  wound, 
and  expressed  his  deep  sorrow  that  he  could  not  remain  on  the  field 
three  hours  longer.  'If  I  could  have  done  so,'  he  said,  'our  victory 
would  have  been  complete;  for  I  had  already  gained  enough  and 
seen  enough  to  make  the  rest  of  the  enemy  sure.'  After  he  had  been 
carried  off,  he  said,  McClellan  sent  for  him  again  to  lead  an  advance. 
The  general  impressed   me  favorably  as  a  frank,  manly,  brave,  and 


488  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

energetic  soldier,  of  somewhat  less  breadth  of  intellect  than  I  had 
expected,  however,  though  not  of  less  quickness,  clearness,  and  ac- 
tivity. 

"  While  we  were  conversing,  Dr.  Nichols  came  in,  and  I  had  some 
talk  with  him  in  an  adjoining  room.  He  said  the  general's  wound 
was  as  little  dangerous  as  a  foot- wound  could  be,  the  ball  hav- 
ing passed  through  the  fleshy  part  just  above  the  sole  and  below  the 
instep,  probably  without  touching  a  bone.  I  suggested  the  trial  of 
Dr.  Forshe's  balm.  He  made  no  special  objection,  but  said  the 
wound  was  doing  as  well  as  possible,  without  inflammation  and  with 
very  little  matter, and  he  thought  it  unnecessary  to  try  any  experi- 
ments. I  could  not  help  concurring  in  this,  and  postponed  Dr.  F. 
and  his  balm.  The  doctor  said  he  first  knew  him  when  encamped  be- 
low him  last  year  ;  that  he  became  deeply  interested  in  him;  that 
when  he  heard  he  was  wounded,  he  went  up  to  Frederick,  seeking 
him;  that  he  missed  him;  but  that  his  message  reached  him,  and  he 
came  down  to  the  asylum  himself.  I  asked,  '  What  is  your  estimate 
of  him?'  '  Brave,  energetic,  full  of  life,  skillful  on  the  field,  not 
comprehensive  enough,  perhaps,  for  plan  and  conduct  of  a  great 
campaign  ;  but  at  least  equal  in  this  respect,  if  not  superior,  to  any 
general  in  the  service.' 

"Mr.  Rives  (of  the  Globe),  his  daughter  and  son-in-law,  came  in, 
and  we  took  our  leave  ;  Dr.  Nichols  having  first  strongly  recom- 
mended to  me  to  secure  the  appointment  of  Colonel  Dwight,  of  Mass., 
as  a  brigadier-general." 

On  the  25th  we  have  an  entry  that  contains  another  account  of 
conversation  with  Hooker.    That  account  is  worded  after  this  fashion  : 

"  In  the  afternoon  went  with  Garfield  to  see  Hooker,  who  was  very 
free  in  his  expressions  about  Mr.  McClellan.  He  said  it  was  not  true 
that  either  the  army  or  the  officers  were  specially  attached  to  him; 
that  only  two  corps,  whose  commanders  were  special  favorites  and 
whose  troops  had  special  indulgences,  could  be  said  to  care  anything 
about  him  ;  that  other  officers — he  himself  certainl}r — thought  him 
unfit  to  lead  a  great  army  ;  that  he  is  timid  and  hesitating  when  de- 
cision is  necessary  ;  that  the  battle  of  Antietam  was  very  near  being 
lost  by  his  way  of  fighting  it,  whereas,  had  the  attack  been  simul- 
taneous and  vigorous  on  the  enemy's  right,  center,  and  left,  the  rout 
would  have  been  complete  ;  that  our  force  in  the  battle  exceeded  the 
enemy's  by  30,000  men  ;  and  that  the  defeat  of  the  enemy  should 
have  been  final.  He  said  also  that  when  Pope  had  drawn  off"  a  large 
part  of  the  rebels  from  Richmond  and  orders  came  to  McClellan  to 
withdraw,  he  urged  him  to  give,  on  the  contrary,  orders  for  advance  ; 
that  the  orders  were  actually  given  and  then  revoked,  much  to  his 
chagrin. 

a  This  recalled  to  mind  a  conversation  with  General  Halleck  at 
that  time.  I  said  to  him,  that  it  seemed  to  me  our.people  could  now 
certain!}'  take  Richmond,  by  a  vigorous  push,  as  Pope  had  60,000  of 
the  rebels  before  him  and  at  least  half  of  the  remaining  60,000  were 
south  of  the  James,  leaving  only  30,000  with  the  fortifications  on  the 
north  side  ;  to  which  General  Halleck  replied,  that  it  was  too  danger- 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  489 

ous  an  undertaking.  I  said,  '  If  this  can  not  be  done,  why  not  re- 
turn to  Fredericksburg,  leaving  Richmond  on  the  left?'  'This,' he 
said,  'would  be  quite  as  dangerous — a  flank  movement,  in  which  our 
army  would  be  exposed  to  being  cut  off  and  and  totally  lost.' 

"  General  Hooker  said  that  the  movement  I  suggested  could  have 
been  executed  with  safety  and  success.  He  said,  also,  that  he  was 
somewhat  reconciled  to  leaving  the  Peninsula  by  being  told  that  it 
Mas  a  plan  tor  getting  rid  of  McClellan,  and  the  only  one  which  it 
was  thought  safe  to  adopt.  This  he  thought  so  essential  that  any 
thing  necessary  to  it  was  to  be  accepted." 

It  is  impossible  to  praise  the  conduct  of  our  u  Fighting  Joe" 
toward  George  Brinton  McClellan.  But  what  says  the  play  about 
purchasing  the  indulgence  of  one's  friends  by  showing  none  to  the 
country's  foes?  I  have  no  heart  to  write  freely  about  the  matter 
here  referred  to. 

Here,  however,  is  a  pleasant  paragraph : 

"Returning  from  General  Hooker's,  as  well  as  going,  General  Gar- 
field gave  me  some  very  interesting  portions  of  his  own  experience. 
This  fine  officer  was  a  laborer  on  a  canal  in  his  younger  days.  In- 
spired by  a  noble  ambition,  he  had  availed  himself  of  all  means  to 
acquire  knowledge  ;  became  a  preacher  of  the  Baptist  Church  ;  was 
made  the  president  of  a  flourishing  literary  institution  on  the  Re- 
serve ;  was  elected  to  the  Ohio  Senate,  and  took  a  conspicuous  part 
as  a  Republican  leader.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  he  became 
a  colonel  ;  led  his  regiment  into  Eastern  Kentucky  ;  fought  Hum- 
phrey Marshall,  near  Prestonburg  ;  gained  position  rapidly  ;  was 
made,  at  my  instance,  a  brigadier;  fought  under  Buell  at  Shiloh  ; 
and  was  now  in  Washington  by  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  War, 
who  proposes  to  give  him  the  Department  of  Florida.  A  large  por- 
tion of  his  regiment,  he  said,  was  composed  of  students  from  his 
college." 

That  I  call  a  pleasant  paragraph,  yet  I  would  not  be  understood 
to  intimate  preference  of  Garfield  as  between  Garfield  and  Hooker. 
It  appears  to  me  that  our  hero's  intimacy  with  Garfield,  as  well  as 
his  intimacy  with  our  "  Fighting  Joe,"  caused  far  less  good  than 
evil.  Garfield  is  an  orator,  and  he  seems  to  have  been  also  a  good 
soldier;  but  he  never  seemed  to  me  a  worthy  of  the  finest  type;  and 
this  is  the  most  favorable  judgment  I  could  possibly  pronounce  re- 
specting him  were  I  required  to  judge  him  on  my  present  informa- 
tion and  belief. 

Returning  from  the  visit  to  General  Hooker  on  the  23d  of  Sep- 
tember, Mr.  Chase  went  to  the  Treasury  Department.  There  he 
found  General  Robinson,  of  Pittsburg  ;  Mr.  Piatt,  and  Dr.  Hark- 
ness.     Mr.  Harrington  was  sent  with  the  two  gentlemen  last  named 


490 


THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 


to  the  War  Department.    "Mr.  Welles  came  in  about  appointment 
of  Pease,  in  Wisconsin  ;  and,"  says  the  man  in  the  Treasury,  "  I  asked 
him  to  write  a  note  about  it." 
The  entry  goes  on  as  follows  : 

Attorney-General  Bates  called,  with  Mr.  Gibson,  of  St.  Louis,  about 
pecuniary  aid  to  Mr.  Gamble — both  telling  a  very  different  story 
from  Farrar  and  Dick.  Promised  to  look  at  papers  and  answer  to- 
morrow. Stanton  came  in  about  payment  of  paroled  soldiers  at 
Camp  Chase,  which  I  promised  to  provide  for.  Said  that  he  pro- 
posed to  make  the  Department  of  Florida,  with  Thayer  as  governor, 
and  Garfield  as  commanding-general,  if  I  approved  of  Garfield.  I 
said  I  approved  heartily.  Said  he  had  insisted  on  removal  of  Buell, 
and  leaving  Thomas  in  command.  I  could  not  disapprove  of  this, 
though  I  think  less  highly  of  him  than  he  seems  to  think." 

Such  is  the  language.  I  suppose  that  Thomas  is  the  him  referred 
to  in  the  last  sentence. 

Mr.  Stanton  having  gone,  Mr.  Barney  came  in.  Mr.  B.  declined 
invitation  to  dinner,  but  promised  to  call  in  the  evening.  The  en- 
try for  the  day  concludes  as  follows : 

"  Mr.  Hamilton,  on  invitation,  came  to  our  house  to  stay  while  in 
town. 

"  In  the  evening,  many  callers.  Miss  Schenck,  General  and  Mrs. 
McDowell,  General  Garfield,  and  others.  Young  Mr.  Walley  came, 
with  letters  from  his  father,  and  I  brought  him  in  and  introduced 
him  to  Katie  and  our  guests." 

The  next  day  has  the  following  account : 

"  The  President  called  a  special  meeting  of  the  Cabinet  to-day, 
and  asked  our  judgment  on  two  questions: 

"  First.  As  to  the  expediency  of  treaties  with  governments  de- 
siring the  immigration  for  voluntary  colonization  of  blacks. 

"  Second.  As  to  the  proper  answer  to  be  returned  to  the  letter  from 
John  Boss,  excusing  the  treaty  of  the  Cherokees  with  the  rebels, 
and  asking  the  protection  of  the  United  States,  and  the  fulfillment 
of  old  treaties. 

"  On  the  first  question  there  was  the  usual  diversity  of  opinion. 
I,  not  thinking  colonization  in  itself  desirable,  except  as  a  means  of 
getting  a  foothold  in  Central  America,  thought  no  treaties  expe- 
dient; but  simple  arrangements,  under  the  legislation  of  Congress, 
by  which  any  persons  who  might  choose  to  immigrate  would  be 
secured  in  such  advantages  as  might  be  offered  them  by  other  states 
or  governments.  Seward  rather  favored  treaties,  but  evidently  did 
not  think  much  of  the  wisdom  of  any  measures  for  sending  out  of 
the  country  laborers  needed  here.  The  President  asked  us  to  think 
of  the  subject,  and  bo  ready  to  express  our  opinions  when  we 
[should]  next  come  together. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  491 

"As  to  the  Cherokee  question,  there  seemed  to  he  a  general  concur- 
rence thai  no  new  pledgee  should  he  given  them  ;  but  that,  at  the 
end  of  the  war,  their  condition  and  relations  to  the  United  States 
should  have  just  consideration." 

Under  date  September  24  we  have,  however,  the  following 
memoranda  : 

"After  Cabinet  went  with  Stanton  to  War  Department,  and  laid 
before  him  son  dry  applications  for  positions,  with  such  verbal  sup- 
port as  T  thought  due  to  them.  Returning  to  the  department,  I 
found  there  young  Mr.  Walley,  and  gave  him  an  earnest  recom- 
mendation to  Stanton,  and  was  surprised,  an  hour  or  so  after,  to 
receive  a  note  from  him,  thanking  me  for  my  kindness,  but  saying 
that  Mr.  Stanton  told  him  there  was  no  likelihood  of  his  receiving  an 
appointment  ;  and  that  be  was  going  to  enlist  as  a  private.  Wrote 
note  to  Mr.  Walley  (his  father)  expressing  my  regret. 

"Nothing  at  department  but  routine,  except  direction  to  Cisco  to 
receive  deposits  of  gold,  and  a  cull  from  Eli  Thayer  about  his  project 
for  colonizing  East  Florida,  with  which  I  sympathize 

"Had  proposed  to  General  Garfield  to  take  him  over  and  call  on 
General  Hooker;  but  it  rained,  and  he  did  not  come.  After  dinner, 
however,  the  sky  cleared  somewhat,  and  Kate  and  I  rode  out  and 
called  on  him.     He  was  still  improving. 

"  An  hour  or  two  alter  our  return  a  band  of  music,  which  had 
just  serenaded  the  President  by  way  of  congratulation  on  the  Proc- 
lamation, came  to  my  house  and  demanded  a  speech,  with  which 
demand  I  complied  briefly.  General  Clay,  who  was  with  me,  re- 
sponded more  at  length.  After  the  crowd  had  passed  on  General 
Clay,  Mr.  Clarke,  of  Mercer,  Pennsylvania;  General  Robinson,  of 
Pittsburg;  and  Mr.  Wm,  D.  Lewis,  of  Philadelphia,  came  in  and 
spent  a  little  time  with  me." 

On  the  same  day,  our  hero  wrote  as  follows  to  an  eminently 
worthy  citizen — a  man  of  culture  and  a  man  of  large  experience  and 
observation — once  distinguished  as  a  journalist: 

"My  Dear  Sir  :  I  have  read  with  great  interest  your  last  letter, 
and  share  the  feelings  you  express.  Some  consolation  in  the  review 
of  the  disasters  we  have  experienced  may  perhaps  be  found  in  the 
supposition  that  they  were  necessary  to  convince  the  President  and 
the  country  that  a  decided  measure  in  relation  to  slavery  was  abso- 
lutely necessary.  That  measure  has  now  been  resolved  upon  and 
proclaimed. 

"It  now  remains  that  military  action  bo  prompt,  skillful,  and 
decided.  Whether  it  will  be  so,  I  am  not  able  to  say.  Though 
charged  with  the  responsibility  of  providing  means  for  the  vast 
expenditures  of  the  war,  I  have  little  more  voice  in  its  conduct  than 
a  stranger  to  the  Administration — perhaps  not  so  considerable  a 
voice  as  some  who  are,  in  law  at  least,  strangers  to  it.  1  should  be 
very  well  satisfied  with   this  state  of  things,  if  I  saw  the  war  prose- 


492  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

cuted  with  vigor  and  success.  I  am  only  dissatisfied  with  it  because 
I  can  not  help  thinking  that,  if  my  judgment  had  more  weight,  it 
would  be  so  prosecuted.  Months  ago.  for  example.  I  insisted  upon 
the  opening  of  the  Mississippi.  This  might  have  been  accomplished, 
and  was  not.  Months  ago,  also,  I  urged  that  an  active  and  clear- 
headed leader  should  conduct  the  march  into  East  Tennessee,  instead 
of  Buell,  whom  everybody  knew  to  be  slow.  My  counsel  did  not 
prevail.  Again,  I  urged  that  Sherman  or  Hooker  should  be  placed 
in  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  when  it  became  apparent 
that  McClellan  had  suffered  defeats  where  he  ought  to  have  won  vic- 
tories. Had  the  advice  been  taken,  it  is  my  clear  conviction  that  the 
enemy  to-day  would  have  been  driven  out  of  Virginia,  and,  driven 
out  of  Virginia,  they  would  have  found  no  stopping  place  this  side 
of  South  Carolina  and  Mississippi. 

"What  can  I  do  beyond  what  I  have  done,  except  resign,  and  come 
home?     Shall  I  do  that?     I  am  read}*  and  willing. 

"Yours  very  truly, 

"O.  Follett,  Esq.  "S.  P.  CHASE." 

In  a  letter  of  the  same  date,  to  E.  G.  Arnold,  Esq.,  our  hero  said  : 

"You  have  before  this  seen  the  Proclamation  of  the  President.  I 
hope  a  new  vigor  and  activity  in  military  affairs  may  follow.  I  can 
only  hope,  however;  for  I  have  no  voice  in  the  conduct  of  the  war, 
and  am  not  responsible  for  it,  except  in  the  provision  of  the  neces- 
sary funds,  in  which  I  have  succeeded  thus  far  beyond  all  my  hopes. 
Future  success  must,  necessarily,  depend  uj)on  our  armies,  or,  rather, 
upon  their  leaders." 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  493 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

THE   GOVERNOR8   AT    ALTOONA — DEATH    OP    NELSON — GARFIELD'S    STORY. 

OX  the  25th  of  September,  1862,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
went  to  Seward's  to  dinner.  There  he  met  the  Marquis  of 
Cavendish  aud  his  brother,  Colonel  Leslie,  of  the  British  army, 
Mr.  Stuart  aud  Mr.  Kennedy,  of  the  British  legation,  General 
Banks,  and  Mr.  Everett.  General  Banks  was  earnest  against  more 
separation  of  forces  until  the  rebel  army  is  crushed. 

Going  home,  Mr.  Chase  found  there  General  and  Mrs.  McDowell. 
Soon  after,  Captain  and  Mrs.  Loomis  came  in.  Mr.  Chase  remarks 
that  he  "  could  not  help  the  captain,  who  wished  to  be  quarter- 
master of  General  Siegel's  corps." 

The  memorandum  closes  with  :  "  To  bed,  tired  and  unwell." 
Friday,  September  20,  Secretary  Chase  received  a  note  from 
Secretary  Seward  asking  him  to  name  a  consul  to  Rio.  Mr.  Chase 
named  James  Monroe.  Another  note  from  Mr.  Frederick  Seward, 
asked  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  call  at  the  State  Depart- 
ment before  going  to  Cabinet.  He  called  accordingly,  but  Gov- 
ernor Seward  had  already  gone. 

At  the  Cabinet  there  was  talk  about  colonization,  in  which  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  took  no  part.  .  Mr.  Stanton  was  not  present. 
All  the  others,  except  Mr.  Welles,  expressed  themselves  "in  favor 
of  treaties." 

Several  of  the  loyal  governors  came  that  day 

"  In  the  evening,"  says  Mr.  Chase,  "I  called  on  them.  Saw  Yates 
at  the  National,  and  left  card  for  Berrj-,  of  Xew  Hampshire.  Saw 
Kirkwood  at  Kirkwood  House.  Saw  Salomon  at  Willard's,  and  left 
cards  for  Andrew,  Bradford,  Sprague,  Tod,  Blair,  and  Pierepont.  At 
Governor  Yates'  room  saw  General  MeCleruand,  of  Illinois,  who 
made  a  very  favorable  impression  on  me." 

The  next  morning,  relates  the  diary: 

"  Governor  Andrew  came   to   breakfast.     Laughed  (vexed   too)  at 


494  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

report  in  Herald  of  proceedings  of  governors  at  Altoona,  which  he 
ascribed  to  the  exclusion  of  reporters.  While  at  breakfast  Colonel 
Andrews  and  Lieutenant  Barber,  both  of  Marietta,  came  in  from 
battle-ground.  The  colonel  handed  me  Cox's  report,  and  informed 
me  that  Colonel  Clark  was  killed,  which  left  him  lieutenant-colonel 
in  actual  command.  He  gave  a  very  interesting  account  of  the  con- 
duct of  Cox's  (late  Reno's)  corps,  both  at  South  Mountain  and  Antie- 
tam.  The  reports,  however,  were  more  full,  and  reflected  the  highest 
credit  on  Cox  and  the  officers  and  men  of  his  troops.  Andrews  said 
that  McClellan  and  Burnside  would  recommend  Cox  for  major- 
general — an  object  which  I  assured  Colonel  A.  I  would  most  gladly 
promote. 

"Governor  Andrew  said  he  had  called  on  General  Hooker  the 
evening  before,  and  met  Stanton  and  Tod.  Hooker  was  unequivocal 
in  condemnation  of  McClellan's  inactivity.  At  department  McCler- 
nand  called,  and  my  favorable  impression  of  last  evening  was 
strengthened.  Many  things  in  a  plan  of  campaign  which  he  urged 
seemed  admirable,  especially  the  eastern  movement  from  the  Missis- 
sippi River. 

'•Saw  the  President,  and  asked  him  his  opinion  of  McClernand. 
Said  he  thought  him  brave  and  capable,  but  too  desirous  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  everybody  else." 

I  know  the  general.  He  is  a  good  thinker  and  a  good  talker. 
It  appears  to  me  that  Lincoln's  judgment  of  him  hit  the  nail  square 
on  the  head  and  drove  it  home. 

The  same  entry  contains  also  this  paragraph  : 

"  Later  in  the  day  received  telegram  from  Bliss,  paj'mastei*- 
general  of  New  York,  asking  for  $300,000  in  small  notes  in  exchange 
for  the  same  amount  of  large  ones,  to  enable  him  to  forward  eight 
regiments.  It  occurred  to  me  that,  by  having  these  regiments  sent 
to  Louisville,  and  Mitchell's  and  Garfield's  brigades  brought  from 
Louisville  and  sent  to  Port  Royal,  with  one  or  two  brigades  in  addi- 
tion, a  successful  expedition  against  Charleston  might  be  immedi- 
ately organized;  and  I  determined  to  speak  to  Stanton  in  relation  to 
it  to-morrow.  Garfield  spent  the  evening  with  me,  and  accepted 
invitation  to  make  my  house  his  home  while  in  town." 

Sunday,  September  28,  has  this  record : 

"At  Dr.  Pyne's  in  morning — sermon  excellent.  Home  in  after- 
noon. In  the  evening  went  to  War  Department  about  expedition 
to  Charleston;  m}-  idea  being  to  have  New  York  regiments  sent  to 
Louisville,  and  Mitchell's  and  Garfield's  brigades  drawn  thence  and 
sent  to  Port  Royal  with  Garfield,  when  an  immediate  attack  should 
be  made  on  Charleston,  which  would  be  sure  to  fall.  Did  not  find 
Stanton  at  Department.  Went  to  Halleck's,  and  found  him  there. 
Had  some  general  talk.  Was  informed  by  Halleck  that  the  enemy 
was  moving  to  Martinsburg.     'How  many?'    '150,000.'     How  many 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  495 

has  McClellan?'  'Abort  100,000.'  'Where  Pennsylvania  troops, 
said  to  have  joined  him,  though  raised  only  for  emergency?'  'All 
gone  back.'  Had  talk  about  draft.  He  showed  me  a  letter  to  Gam- 
ble, insisting  that  all  officers  of  drafted  militia  above  regimental 
should  be  appointed  by  the  Presidents  T  expressed  the  opinion  that 
the  principle  of  drafting  militia  was  erroneous — that  the  law  should 
have  provided  for  drafting  from  the  people  an  army  of  the  United 
States.  Ho  agreed.  [  asked  him  his  opinion  of  McClernand.  He 
said  he  is  brave  and  able*  but  no  disciplinarian;  that  his  camp  was 
always  full  of  disorder;  that  at  Corinth  he  pitched  his  tents  where 
his  men  had  been  buried  just  below  ground,  and  with  dead  horses 
lying  all  around.  The  cause  of  the  evil  was  that  his  officers  and 
men  were  his  constituents. 

"  Leaving  Halleck,  Stanton  and  I  rode  together  to  Columbia  Col- 
lege, and  back  to  his  house.  I  stated  my  wish  concerning  the  two 
brigades  and  Charleston.  He  said  nothing  could  be  done.  Tin-  New 
York  regiments  must  go  to  McClellan,  who  absorbs  and  is  likely  to 
absorb  everything  and  do  nothing.  At  Stanton's  saw,  for  the  first 
time.  General  Harney,  who  mentioned  several  matters  to  show 
Frank  Blair's  misconduct  in  Missouri  matters.  He  said  it  was  not 
necessary  to  fire  a  gun  to  keep  Missouri  in  the  Union.  I  thought 
him  evidently  mistaken." 

On  the  29th,  the  Secretary  wrote  as  follows  to  a  citizen  of  merit, 
prominence,  and  influence: 

'•My  Dear  Carson:  Your  letter  gives  me  a  very  interesting  inside 
view  of  things.  We  must  sacrifice  everything  to  success,  except 
success  itself.  That  is  to  say,  we  must  give  up  personal  preferences 
and  personal  prejudices,  and  work  like  men  who  believe  their  cause 
is  worth  more  than  any  one  of  its  supporters;  and  we  must  not  take 
men  whose  election  will  be  defeat,  because  either  of  their  real  unfit- 
ness, or  of  such  indifference  or  substantial  hostility  to  our  leading 
principles  or  their  recognized  representatives,  that  they  can  be 
depended  on  for  nothing  except  virtual  opposition  or  lukewarm  half- 
support — about  the  same  thing — after  election. 

'•I  have  confidence  in  Colonel  Key,  and  suggested  his  name  because 
I  thought  it  likely  that  more  could  be  united  on  him  than  any  one 
else.  If  this  is  not  so,  I  am  sure  he  would  not  himself  desire  to  be 
nominated. 

-Mr.  Taft  would  be  a  good  man — a  very  good  man — and  if,  as  you 
Bay,  he  can  unite  most  votes,  he  ought  not  to  hesitate  a  moment  in 
giving  his  consent.  I  should  indeed  be  very  glad  if  1  had  BO  able 
and  judicious  a  friend  to  consult  with  in  reference  to  the  public  inter- 
ests in  my  department.  Of  course,  as  he  has  long  been  a  true  friend 
to  me,  and  that  on  public  grounds,  I  should  almost  feel  his  nomina- 
tion and  election  as  a  compliment  to  me,  and  an  indorsement  of  my 
principles. 

"With  great  regard,  your  friend, 

"Enoch  T.  Carson,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


496  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

Tuesday,  September  30,  1862,  yields  an  entry  of  quite  tragic  in- 
terest, as  follows  : 

"The  papers  this  morning  confirm  the  news  of  Nelson's  death. 
He  died  as  the  fool  dieth.  How  sad  !  His  early  services  to  the 
Union  cause  in  Kentucky — his  generous  and  manly  nature,  his  fine 
talents  and  great  energy — compelled  my  admiration  and  esteem; 
while  his  cruelty,  and  passion,  and  tyranny,  especially  when  excited 
by  drink,  often  excited  my  indignation.  Nothing  from  any  quarter 
of  much  importance  in  a  military  point  of  view." 

It  is  not  easy  to  comment  on  this  extract.  The  great  cause  of 
the  Union  was  disfigured  fearfully  by  the  conduct  of  such  men  as 
Nelson,  by  the  conduct  of  such  men  as  Davis.  If,  in  ordinary 
times,  one  could  at  least  pardon  Davis,  his  behavior  in  the  circum- 
stances was  unpardonable.     So  was  that  of  Nelson. 

Often  it  appeared  to  me  almost  impossible  to  credit  some  of  our 
soldiers  with  the  least  appreciation  of  their  cause — the  noblest  cause 
that  ever  called  to  arms  the  patriotic  volunteer. 

The  same  entry  contains  also  the  following  : 

"General  Garfield,  at  breakfast,  related  this:  "When  General 
Buell's  army  was  on  the  march  to  Nashville  a  regiment  passed  in  front 
of  the  house  of  General  Pillow's  brother,  where  was  a  spring  of  good 
water  and  a  little  stream  issuing  from  it.  As  the  soldiers  quenched 
their  thirst  and  filled  their  canteens  and  watered  their  horses 
at  the  stream,  Pillow  came  out  and  cursed  the  men,  forbidding  them 
to  take  water,  and  saying  that  if  he  were  younger  he  would  fight 
against  the  Yankees  until  the  last  man  of  them  was  killed  or  driven 
home.  A  lieutenant,  commanding  the  company  then  [watering?], 
having  expostulated  with  him  without  effect,  and  finding  the  army 
likely  to  be  delayed  by  his  interference,  directed  him  to  be  put  un- 
der arrest,  and  sent  him  to  the  colonel.  It  happened  that  this  colonel 
was  an  admirer  of  Miss  Stevenson — a  young  lady  of  Nashville,  a 
niece  of  Pillow,  and  a  violent  secessionist — and  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  sending  the  regimental  band  to  serenade  her  with  'Dixie'  and  the 
like,  not  playing  any  national  airs.  As  soon  as  he  understood  who 
Pillow  was,  therefore,  he  discharged  him  from  arrest,  and  apologized 
for  it,  and,  at  the  same  time,  arrested  the  young  lieutenant.  Pillow 
returned  to  his  house,  mounted  his  horse,  and  rode  to  General  Buell's 
head-quarters,  and  complained  that  a  slave  of  his  had  escaped  and 
was  somewhere  in  the  army.  Buell  gave  him  leave  to  hunt  for  him, 
and,  with  this  warrant,  he  rode  where  he  pleased.  After  fully  satis- 
fying himself,  he  went  on  to  Corinth,  and  gave  Beauregard  a  full 
account  of  Buell's  force  and  rate  of  advance.  This  information  led 
to  the  attack  on  Grant's  division,  which  Beauregard  hoped  to  destroy 
before  Buell  should  come — and  he  almost  succeeded  in  doing  it. 

"  At  department;  received  a  note  from  Seward,  with  memorandum 
by  Stuart,   acting   British  Minister,   of  conversations  with   Seward 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  497 

about  cotton.  From  this  memorandum  it  appears  that  Butler's  order 
of  August,  authorizing  free  purchases  even  from  Slidell,  and  Grant's 
order,  annulling  Sherman's  prohibition  of  payments  in  gold,  were, 

if  not  motived  by  Seward,  fully  approved  by  him,  and  made  the 
basis  of  assurances  that  no  hindrance  to  purchase  and  payment  on 
cotton  from  rebels  would  be  interposed  b}-  this  government.  After- 
ward, or  about  the  time  of  these  orders,  Seward  proposed  the  same 
policy  of  substantially  unrestricted  purchase  for  money  to  me;  and 
I  was,  at  first,  in  view  of  the  importance  of  a  supply  of  cotton,  in- 
clined to  adopt  it;  but  reflection,  and  information  from  special 
agents  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  changed  my  views.  The  subject 
was  also  brought  up  in  Cabinet,  and  Seward  proposed  liberty  to 
purchase  500.000  bales.  Stanton  and  I  opposed  this,  and  the  Presi- 
dent sided  with  us,  and  the  subject  was  dropped.  I  then  proposed 
to  frame  regulations  for  trade  to  and  from  insurrectionary  districts, 
in  which  was  included  prohibition  of  payments  in  gold. 

"To  this  prohibition  Stuart  now  objects,  as  in  contravention  of 
Seward's  assurances  connected  with  Butler's  and  Grant's  orders. 

"After  considering  the  whole  subject,  I  addressed  a  letter  to  Seward, 
declining  to  change  the  existing  regulation  as  to  payments  in  gold. 

"  Received  letter  from  himself,  stating  difficulty  between  himself 
and  agent  Gallagher  as  to  confiscation.  Mellen  thinking  that  ante- 
cedents of  cotton,  as  to  liability  to  confiscation  in  prior  hands,  and 
notice  to  present  holders,  should  not  be  investigated  ;  Gallagher 
contra.  Wrote  Mellen  that  his  view  is  approved — thinking  this  may 
relieve  Seward." 

The  next  entry,  dated  October  1,  relates  as  follows  : 

"Seward  came  to  department  and  we  talked  over  foreign  rela- 
tions, particularly  as  connected  with  cotton.  Showed  him  nry  reply 
to  his  note  of  yesterday.  He  thought  it  would  not  answer,  as  his 
assurances,  coupled  with  Butler's  and  Grant's  orders,  committed  us 
too  far.  I  said  I  would  modify  it.  After  he  left,  altered  my  reply 
and  sent  it. 

"Examined  regulations  concerning  trade  with  blockaded  ports, 
and  war  orders." 

The  next  day  it  appears  Secretary  Seward  came  to  the  house  of 
our  hero  with  a  letter  to  Mr.  Stuart,  vindicating  the  course  of  the 
Treasury  Department  concerning  trade  orders  and  regulations.  "  I 
approved  the  whole,"  says  Mr.  Chase ;  but  suggested  that,  as  the 
regulations  embraced  the  coal  orders  substantially,  and  as  Great 
Britain  took  exception  to  that  as  particularly  intended  for  her,  he 
might  say  that,  to  prove  the  absence  of  such  intention,  and  as  a 
proof  of  the  entire  absence  of  any  wish  to  vex  trade,  the  coal  order 
would  be  rescinded. 

Cotton  and  coal  seem  innocent  enough  ;  yet  what  a  history  of 
them  might  be  composed  by  a  discerning,  lively  pen  ! 


498  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

Cotton  was,  indeed,  king  for  a  long  time.  But  coal,  the  type  of 
Northern  industries,  has  proved  too  strong  for  cotton. 

October  4,  Saturday,  Mr.  Harrington  left  for  New  York,  in- 
structed to  hasten  the  increase  of  the  issue  of  postage  currency  to 
$100,000  per  day.  "  Expects  to  go  to  Boston  in  '  Miami,'"  says  the 
diary. 

Sunday,  October  5,  is  marked  by  the  record  : 

"At  home  to  favor  foot.  Much  better  in  the  afternoon,  and  rode 
over  to  Insane  Asylum  to  see  Hooker.  Was  glad  to  find  him  much 
improved.  He  said  we  had  plenty  of  good  officers,  and  that  all  the 
courage,  ability,  and  genius  we  needed  could  be  found  among  our 
volunteer  colonels.  He  then  said  that  an  aide  of  McClellan  had 
been  down  to  see  him  with  an  inquiry  as  to  how  soon  he  would  be 
able  to  take  the  field,  and  expressing  his  confidence,  with  hints  of 
important  command  of  army  moving  from  Washington.  He  ex- 
pressed the  belief  that  no  decisive  victory  would  be  achieved  so  lon«r 
as  McClellan  had  command." 

A  part  of  the  entry  relating  to  Sunday,  October  5,  shows  that 
before  going  out  to  visit  General  Hooker,  Mr.  Chase  received  a 
visit.  Mr.  John  A.  Stevens,  Jr.,  called,  wishing  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  to  see  Colonel  Hamilton  about  Texas.  Colonel  Ham- 
ilton was  thereupon  invited  to  dine,  that  day,  with  Mr.  Chase.  He 
came,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Stevens.  Having  so  stated,  the  record 
goes  on  in  this  fashion  : 

"  Secretary  Stanton,  also,  by  accident,  and  Mr.  Montgomery,  by 
Katie's  invitation.  After  dinner,  Colonel  Hamilton  spoke  fully  of 
Texas — described  his  escape  and  hiding  in  the  woods — said  that 
many  hundred  lo37al  Texaus  were  now  concealed  in  Texas,  or  refu- 
gees— declared  that  the  war  was  a  war  of  the  oligarchy  upon  the 
people — that  slavery  was  the, basis  of  the  oligarchy,  but  that  the 
perpetuation  of  slavery  was  not  more  their  object  than  the  despotic 
power  of  the  class  over  the  mass.  I  entered  fully  into  his  feelings  ; 
and  promised  to  go  with  him  to  the  President's  to-morrow. 

"  After  he  went,  Governor  Morton  came  in  and  spoke  very  earn- 
estly of  the  condition  of  matters  in  Indiana.  Apprehends  State  de- 
feat on  the  14th,  and  loss  of  all  the  congressional  districts,  exec] >t 
Julian's,  Colfax's,  and  perhaps  Shanks'.  Wants  Indiana  regiments 
in  the  State  f'urloughed,  so  that  they  can  vote.  Thinks  Buell  utterly 
unfit  for  command  of  the  great  army  under  him — is  slow,  opposed 
to  the  Proclamation,  and  has  bad  influence  every  way.  Wishes  me 
to  go  with  him  to  President's  about  the  regiments,  which  I  promised 
to  do  to-morrow." 

Monday,    October  6,    Major  Garrard  called  on  Mr.   Chase,  "to 

speak  about  North  Carolina  and  General  Foster." 

"  Foster,"  says  our  diary,  "  has  now  Third  New  York  cavalry  ;  and 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  499 

of  infantry;  Seventeenth,  Twenty-fourth,  and  Twenty-fifth  B£assa< 
chusetts;  Ninth  New  Jersey;  Second  Maryland  and  Fifth  Rhode 
Island,  supported  by  Albemarle  and  Pamlico  fleet,  say  ten  gun- 
boats. Poster  wants  reinforcements — several  regiments  oi  infan- 
try and  another  regiment  of  cavalry.  Major  Garrard  desires  that, 
if  another  regiment  of  cavalry  is  sent,  Colonel  Mix  should  be 
made  brigadier. 

"General  Keyes  and  Major  Bannister,  with  General  Garfield  and 
Major  Garrard,"  proceeds  Mr.  Chase,  "formed  our  breakfast  party. 
General  Keyes  spoke  of  the  disposition  in  the  army  (McClellan's)  to 
disfavor  Republican  officers.  General  Garfield  mentioned  the  ease  of 
a  young  Republican  officer,  ordered  to  Kansas  in  185G,  who  was  told 
by  his  colonel  that,  he  would  not  allow  him  to  remain  in  the  regiment 
if  he  remained  a  Republican.  General  Keyes  spoke  of  the  chaplain 
at  West  Point  as  the  most  perfect  specimen  of  a  Northern  man  with 
Southern  principles  he  ever  knew  :  and  said  that  when  the  new  regi- 
ments were  organized  under  Jeff.  Davis,  as  Secretary  of  War  to 
Pierce,  eleven  out  of  fifteen  officers  were  appointed  from  the  South, 
and  when  he  remarked  upon  it  he  was  challenged  to  select  eleven 
better  men." 

Having  breakfasted,  as  we  have  seen,  with  General  Keyes  and 
others,  Mr.  Chase  went  to  the  Treasury  Department.  Thence  he 
went  with  Governor  Morton  to  see  the  President  about  furlough,  to 
enable  the  Indiana  soldiers  in  camp  to  vote.  The  furlough  was 
promised. 

Mr.  Chase  saw  Colonel  Hamilton,  and  "  arranged  interview  for 
him.  Met  Wadsworth  and  Cochrane.  Asked  Cochrane  to  break- 
fast." 

General  Cochrane  came  accordingly  next  morning  to  break  his 
fast  with  the  warlike  keeper  of  the  public  purse.  After  breakfast, 
it  appears,  the  general  "conversed  freely  about  McClellan." 

Ah!  how  many  did  that,  when  McClellan  knew  not  of  it, 
dreamed  not  of  it!  But  this  time  the  discourse  was  not  unfriendly 
to  the  fearfully  disparaged  "  young  Napoleon." 

General  Cochrane,  we  learn,  "said  McClellan  would  like  to  retire 
from  active  command,  if  he  could  do  so  without  disgrace — which 
could  be  accomplished,  and  a  more  active  general  secured,  by  restor- 
ing him  to  the  chief  command,  where  he  would  now  act  in  unison 
with"  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.1  Mr.  Chase  relates  as  fol- 
lows : 

"I  explained  frankly  my  relations  to  McClellan — my  original  ad- 


1  The  words  are :     "  Where  he  would  now  act  in  unison  with  myself." 

33 


500  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

miration  and  confidence — my  disappointment  in  his  inactivity  and 
irresolution — 1113*  loss  of  confidence  and  conviction  that  another  gen- 
eral should  replace  him — my  constant  endeavor  to  support  him  by 
supplies  and  reinforcements,  notwithstanding  my  distrust,  when  the 
President  determined  to  keep  him  in  command — my  present  belief 
that  I  had  not  judged  incorrectl}T,  but  my  entire  willingness  also  to 
receive  any  correction  which  facts  wTould  warrant;  and  my  absolute 
freedom  from  personal  ill-will,  and  mj"  entire  willingness  to  do  any- 
thing which  would  insure  the  earliest  possible  suppression  of  the 
rebellion.  He  said  Colonel  Key  often  expressed  his  regret  that 
McClellan  had  not  conferred  with  me  and  acted  in  concert  with  me. 
I  replied  that  I  thought,  if  he  had,  that  the  rebellion  would  be  ended 
now;  but  that  I  feared  concert  between  us  impossible,  our  views, 
dispositions,  and  principles  harmonizing  so  little." 

What  is  one  to  think  of  the  words  on  which  special  stress  has 
just  been  laid?  Was  vanity  expressed  therein?  Let  us  think  of 
that  hereafter.     Mr.  Chase  continues  to  relate  as  follows: 

"He  said  he  would  talk  with  McClellan,  and  write  me.  I  answered 
that  I  should  be  glad  to  hear  from  him,  and  was  quite  willing  he 
should  repeat  to  McClellan  what  I  had  said." 

At  Cabinet,  October  7,  "  the  President  spoke  of  his  visit  to  the 
army  at  Sharpsburg,  and  the  battle-fields  at  Antietam  and  South 
Mountain.  He  said  he  was  fully  satisfied  that  we  had  not  over  60,000 
men  engaged ;  and  he  described  the  position  of  the  enemy  and  our 
own — the  enemy's  being  much  the  best,  his  wings  and  center  com- 
municating easily  by  the  Sharpsburg  road,  parallel  with  the  stream. 
He  expressed  no  opinion  as  to  generalship,  nor  of  results,"  remarks 
the  diary. 

"  Seward,"  continues  the  same  document,  "asked  what  new  of  the 
expedition  to  Charleston?  Secretary  Welles  [said]  the  necessary 
iron-clads  could  not  be  ready  in  less  than  a  month.  I  was  much  dis- 
appointed by  this  statement,  remembering  that  ten  days  of  a  month 
were  up;  and  said  at  once  that  I  hoped,  then,  we  should  not  wait 
for  the  navy,  but  at  once  organize  a  land  force  sufficient  to  take  the 
city  from  James  Island.  Mr.  Stanton  agreed  in  the  importance  of 
this,  and  proposed  to  order  Mitchell's  and  Garfield's  brigades  from  the 
West — send  Garfield  at  once  to  South  Carolina  with  these  brigades, 
and  two  more  regiments,  and  let  Mitchell  go  to  work  immediately. 
He  said,  also,  that  he  proposed  at  once  to  organize  an  expedition 
to  open  the  Mississippi,  and  give  the  command  of  it  to  McClernand. 
The  President  seemed  much  pleased  with  both  movements;  but 
Halleck  remained  to  be  consulted.  Would  he  oppose  the  President 
and  Stanton  ?     1  thought  not. 

"  I  left  the  Cabinet  with  more  hope  than  I  have  felt  for  months." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  oOl 

Under  date  October  7,  we  have  also  this  paragraph : 

"  At  the  President's  I  met  W.  H.  Aspinwall,  and  invited  him  to 
dine  with  me,  which  he  did.  In  conversation  I  inquired  what  he 
thought  of  the  idea  of  selling  some  850,000,000  of  five-twenties  at 
about  the  market  rate?  He  thought  it  should  bo  done,  but  doubted 
whether  more  than  !>7i  could  be  obtained.  I  said  I  hoped  to  get  99 
or  99£.  He  then  spoke  of  his  visit  to  MeClellan,  and  seemed  greatly 
to  desire  my  cooperation  with  him.  He  mentioned  that  Burnside 
had  heard  that  I  blamed  him  for  having  Porter  restored  to  com- 
mand ;  but  thinks  I  would  not  if  I  understood  all  the  circumstances." 

The  next  document  I  think  fit  to  offer  is  as  follows: 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  October  7,  1862. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  have  read  attentively  Mr.  Andre  Cochut's 
article  upon  American  finances,  in  the  Revue  ties  Deux  Mondes,  a  copy 
of  which  you  kindly  sent  me.  The  Revue  is  taken  in  the  depart- 
ment, and  I  usually  look  through  it;  but  I  might  not  have  read  the 
article  of  Mr.  Cochut  had  not  you  directed  my  attention  to  it.  I  find 
it  clear,  able,  and  comprehensive.  There  are,  of  course,  some 
errors  of  fact,  and,  consequent^',  some  of  deduction  ;  but  they  are 
so  trivial  as  not  to  impair  the  general  merit  of  the  piece. 

"  I  beg  you  to  express  to  Mr.  Cochut  my  thanks  for  the  interest 
he  has  manifested  in  our  finances,  and  to  ask  his  acceptance  of  the 
pamphlets  which  I  inclose,  from  which  he  can  gather  at  least  a  gen- 
eral notion  of  our  financial  movements  since  I  have  administered 
the  department. 

"If  my  hopes  are  realized  in  the  action  of  Congress,  our  present 
financial  state  may  be  called  a  transition  period.  Our  first  period 
was  that  of  payments  in  coin.  I  succeeded  in  borrowing,  at  reason- 
able rates  for  us,  about  8175,000,000,  in  coin,  in  the  course  of  my 
first  eight  months.  By  this  time  the  impossibility  of  continuing 
payments  in  specie,  and  providing  for  the  enormous  expenses  of  the 
war,  was  manifest.  The  banks  and  capitalists  could  not  furnish  the 
required  amount  of  coin,  except  at  rates,  for  government  bonds, 
which  would  enable  them  to  resell  in  Europe.  In  fact,  their  inability 
to  resell  with  profit  the  amount  they  actually  did  take,  was  the  first 
thing  which  led  them  to  contemplate  the  suspension  of  specie 
payments. 

"The  only  possible  mode  of  avoiding  this  was  for  me  to  sell  the 
government  bonds  at  prices  which  would  insure  their  resale  in  the 
markets  of  Europe,  or  so  tempt  cupidity  at  home  that  investors  in 
other  securities  would  sell  them,  in  order  to  obtain  means  for  the 
purchase  of  the  bonds  of  the  United  States.  I  saw  clearly  that  if  1 
attempted  to  go  on  by  the  sale  of  bonds  they  would  rapidly  depre- 
ciate, and  the  public  debt,  m  a  few  months,  become  so  great  as  to 
destroy  all  hope  of  obtaining  the  large  amount  of  means  necessary 
to  cany  on  the  war. 

"There  was  but  one  alternative — to  allow  the  banks  to  suspend 
and  issue  a  national  currency.     This  was  borrowing  to  the  extent  of 


002  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AXD   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

the  emission  without  interest;  an  advantage  which  more  than  com- 
pensated, perhaps,  the  rise  in  prices,  inevitably  following  the  increase 
in  the  volume  of  circulation,  caused  by  the  national  emission.  The 
result,  however,  has  been  far  less  unfavorable  to  the  country  than 
would  have  been  the  forced  sale  of  bonds;  the  credit  of  the  national 
securities  has  been  maintained  at  a  much  higher  rate,  even  compared 
with  gold,  than  could  possibl}T  have  been  attained  had  the  policy  of 
forced  sales  been  adopted;  and  the  general  business  of  the  country 
has  been  conducted  with  much  more  satisfaction  and  benefit. 

•;  Still,  it  is  plain  enough  that  a  paper-money  system  can  not  be 
permanently  relied  on.  To  avoid  the  indefinite  increase  of  a  Fed- 
eral circulation,  Congress  provided  for  the  payment  of  interest  in 
specie,  and  for  the  conversion  of  the  notes  into  bonds,  payable  in 
twenty  years,  and  redeemable  after  five.  Conversions,  however,  did 
not  answer  expectation  ;  and  when  I  called  on  Congress  for  an  in- 
crease of  the  emission  beyond  that  already  authorized,  I  proposed 
to  substitute  simple  receivabilit}-,  for  all  loans  made  by  the  govern- 
ment, in  lieu  of  a  legal  convertibility  into  a  particular  loan,  leaving 
to  the  discretion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  the  adjustment  of 
the  currency  to  bonds,  by  loans  at  such  periods,  and  rates,  as  would 
insure  the  largest  investment  of  the  notes. 

"Congress  did  not  see  fit  to  adopt  my  views;  and  the  practical 
result  has  been  that  conversions,  up  to  this  moment,  have  been  very 
slow  and  inconsiderable.  I  think  the  result  would  have  been  very 
different  had  my  suggestion  been  adopted.  Congress,  no  doubt,  an- 
ticipated a  much  more  vigorous  and  successful  prosecution  of  the 
war;  and,  had  this  anticipation  been  realized,  the  convertibility  fea- 
ture would  have  worked  better,  though,  still,  not  so  well  as  re- 
ceivability. 

"■I  inclose  a  statement,  from  which  you  will  see  the  exact  condi- 
tion of  the  national  debt  on  last  Cabinet  day  (Tuesday). 

"  Payments  by  the  United  States  notes,  and  their  consequent  cir- 
culation, may  be  called  the  second  period  of  our  finances.  I  have 
already  said  that  I  regard  it  as  a  period  of  transition.  '  Transition 
to  what?'  you  may  ask.     I  will  proceed  to  explain. 

•  The  United  States  notes  now  issued  amounted,  on  Tuesday,  to 
8199,436,000.  Of  these,  say  825,000,000,  being  receivable  for  duties, 
the  same  as  gold,  are  held,  of  course,  at  a  high  premium,  and  are 
out  of  circulation  ;  822,080.370  more  are  in  the  Treasury  proper,  and 
with  the  Treasurer  and  the  several  Assistant  Treasurers  and  deposi- 
tories, to  the  credit  of  disbursing  officers,  leaving  $152,355,624  in 
circulation  ;  i.  e.,  in  the  vaults  of  banks  and  bankers  and  in  the  hands 
of  the  people.  This  circulation  has  not  displaced  that  of  the  banks 
as  yet;  but,  on  the  contrary,  has  actually  caused  its  increase.  It 
has,  however,  weakened  it  with  the  people,  who  are  anxious  for  a 
national  currency,  uniform  throughout  the  country,  which  no  State 
bank  can  furnish. 

"Anticipating  this  result,  I  proposed  to  Congress,  at  the  last  ses- 
sion, a  general  banking  system  for  the  United  States,  identical  in  its 
main  features  with  the  system  organized  in  Xew  York  and  adopted 
in  Ohio.  A  bill,  of  which  I  send  you  a  copy,  was  prepared  with 
great  care,  and  reported  from  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  503 

Its  main  features  are  the  preparation  and  supply  of  a  uniform  cur- 
rency by  the  United  States;  the  issue  of  it  by  organizations,  under 
the  law,  throughout  the  country;  and  the  security  afforded  to  the 

holders,  by  the  deposit  of  United  States  bonds  in  the  Treasury  De- 
partment. 

'•This  arrangement  will  bring  to  the  support  of  the  public  credit 
the  whole  banking  interest  of  the  country.  It  can  be  carried  into 
effect  by  the  temporary  use  of  United  States  notes,  without  any  con- 
siderable jar  or  disturbance;  it  will  furnish  a  perfectly  secure  cur- 
rency to  the  country,  restricted  in  its  amount  by  actual  capital  and 
by  the  wants  of  business;  it  will  open,  with  the  gradual  development 
of  the  country,  a  gradually  enlarged  market  for  the  securities  of  the 
government,  and  thus  sustain  their  credit  at  the  highest  point  ;  and 
it  will  finally  give  to  the  government  a  present  seignorage  of  about 
two  per  cent,  of  the  circulation,  while  it  will  allow  liberal  com- 
pensation to  the  associations,  who  will  distribute  the  circulation  to 
the  people,  and,  primarily  at  least,  protect  it  by  redemption  on 
demand  in  coin. 

"In  my  judgment,  if  the  debt  is  kept  within  any  reasonable  limit, 
by  active  prosecution  of  the  war  and  tolerable  economy  in  expendi- 
ture, the  adoption  of  this  system  will  furnish  all  the  money  that  is 
needed,  at  reasonable  rates,  and  insure  an  earl}*  return  to  specie  pay- 
ments without  any  serious  business  convulsion.  Even  should  the 
war  be  unhappily  protracted  be3*ond  the  current  financial  year,  the 
adoption  of  this  system,  by  uniting  the  capital  of  the  country  with 
the  credit  of  the  government,  will  probably  avert  great  disasters 
otherwise  to  be  apprehended. 

•I  do  not  know-  that  I  make  niyself  quite  intelligible  to  you;  but 
if  I  do,  you  will  see  that  I  hope,  not  without  some  reason,  to  be  able 
to  convert  our  financial  troubles  into  permanent  benefits  to  the  coun- 
try; and  that  the  succession  of  coin  pa}'ments,  of  United  States 
notes  payments,  and  of  payments,  at  last,  in  a  mixed  currency  of 
coin  and  secured  bank  notes,  are  not  only  compatible  with,  but 
required  by,  the  best  interests  of  the  country,  involved  as  it  is  in  a 
costly  civil  war. 

"As  to  the  war  itself,  its  prosecution  has  neither  equalled  my  expec- 
tations nor  my  hopes.  It  is  not  without  reason,  perhaps,  that  many 
think  its  delays  and  losses  have  been  permitted  by  divine  Provi- 
dence, not  merely  as  a  punishment,  for  our  complieit}*  with  slavery. 
but  as  a  stimulus  to  practical  measures  for  the  liberation  of  tin- 
enslaved.  War,  under  our  constitution,  is,  as  you  know,  the  only 
opportunity  of  freedom  through  national  intervention.  With  the 
opportunity  comes  the  duty.  The  course  of  events  is  in  the  hands 
of  God;  and  it  can  not  be  questioned  that  they  have  been  so  shaped, 
as  to  furnish  the  opportunity,  and  almost  to  coerce  the  performance 
of  the  duty.  It  is  remarked  by  many,  that  from  the  time  of  the  rev- 
ocation of  General  Hunter's  order  to  the  time  of  the  Proclamation, 
we  had  no  substantial  success;  and,  that  since  the  Proclamation,  we 
have  had,  as  yet,  no  substantial  reverse;  but,  on  the  contrary,  there 
seems  to  be  now-  everywhere  a  more  vigorous  resolution  to  push  tho 
war,  in  every  direction,  to  a  successful  issue,  in  the  absolute  suppres- 
sion of  the  rebellion,  than  has  been  manifested  for  months  past, 


504  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

'•I  am  not  connected  at  all  directly,  and  hardly  at  all  indirectly, 
with  the  management  of  military  matters;  hut  what  1  see  of  deter- 
mination and  preparation  greatly  encourages  me.  Until  recently, 
during  the  past  eight  weeks,  I  have  almost  despaired  of  our  finances. 
I  am  now  satisfied  that  if  present  appearances  do  not  doceive  me 
the  war  will  be  closed,  and  no  debt  left  which  can  not  easily  be  man- 
aged, and,  in  a  few  years,  fully  discharged.  So  mote  it  be. 
"With  great  regard,  very  truly  your  friend, 

"John  BiGELOW^Esq.,  Paris.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Our  next  reading  is  from  the  diary  under  date  Friday,  October 
10,  as  follows : 

"Went  to  Cabinet,  taking  Mr.  "Whittlesey  to  department.  Found 
the  President  reading  telegrams  from  Kentucky.  McCook's  divis- 
ion engaged  with  Bragg's  army  on  the  8th,  and  hard  pressed;  but 
was  reinforced,  and  the  enemy  repulsed.  All  the  corps  up  at  night 
and  in  position.  Slight  engagement  with  enemy's  rear  guard  yes- 
terday, but  main  body  retreated  to  Harrodsburg.  This  from  Buell, 
at  Perryville,  }7esterday  morning.  Stager  P.  Cleveland  telegraphs 
another  great  battle  yesterday,  and  no  mistake  about  victory  this 
time.     This  came  this  morning  at  ten.     So  we  hope  the  best. 

"Nothing  of  much  importance  was  discussed  except  Norfolk.  I 
favored  opening  the  port.  Nothing  was  decided.  Asked  Stanton 
what  he  had  done  about  McClernand's  army  for  clearing  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  he  replied,  'Nothing.'  Seward  said  he  thought  some- 
thing had  been  done,  and  the  President  that  something  had  been 
agreed  on.  It  turned  out  that  orders  for  the  organization  of  the 
expedition  had  been  given,  but  that  nothing  of  importance  was  yet 
done." 

What  did  that  "  nothing,"  then,  denote  ?  Not  exactly  nothing. 
It  denoted,  among  other  things,  the  gross  unfitness  of  the  "  Carnot" 
of  this  country  for  his  place. 

These  paragraphs  are  copied  from  the  entry  under  date  October  10, 
1862: 

"Home.  Signed  official  letters  and  warrants.  Directed  regula- 
tions of  trade  with  open  ports  to  be  sent  to  the  Secretary  of  War. 

"  In  the  evening  General  Hunter,  Major  Halpin,  Mr.  Cowan,  Major 
D.  Taylor,  and  others  called.  Before  dinner,  Bannister  came  about 
Colonel  A.  J.  Hamilton,  of  Texas,  going  to  Ohio.  Urged  him  to 
have  him  go,  if  possible. 

"Directed  $10,000  postage  currency  sent  to  Cincinnati." 

The  next  entry  contains  these  words,  under  date  October  11, 
Saturday  : 

"  Surprised  to  read  this  morning  that  Stuart's  cavalry  have  taken 
Chambersburg.  Pennsylvania.     What  next? 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  505 

"  "Received  letter  from  John  Cochrane,  Baying  that  McClellan  ap- 
preciates my  support  while  not  approving  his  command,  and  could 
gladly  cooperate  with  me  and  see  me;  and  that  there  is  no  substan- 
tial difference  between  us  on  the  slavery  question." 

Under  date  October  11,  I  find  these  notes: 

"Also  received  letter  from  Aspinwall  about  five-twenty  loan,  which 
he  advises.  lie  thinks  98  ma}*  be  obtained — equivalent  to  say,  75 
in  gold.  Also  a  letter  from  Cisco,  sending  a  §10  United  States  note, 
purloined  from  National  Bank  Note  Company  and  falsely  filled  and 
sealed.  Wrote  Cisco  about  detectivje  ;  and  inclosed  Aspinwall's  note 
and  asked  his  opinion.  Sundry  other  letters  received  and  answered. 
Needham  (Kentucky)  called.  I  accepted  Williams'  declination  as 
assessor,  Louisville  district,  and  agreed  to  appoint  Needham  in  his 
place,  he  to  resign  collectorship. 

"  General  Hunter,  Major  Halpin,  Mr.  Jay,  and  General  Garfield  (still 
our  guest)  at  dinner.  Major  Halpin  mentioned  that  McClellan  had 
telegraphed  head -quarters  that  not  one  of  the  rebels  who  have  in- 
vaded Pennsylvania  shall  return  to  Virginia.  Hope  it  may  be  so, 
faintly.  Too  many  bills  of  the  same  sort  protested  for  the  credit  of 
the  drawer. 

"After  dinner  talked  a  good  deal  with  General  Hunter,  who  is 
very  well  read.  Asked  him  his  oj)inion  of  Halleck.  He  said,  'He 
has  ability  and  knowledge,  but  does  not  make  an  earnest  study  of 
the  war — does  not  labor  to  get  clear  ideas  of  positions,  conditions, 
and  possibilities  so  as  to  seize  and  press  advantages  or  remedy 
evils?'  I  then  asked  what  he  thought  of  the  President?  '  A  man 
irresolute,  but  of  honest  intentions — born  a  poor  white  in  a  Slave 
State,  and,  of  course,  among  aristocrats — kind  in  spirit  and  not  en- 
vious, but  anxious  for  approval,  especially  of  those  to  whom  he  has 
been  accustomed  to  look  up — hence  solicitous  of  support  of  the 
slave-holders  in  the  Border  States,  and  unwilling  to  offend  them — 
without  the  large  mind  necessary  to  grasp  great  questions — uncer- 
tain of  himself,  and  in  many  things  ready  to  lean  too  much  on 
others.'  'What  of  Stanton?'  'Know  little  of  him.  Have  seen  him 
but  once,  and  was  then  so  treated  that  I  never  desired  to  see  him 
again.  Think,  from  facts  that  have  come  to  my  knowledge,  that  he 
is  not  sincere.  He  wears  two  faces  ;  but  has  energy  and  ability, 
though  not  steady  power.'  The  conversation  then  turned  on  Doug- 
las, whose  ardent  friend  and  constant  supporter  Hunter  was — also 
on  other  persons  and  things.  I  found  him  well  read  and  extremely 
intelligent. 

"General  Hunter  tells  me  that  lie  desires  to  retire  from  the  army, 
and  have  some  position  in  New  York  which  will  enable  him  to  re- 
sume his  special  vocation  as  a  writer  for  the  press.  He  says  he  has 
written  lately  some  leaders  for  the  Republican  and  has  aided  the  pro- 
prietor of  Wilkes'  Spirit  of  the  Times." 


506  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

DOWNFALL    OF    M'CLELLAN — WEST    VIRGINIA — THE    PROCLAMATION. 

OCTOBER  12,  1862,  affords  a  very  brief  memorandum.     This 
is  all  thereof  : 

"  At  home,  all  day,  nursing  inflamed  foot — reading,  and  conversing 
with  Katie  aud  friends.1  " 

On  the  5th  of  November,  the  downfall  of  McClellau,  as  a  soldier 
of  the  Union  was  complete. 

Another  chapter  offers  a  few  words  relating  to  our  hero's  due 
responsibility  for  that  fall,  as  well  as  for  the  rise  by  which  it  was 
preceded. 

A  note,  written  on  a  card,  was  addressed  as  follows  to  our  hero 
by  the  President : 


xThe  next  document  to  which  attention  is  invited  reads  as  follows : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  October  29,  1862. 
"My  Dear  Sir:  It  is  stated  to  me  that  Mr.  Conkling,  the  regular  Republican 
nominee,  is  in  danger  of  defeat  through  the  running  of  another  Republican,  sup- 
ported by  custom-house  employes'  influences.  Mr.  Conkling  has  not  been  as  cordial 
to  me  as  I  think  he  should  have  been,  but  one  of  the  first  duties  of  a  member  of  an 
organization,  is  to  support  its  regular  nominees  unless  morally  unworthy;  and  Mr. 
Conkling  is  not  only  not  so,  but  is  distinguished  for  integrity  and  ability. 

"Yours  truly,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  Speak  to  anybody  concerned  with  whom  you  have  influence,  and  beg  them  not 
to  allow  our  candidate  to  be  defeated  by  our  friends. 
"Hiram  Barney,  Esq." 

Then  we  have  this  letter: 

"  Washington  D.  C,  October  30,  1862. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :     Thanks  for  copy  of  proceedings  of  convention  by  which  you  were 
deservedly  renominated. 

"On  the  same  day  I  was  informed  that  some  employes  of  the  custom  house  were 
opposing  you  by  supporting  another  Republican  candidate  not  regularly  nominated. 

"I  at  once  wrote  Mr.  Barney  the  letter  of  which  I  inclose  a  copy. 

"  Yours  truly, 

"  Hon.  F.  A.  Conkling.  S.  P.  CHASE.' 

aPost   Chapter  LVII. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  SCl 

"If  Secretary  of  Treasury  has  written  his  part  of  message,  phase 
sen- lover.  A.  LINCOLN. 

'•  November  24,  18G2.1" 


JI  suppose  that  "part"  to  be  as  follows: 

"  The  condition  of  the  finances  will  claim  your  most  diligent  consideration. 

"The  vast  expenditures  incident  to  the  military  and  naval  operations  required 
for  the  suppression  of  the  rebellion,  have  hitherto  been  met  with  a  promptitude  and 
certainty  unusual  in  similar  circumstances,  and  the  public  credit  has  been  fully 
maintained. 

"The  continuance  of  the  war,  however,  and  the  increased  disbursements  made 
necessary  by  the  augmented  forces  now  in  the  field,  demand  your  best  reflections 
on  the  best  modes  of  providing  the  necessary  revenue  without  injury  to  business 
and  with  the  least  possible  burdens  upon  labor. 

"The  suspension  of  specie  payments  by  the  banks,  soon  after  the  commencement 
of  your  last  session,  made  large  issues  of  United  States  notes  unavoidable.  In  no 
other  way  could  the  payment  of  the  troops  and  the  satisfaction  of  other  just  de- 
mands be  so  economically  or  so  well  provided  for.  The  judicious  legislation  of 
Congress  securing  the  receivability  of  these  notes  for  loans  and  internal  duties,  and 
making  them  a  legal  tender  for  other  debts,  has  made  them  an  universal  currency ; 
and  has  satisfied  partially,  at  least,  and  for  the  time,  the  long-felt  want  of  a  uni- 
form circulating  medium,  saving  thereby  to  the  people  an  immense  sum  in  discounts, 
and  exchanges. 

"A  return  to  specie  payment,  however,  at  the  earliest  period  compatible  with  due 
regard  to  all  interests  concerned,  should  ever  be  kept  in  view.  Fluctuations  in  the 
value  of  currency  are  always  injurious,  and  to  reduce  these  fluctuations  to  the  low- 
est possible  point,  will  always  be  a  leading  purpose  in  wise  legislation.  Converti- 
bility— prompt  and  certain  convertibility — into  coin  is  generally  acknowledged  to 
be  the  best  and  surest  safeguard  against  them;  and  it  is  extremely  doubtful  whether 
a  circulation  of  United  States  notes  payable  in  coin  and  sufficiently  large  for  the 
wants  of  the  people  can  be  permanently,  usefully,  and  safely  maintained. 

"  Is  there,  then,  any  other  mode  in  which  the  necessary  provision  for  the  public 
wants  can  be  made  and  the  great  advantages  of  a  safe  and  uniform  currency  se- 
cured ? 

"  I  know  of  none  which  promises  so  certain  results,  and  is  at  the  same  time  so  un- 
objectionable, as  the  organization  of  banking  associations  under  a  general  act  of 
Congress  well  guarded  in  its  provisions.  To  such  associations  the  government 
might  furnish  circulating  notes  on  the  security  of  United  States  bonds  deposited  in 
the  Treasury.  These  notes,  prepared  under  the  supervision  of  proper  officers,  being 
uniform  in  appearance  and  security,  and  convertible  always  into  coin,  would  at  once 
protect  labor  against  the  evils  of  a  vicious  currency  and  facilitate  commerce  by 
cheap  and  safe  exchanges. 

"  A  moderate  reservation  from  the  interest  on  the  bonds  would  compensate  the 
United  Sates  for  the  preparation  and  distribution  of  the  notes,  and  a  general  super- 
vision of  the  system,  and  would  lighten  the  burden  of  that  part  of  the  public  debt 
employed  as  securities.  The  public  credit,  moreover,  would  be  greatly  improved 
and  the  negotiation  of  new  loans  facilitated  by  the  steady  market  demand  for 
government  bonds  which  the  adoption  of  the  proposed  system  would  create. 

"  It  is  an  additional  recommendation  of  the   measure,  of  considerable    weight  in 


508  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

And  now  I  offer  a  most  interesting  series  of  letters  in  this  fash- 
ion : 

"  Treasury  Department,  December  20,  1862. 

"Sir:  I  resign  the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  which  I 
have  hud  the  honor  to  hold  under  jour  appointment. 

"  Whatever  service  my  successor  may  desire  of  me  in  making  him 
acquainted  with  the  condition  and  operations  of  the  department  will 
be  most  cheerfully  rendered.  "  Yours  truly, 

"The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

"Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  please  do  not  go  out  of  town. 
"December  20,  1862.  A.  LINCOLN." 

"  Executive  Mansion,  "Washington,  December  20,  1862. 
"  Hon.  William  H.  Seward  and  Hon.  Salmon  P.  Chase  : 

"  Gentlemen  :  You  have  respectively  tendered  me  your  resigna- 
tions as  Secretary  of  State  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States.  I  am  apprised  of  the  circumstances  which  may  ren- 
der this  course  personally  desirable  to  each  of  you  ;  but.  after  most 
anxious  consideration,  my  deliberate  judgment  is,  that  the  public 
interest  does  not  admit  of  it.  I  therefore  have  to  request  that  you 
will  resume  the  duties  of  j-our  departments  respectively. 

"Your  obedient  servant.  A.  LINCOLN." 


my  judgment,  that  it  would  reconcile,  as  far  as  possible,  all  existing  interests  by 
the  opportunities  offered  to  existing  institutions  to  reorganize  under  the  act,  substi- 
tuting only  the  secured  uniform  national  circulation  for  the  local  and  various  cir- 
culation, secured  and  unsecured,  now  issued  by  them. 

"The receipts  into  the  Treasury  from  all  sources,  including  loans  and  balance  for 
the  preceding  year,  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  on  the  30th  June.  1852,  were  $583,- 
885,247.06,  of  which  sum  §49,056,397.62  were  derived  from  customs;  $1,795,331.73 
from  the  direct  tax;  from  public  lands,  $152,203.77;  from  miscellaneous  sources, 
$931,787.64;  from  loans  in  all  forms,  $529,692,460.50.  The  remainder,  $2,257,065.- 
80,  was  the  balance  from  last  year.  The  disbursements  during  the  same  period 
were,  for  congressional,  executive,  and  judicial  purposes,  $5,939,009.29;  for  foreign 
intercourse.  $1,339,700.35 ;  for  miscellaneous  expenses,  including  the  mints, 
loans,  Post-office  deficiencies,  collection  of  revenue,  and  other  like  charges,  $14.- 
129,771.50;  for  expenses  under  the  Interior  Department,  $3,102,985.52 ;  under  the 
War  Department,  $394,368,407.36;  under  the  Navy  Department,  $42,674,569.69; 
for  interest  on  the  public  debt,  $13,190,324.45;  and  for  public  debt,  including  re- 
imbursement of  temporary  loan  and  redemptions,  $96,096,922.09  ;  making  an  aggre- 
gate of  $570,841,700.25,  and  leaving  a  balance  in  the  Treasury,  on  the  1st  day  of 
July,  1862,  of  $13,043,546. 81. 

"  It  should  be  observed  that  the  sum  of  $96,096,922.09,  expended  for  reimburse- 
ment of  debt,  being  included  also  in  the  loans  made,  may  properly  be  deducted  both 
from  receipts  and  expenditures,  leaving  the  receipts  for  the  year  $487,788,324  97, 
and  the  expenditures  $474,744,778.16. 

"  Other  information  on  the  subject  of  the  finances  will  be  found  in  the  report  of 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to  whose  statements  and  views  I  invite  your  most 
candid  and  considerate  attention." 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  509 

"Department  of  State,  Washington,  December  21,  1862. 
"My  Dear  Sir:     1  have,  this  morning,   sent  to  the  President  a 
note,  of  which  the  inclosed  is  a  copy. 

"  Yours  very  truly, 
"  The  Hon.  S.  P.  Chase.  WILLIAM  II.  SEWAKD." 

"Department  of  State,  Washington,  December  21,  1862. 

"  Sunday  morning. 
"  My  Dear  Sir  :     I  have  cheerfully  resumed  the  functions  of  this 
department,  in  obedience  to  your  command. 

"With  the  highest  respect,  your  humble  servant, 

WILLIAM  H.  SEWAKD. 
"  The  President  of  the  United  States." 

"  Corner  E  and  Sixth  Streets,  December  21,  1862. 

"My  Dear  Governor:  I  have  received  your  note,  and  also  a 
call  from  Mr.  Nicolay,  to  whom  I  have  promised  an  answer  to  the 
President  to-morrow  morning. 

"My  reflections  strengthen  my  conviction  that,  being  once  honor- 
ably out  of  the  Cabinet,  no  important  public  interest  now  requires 
mv  return  to  it.  If  I  yield  this  judgment,  it  will  be  in  deference  to 
apprehensions  which  really  seem  to  me  unfounded.  I  will  sleep  on 
it.  "  Very  truly  vours, 

"Hon.  Wm.  H.  Seward.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

"Treasury  Department,  December  22,  1862. 

"Sir:  On  Saturday  afternoon  I  received  your  note  addressed  to 
Mr.  Seward  and  m}'self,  desiring  us  to  assume  the  charge  of  our 
respective  departments. 

"I  had  just  written  you  a  letter  expressing  quite  another  judg- 
ment; and  that  you  may  fully  understand  my  sentiments  I  now 
send  it  to  you. 

"Your  note,  of  course,  required  me  to  reconsider  my  views  ;  and 
the  next  da)-  a  further  reason  for  reconsideration  was  furnished  by 
the  receipt,  from  Mr.  Seward,  of  a  copy  of  his  reply  to  a  note  from 
you.  identical  with  that  sent  to  me,  announcing  his  resumption  of 
the  duties  of  the  State  Department. 

"I  can  not  say  that  reflection  has  much,  if  at  all,  changed  my 
original  impression  ;  but  it  has  led  me  to  the  conclusion  that  I  ought 
in  this  matter  to  conform  my  action  to  your  judgment  and  wishes. 

"I  shall  resume,  therefore,  my  post  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ; 
ready,  however,  at  any  moment  to  resign  it,  if  in  your  judgment,  the 
success  of  your  administration  may  be  in  the  slightest  degree  pro- 
moted thereby. 

■•  With  the  highest  esteem  and  respect,  yours  truly, 

"The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

"  Washington,  December  20,  1862. 
"My  Dear  Sir:     I  intend  going  to  Philadelphia  this  afternoon  ; 
but  shall,  of  course,  observe  your  direction  not  to  go  out  of  town. 


510  TIIE   PRIVATE  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

"  "Will  you  allow  me  to  say  that  something  you  said  or  looked,  when 
I  handed  you  my  resignation  this  morning,  made  on  my  mind  the 
impression  that  having  received  the  resignations,  both  of  Governor 
Seward  and  myself,  you  felt  that  you  could  relieve  yourself  from 
trouble  by  declining  to  accept  either,  and  that  this  feeling  was  one 
of  gratification. 

"Let  me  assure  you  that  few  things  could  give  me  so  much  satis- 
faction as  to  promote,  in  any  way,  your  comfort,  especially  if  I  might 
promote,  at  the  same  time,  the  success  of  your  administration,  and 
the  good  of  the  country  which  is  so  near  your  heart. 

"  But  I  am  very  far  from  desiring  you  to  decline  accepting  my 
resignation — very  far  from  thinking,  indeed,  that  its  non-acceptance, 
and  my  continuance  in  the  Treasury  Department,  will  be  most  for 
your  comfort,  or  for  the  benefit  of  the  country. 

"  On  the  contrary,  I  could  not,  if  I  would,  conceal  from  myself 
that  recent  events  have  too  rudely  jostled  the  unity  of  your  Cabinet, 
and  disclosed  an  opinion  too  deeply  seated,  and  too  generally  re- 
ceived in  Congress  and  in  the  country,  to  be  safely  disregarded,  that 
the  concord  in  judgment  and  action,  essential  to  successful  adminis- 
tration, does  not  prevail  among  its  members. 

"  By  some,  the  embarrassment  of  administration  is  attributed  to 
me  ;  by  others  to  Mr.  Seward  ;  by  others  still  to  other  heads  of  de- 
partments. Now,  neither  Mr.  Seward  nor  myself  is  essential  to  you 
or  to  the  countr}\  We  both  earnestly  wish  to  be  relieved  from  the 
oppressive  charge  of  our  respective  departments,  and  we  have  both 
placed  our  resignations  in  your  hands. 

"  A  resignation  is  a  grave  act :  never  performed  by  a  right-minded 
man  without  forethought  or  with  reserve.  I  tendered  mine  from  a 
sense  of  duty  to  the  country,  to  you,  and  to  myself;  and  I  tendered 
it  to  be  accepted.  So  did,  as  you  have  been  fully  assured,  Mr. 
Seward  tender  his. 

"  I  trust,  therefore,  that  you  will  regard  yourself  as  completely 
relieved  from  all  personal  considerations.  It  is  my  honest  convic- 
tion that  we  can  both  better  serve  j'ou  and  the  country  at  this  time 
as  private  citizens  than  in  your  Cabinet. 

"  Retiring  from  the  post  to  which  3-ou  called  me,  let  me  assure  you 
that  I  shall  carry  with  me  even  a  deeper  respect  and  a  warmer  affec- 
tion for  you  than  I  brought  with  me  into  it. 

"  With  the  truest  respect  and  regard,  yours  sincerely, 

"The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

More  and  more  a  vitally  important  truth  comes  out.  Whatever 
the  defects  of  Lincoln  or  of  Chase  (and  both  had  great  defects), 
and  whatever  proved  to  be  the  incompatability  between  them,  the 
general  tendeucy  of  all  that  took  place  between  them  made  them 
more  and  more  respect  each  other.  Now  and  then,  indeed,  they 
may  have  fancied  otherwise ;  but  I  am  sure  that,  at  heart,  they 
learned  more  and  more  to  esteem  and  trust  each  other. 

Well  they  might.     If  ever  two  real  worthies  were  closely  related 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  5 1  1 

to  each  other  in  administration,  we  see  in  the  relation  of  Chase  and 
Lincoln  a  fine  illustration  of  that  truth. 

I  now  invite  attention  to  a  very  interesting  document,  which  has 
this  tenor  : 

"Treasury  Department,  December  29,  1862. 

"Sir:  My  thoughtful  attention  has  been  given  to  the  questions 
which  you  have  proposed  to  nie.  as  the  head  of  one  of  the  depart- 
ments, touching  the  act  of  Congress  admitting  the  State  of  West 
Virginia  into  the  Union. 

The  questions  proposed  are  two  : 

"1.  Is  the  aet  constitutional  ? 

"2.   Is  the  act  expedient? 

"  1.  In  my  judgment  the  act  is  constitutional. 

"  In  the  convention  which  framed  the  constitution  the  formation 
of  new  States  was  much  considered.  Some  of  the  ablest  men  in  the 
convention,  including  all.  or  nearly  all,  the  delegates  from  Maryland, 
Delaware,  and  New  Jersey,  insisted  that  Congress  should  have  power 
to  form  new  States  within  the  limits  of  existing  States  without  the 
consent  of  the  latter.  All  agreed  that  Congress  should  have  the 
power  with  that  consent.  The  result  of  deliberation  was  the  grant  to 
Congress  of  a  general  power  to  admit  new  States,  with  a  limit  on 
its  exercise  in  respect  to  States  formed  within  the  jurisdiction  of  old 
States,  "l1  by  the  junction  of  old  States  or  parts  of  such,  to  cases  of 
consent  by  the  legislatures  of  the  States  concerned. 

"The  power  of  Congress  to  admit  the  State  of  West  Virginia, 
formed  within  the  existing  State  of  Virginia,  is  clear,  if  the  consent 
of  the  legislature  of  the  Slate  of  Virginia  has  been  given. 

"  That  this  consent  has  been  given  can  not  be  denied,  unless  the 
whole  action  of  the  Executive  and  Legislative  branches  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government,  for  the  last  eighteen  months,  has  been  mistaken, 
and  is  now  to  be  reversed. 

"In  April,  18G1,  a  convention  of  citizens  of  Virginia  assumed  to 
pass  an  ordinance  of  secession  ;  called  in  rebel  troops,  and  made 
common  cause  with  the  insurrection  which  had  broken  out  against 
the  government  of  the  United  States.  Most  of  the  persons  exercis- 
ing the  functions  of  State  government  in  Virginia  joined  the  rebels, 
and  refused  to  perform  their  duties  to  the  Union  the}*  had  sworn  to 
support.  They  thus  abdicated  their  power  of  government  in  respect 
to  the  United  States.  But  a  large  portion  of  the  people,  a  number 
of  members  of  the  legislature,  and  some  judicial  officers,  did  not 
follow  their  treasonable  example.  Most  of  the  members  of  the  leg- 
islature, who  remained  faithful  to  their  oaths,  met  at  Wheeling  and 
reconstituted  the  government  of  Virginia,  and  elected  senators  in 
Congress,  who  now  occupy  their  seats  as  such.  Under  this  recon- 
stituted government  a  governor  has  been  elected,  who  now  exercises 
executive  authority  throughout  the  State,  except  so  far  as  he  is  ex- 
cluded by  armed  rebellion.  By  repealed  and  most  significant  acts 
the  government  of  the  United  States  has  recognized  this  government 
of  Virginia  as  the  only  legal  and  constitutional  government  of  the 
whole  State. 


512  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 

"  And.  in  my  judgment,  no  other  course  than  this  was  open  to  the 
national  government.  In  every  case  of  insurrection  involving  the 
persons  exercising  the  powers  of  State  government,  when  a  large 
bod}'  of  the  people  remain  faithful,  that  body,  so  far  as  the  Union  is 
concerned,  must  be  taken  to  constitute  the  State.  It  would  have 
been  as  absurd  as  it  would  have  been  impolitic  to  deny  to  the  large 
loyal  population  of  Virginia  the  powers  of  a  State  government, 
because  men,  whom  they  had  clothed  with  executive  or  legislative 
or  judicial  powers,  had  betrayed  their  trusts  and  joined  in  rebell- 
ion   against  their  country. 

"It  does  not  admit  of  doubt,  therefore,  as  it  seems  to  me,  that  the 
legislature  which  gave  its  consent  to  the  formation  and  erection  of 
the  State  of  West  Virginia  was  the  true  and  only  lawful  legislature 
of  the  State  of  Virginia.  The  Madison  papers  clearly  show  that  the 
consent  of  the  legislature  of  the  original  State  was  the  only  consent 
required  to  the  erection  and  formation  of  a  new  State  within  its  ju- 
risdiction. That  consent  having  been  given,  the  consent  of  the  new 
State,  if  required,  is  proved  by  her  application  for  admission. 

"Nothing  required  by  the  constitution  to  the  formation  and  admis- 
sion of  West  Virginia  into  the  United  States  is,  therefore,  wanting; 
and  the  act  of  admission  must,  necessarily,  be  constitutional. 

"Nor  is  this  conclusion  technical,  as  some  may  think.  The  legis- 
lature of  Virginia,  it  may  be  admitted,  did  not  contain  many  mem- 
bers from  the  eastern  counties.  It  contained,  however,  representa- 
tives from  all  counties  whose  inhabitants  were  not  either  rebels  them- 
selves, or  dominated  by  greater  numbers  of  rebels.  It  was  the  only 
legislature  of  the  State  known  to  the  Union.  If  its  consent  was  not 
valid,  no  consent  could  be.  If  its  consent  was  not  valid,  the  consti- 
tution, as  to  the  people  of  West  Virginia  has  been  so  suspended  by 
the  rebellion  that  a  most  important  right  under  it  is  utterly  lost. 

"It  is  safer,  in  my  opinion,  to  follow  plain  principles  to  plain  con- 
clusions, than  to  turn  aside  from  consequences,  clearly  logical,  because 
not  exactly  agreeable  to  our  views  of  expediency. 

"2.  And  this  brings  me  to  the  second  question:  Is  the  act  of 
admission  expedient? 

"The  act  is  almost  universal^  regarded  as  of  vital  importance  to 
their  welfare  by  the  loyal  people  most  immediately  interested,  and  it 
has  received  the  sanction  of  large  majorities  in  both  houses  of  Con- 
gress.    These  facts  afford  strong  presumptions  of  expediency. 

"It  is,  moreover,  well  known  that,  for  many  years,  the  people  of 
West  Virginia  have  desired  separation  on  good  and  substantial 
grounds;  nor  do  I  perceive  any  good  reason  to  believe  that  consent 
to  such  separation  would  now  be  withheld  by  a  legislature  actually 
elected  from  all  the  counties  of  the  State,  and  untouched  by  rebel 
sympathies. 

"  However  this  may  be,  much — very  much — is  due  to  the  desires 
and  convictions  of  the  loyal  people  of  West  Virginia.  To  them, 
admission  is  an  object  of  intense  interest;  and  their  conviction  is 
strongly  expressed  that  the  veto  of  the  act  and  its  consequent  fail- 
ure, would  result  in  the  profound  discouragement  of  all  loyal  men 
and  the  proportionate  elation  and  joy  of  every  sympathizer  with 
rebellion.     Nor  is  it  to  be  forgotten  that  such  a  veto  will  be  regarded 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  513 

by  many  as  an  abandonment  of  the  views  which  have  hitherto  guided 
the  action  of  the  government  in  relation  to  Virginia;  will  operate 
as  a  sort  of  disavowal  of  the  loyal  government;  and  may  be  followed 
by  its  disorganization.  No  act  not  imperatively  demanded  by  con- 
stitutional duty  should  be  performed  by  the  Executive  if  likely  to 
be  attended  by  consequences  like  these. 

"It  may  be  said,  indeed,  that  the  admission  of  West  Virginia  will 
draw  after  it  the  necessity  of  admitting  other  States  under  the  con- 
sent of  extemporized  legislatures,  assuming  to  act  for  whole  Slates, 
though  really  representing  no  important  part  of  their  territory.  I 
think  this  necessity  imaginary.  There  is  no  such  legislature,  nor  is 
there  likely  to  be.  No  such  legislature,  if  extemporized,  is  likely  to 
receive  the  recognition  of  Congress  or  the  Executive.  The  case  of 
West  Virginia  will  form  no  evil  precedent.  Far  otherwise.  It  will 
encourage  the  loyal  by  the  assurance  it  will  give  of  national  recog- 
nition and  support;  but  it  Avill  inspire  no  hopes  that  the  national 
government  will  countenance  needless  and  unreasonable  attempts  to 
break  up  or  impair  the  integrity  of  States.  If  a  ease  parallel  to  that 
of  West  Virginia  shall  present  itself,  it  will  doubtless  be  entitled  to 
like  consideration  ;  but  the  contingency  of  such  a  case  is  surely  too 
remote  to  countervail  all  the  considerations  of  expediency  which 
sustain  the  act. 

"My  answer  to  both  questions,  therefore,  is  affirmative. 

"The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury." 

Next  is  the  letter  to  the  President : 

"Treasury  Department,  December  31,  1862. 

"Sir:  In  accordance  with  your  verbal  direction  of  yesterday,  I 
most  respectfully  submit  the  following  observations  in  respect  to  the 
draft  of  a  Proclamation  designating  the  States  and  parts  of  States 
within  which  the  Proclamation  of  the  22d  September,  1862,  is  to  take 
effect  according  to  the  terms  thereof. 

"  I.  It  seems  to  me  wisest  to  make  no  exception  of  parts  of  States 
from  the  operation  of  the  Proclamation,  save  the  forty-eight  coun- 
ties designated  as  West  Virginia.     My  reasons  are  these: 

"1.  Such  exceptions  will  impair,  in  public  estimation,  the  moral 
effect  of  the  Proclamation,  and  invite  censures  which  it  would  be 
well,  if  possible,  to  avoid. 

"2.  Such  exceptions  must  necessarily  be  confined  to  some  few 
parishes  and  counties  in  Louisiana  and  Virginia,  and  can  have  no 
practically  useful  effect.  Through  the  operation  of  various  acts  of 
Congress,  the  slaves  of  disloyal  masters  in  those  parts  are  already 
enfranchised,  and  the  slaves  of  loyal  masters  are  practically  so. 
Some  of  the  latter  have  alread}'  commenced  paying  wages  to  their 
laborers,  formerly  slaves  ;  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  if,  by  the  excep- 
tions, Blavery  is  practically  reestablished  in  favor  of  some  masters, 
while  abolished  by  law  and  b}-  the  necessary  effect  of  military  occu- 
pation as  to  others,  very  serious  inconveniences  may  arise. 

"3.  No  intimation  of  exceptions  of  this  kind  is  given  in  the  Sep- 
tember Proclamation,  nor  does  it  appear  that  any  intimations  other- 
wise given  have  been  taken  into  account  by  tho.se  who  have  partici- 


514  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

pated  in  recent  elections,  or  that  an}-  exceptions  of  their  particular 
localities  are  desired  by  them. 

"II.  I  think  it  would  be  expedient  to  omit  from  the  proposed  Proc- 
lamation the  declaration  that  the  executive  government  of  the  United 
States  will  do  no  act  to  repress  the  enfranchised  in  any  efforts  they 
may  make  for  their  actual  freedom. 

"  This  clause  in  the  September  Proclamation  has  been  widely 
quoted  as  an  incitement  to  servile  insurrection.  In  lieu  of  it.  and 
for  the  purpose  of  shaming  these  misrepresentations,  I  think  it 
would  be  Avell  to  insert  some  such  clause  as  this:  ' Xot  encouraging 
or  countenancing,  however,  any  disorderly  or  licentious  violence.''  If  this 
alteration  be  made,  the  appeal  to  the  enslaved  may,  properly  enough. 
be  omitted.  It  does  not  seem  to  be  necessaiy,  and  ma}-  furnish  a 
topic  to  the  evil-disposed  of  criticism  and  ridicule. 

''III.  I  think  it  absolutely  certain  that  the  rebellion  can  in  no 
way  be  so  certainly,  speedily,  and  economically  suppressed  as  by  the 
organized  military  force  of  the  loyal  population  of  the  insurgent  re- 
gion, of  whatever  complexion.  In  no  way  can  irregular  violence 
and  servile  insurrection  be  so  surely  prevented  as  by  the  regular 
organization  and  regular  military  employment  of  those  who  might 
otherwise  probably  resort  to  such  courses. 

"Such  organization  is  now  in  successful  progress;  and  the  concur- 
rent testimony  of  all  connected  with  the  colored  regiments  in 
Louisiana  and  South  Carolina  is  that  they  are  brave,  orderly,  and 
efficient.  General  Butler  declares  that  without  his  colored  regiments 
he  could  not  have  attempted  his  recent  important  movements  in  the 
La  Fourche  region,  and  General  Saxton  bears  equally  explicit  testi- 
mony to  the  good  conduct  and  efficiency  of  the  colored  troops  recently 
sent  on  an  expedition  along  the  coast  of  Georgia. 

"  Considering  these  facts,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  would  be  best  to 
omit  from  the  Proclamation  all  reference  to  the  military  employment 
of  the  enfranchised  population,  leaving  it  to  the  natural  course  of 
things  already  well  begun  ;  or  to,  state  distinctly,  that  in  order  to 
secure  the  suppression  of  rebellion  without  servile  insurrection  or 
licentious  marauding.  Such  numbers  of  the  population  declared  free 
as  may  be  found  convenient  will  be  em})loyed  in  the  military  and 
naval  service  of  the  United  States. 

"Finally,  I  respectfully  suggest  that  on  an  occasion  of  such  inter- 
est there  can  be  no  just  imputation  of  affectation  against  a  solemn 
recognition  of  responsibility  before  men  and  before  God,  and  that 
some  such  close  as  follows  will  be  proper : 

"'And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of  justice, 
warranted  by  the  constitution,  and  of  duty,  demanded  by  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  country,  I  invoke  the  considerate  judgment  of 
mankind  and  the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty  God.' 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be  most  respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

"S.  P.  CHASE." 

Here  is  the  draft  prepared  by  Secretary  Chase : 

"  Whereas,  On  the  twenty-second  day  of  September,  in  the  year 
of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-two,  a  Proclama- 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  515 

tion  was  issued  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,  containing, 
among  other  tilings,  the  following,  to- wit  : 

'"Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United 
States,  by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  us  commander-in-chief  of 

the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States  in  time  of  actual  armed 
rebellion  against  the  authority  and  government  of  the  United  Statrs, 
and  as  a  proper  and  necessary  war  measure  for  suppressing  said 
rebellion,  do,  on  this  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  and  in  accordance  with 
my  intention  so  to  do  publicly  proclaimed  for  one  hundred  days,  as 
aforesaid,  order  and  designate  as  the  States  and  parts  of  States  in 
which  the  people  thereof  are  this  day  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States,  the  following,  to-wit : 

"  '  Arkansas,  Texas,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Florida, 
Georgia,  South  Carolina,  North  Carolina,  and  Virginia,  except  the 
forty-eight  counties  designated  as  West  Virginia. 

"  •  And.  by  virtue  of  the  power  and  for  the  purpose  aforesaid,  I  do 
order  and  declare  that  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  said  desig- 
nated States,  and  parts  of  States,  are  and  henceforth  forever  shall  be 
free;  and  that  the  executive  government  of  the  United  States,  in- 
cluding the  military  and  naval  authorities,  will  recognize  and  main- 
tain the  freedom  of  said  persons — not,  however,  encouraging  or  in 
any  way  sanctioning  any  disorderly  conduct  or  licentious  violence; 
to  prevent  which,  and  secure  the  earliest  possible  termination  of  the 
insurrection  with  the  least  possible  injury  to  pei^sons  and  property, 
such  portions  of  the  population  hereby  declared  free  as  may  be  found 
convenient  and  useful  will  be  employed,  under  suitable  organization, 
in  the  military  and  naval  service  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  in 
other  avocations  for  which   they  may  be  adapted  and  required. 

'•And  upon  this  act,  sincerely  believed  to  bean  act  of  justice, 
warranted  by  the  constitution,  and  an  act  of  duty  demanded  by  the 
circumstances  of  the  country,  I  invoke  the  considerate  judgment  of 
mankind  and  the  gracious  favor  of  Almighty  God." 

34 


)16  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

CONGRATULATION    OF    ROSECRANS — THE    HURTT-COOKE   SCANDAL. 

IT  is  not  till  the  29th  of  August,  1863,  that  I  can  again  quote  a 
register  in  the  nature  of  a  diary.     The  first  document  to  which 
this  chapter  asks  attention  reads  as  follows  : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  January  6,  1863. 

"  My  Dear  General  :  I  congratulate  you,  from  my  inmost  heart. 
Your  country  owes  you  an  immense  debt.  God  grant  that  you  may 
quadruple  the  obligation.  Yours  most  truly, 

"  Major  General  Eosecrans.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Here  is  another  letter  of  like  interest : 

"Washington,  D.  C,  January  6, 1863. 

"  My  Dear  Kalston  :  Your  letter  gave  me  a  great  deal  of  pleasure ; 
and  especially  as  it  showed  so  much  confidence  in  your  generals. 
How  grandly  it  has  been  justified.  When  I  read  of  the  death  of 
poor  Garesche,  I  trembled  for  you,  but,  as  the  telegraph  does  not  re- 
port wounded  or  missing,  I  suppose  you  are  safe,  and  am  thankful. 

"  The  success  of  Roseerans  has  lifted  a  fearful  weight  from  the 
breast  of  the  country,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the  success  was  em- 
phatically his  ;  to  be  sure,  his  brave  officers  and  men  were  indispen- 
sable but,  as  I  read  the  accounts,  his  own  genius  and  courage  and 
indefatigable  persistence  won  the  day.  You  can  hardly  imagine 
what  a  personal  gratification  it  is  to  me — but  the  personal  gratifica- 
tion is  as  nothing  compared  with  that  which  the  benefit  to  the  country 
inspires. 

"  Oh  !  that  he  may  only  go  on  as  he  has  begun,  with  vigor,  judg- 
ment, and  skill  combined  !     Write  as  full}'  as  you  can. 
"  In  haste,  affectionately  yours, 

«  Kalston  Skinner,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Here  is  a  tribute  to  a  very  interesting,  genial,  highly-cultivated 
man,  Professor  Monroe,  now  in  Congress: 

"Washington,  D.  C,  January  9,  1863. 
"  My  Dear  General  :     My  friend,  Prof.  Monroe,  takes  the  place  of 
my  friend,  Colonel  Parsons,  as  consul.     Though  a  gentleman  of  some- 
what different  type,  you  will  find  him  very   intelligent,  very  genial, 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  517 

and  very  apright.  You  will  like  him,  I  am  sure,  and  I  am  equally 
sure  he  will  like  you. 

"  The  correspondence  between  Mr.  Whittlesey  and  yourself  filled 
me  with  regret,  my  esteem  for  hoth  was  so  great.  The  last  letter  to 
you,  as  well  as  the  first,  went  without  having  been  seen  by  me,  and 
neither  would  have  gone  unaltered,  by  my  consent,  if  seen.  Mr. 
Whittlesey  is  now,  I  trust,  in  a  better  world.  He  died  yesterday, 
having  touched  the  verge  of  fourscore.  Your  friend, 

"General  James  Watson  Webb.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

What  a  transition  must  be  made  from  the  thoughts  and  emo- 
tions, nay  the  aspirations,  which  that  letter  so  naturally  suggests,  to 
the  subject  that  must  next,  alas !  engage  attention  in  this  faithful 
history. 

Often,  since  this  work  was,  as  I  supposed,  finished  and  in  order 
for  the  printer,  I  have  read  or  heard  something  of  our  hero  that  has 
tempted  me  to  think  in  my  heart :  "After  all,  this  man,  the  hero 
of  this  work,  was  not  a  real  worthy.  He  was  but  a  pious,  patriotic 
knave  !  He  had  too  much  of  the  evil  communications  which  corrupt 
good  manners ;  and  he  came  to  be  an  unworthy  Citizen  and  a  false 
Christian." 

But  let  us  bear  in  mind  all  the  best  that  we  have  seen  in  him  ; 
and  let  me  promise  to  show,  that  if  there  was  a  period  when  he  was 
not  a  real  worthy,  he  became,  toward  the  last,  what  was  promised  by 
his  youth  and  early  manhood. 

Since  this  volume  was,  as  I  supposed,  entirely  ready  for  the  pub- 
lisher, the  eyes  of  its  composer  had  to  be  wounded  by  reading  these 
words  in  the  Washington  correspondence  of  the  Cincinnati  Gazette^ 
the  correspondent  being  General  Boynton  : 

"  Washington,  March  3. 

"  An  incident  in  the  preliminary  steps  taken  to  secure  an  investi- 
gation of  the  affairs  of  the  District  of  Columbia  first  suggested  an 
examination  of  the  startling  history  which  follows.  The  records 
which  set  it  forth  first  became  known  to  the  present  administration 
the  week  preceding  the  inauguration  of  General  Grant.  Its  minor 
details  were  vaguely  understood  in  a  limited  circle  during  the  war. 
and  part  of  the  facts  were  published  at  the  West.  Hut  the  whole 
power  of  the  War  Department,  and  the  influence  of  several  of  the 
most  prominent  politicians,  were  actively  exerted  to  suppress  alJ 
knowledge  of  the  real  facts  brought  to  light. 

"Much  was  said  in  Cincinnati  of  the  dissolution  of  the  first  court, 
and  severe  criticisms  of  the  authorities  indulged  in.  These  finals- 
caused  a  second  court  to  be  convened  early  in  the  following  year, 
and  before  this  court,  upon  charges  which  left  out  all  that  would  in- 
volve  any  parties  of  position   except  the   Cookes.   Hurtt   was   eon- 


518  THE    PKIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

victed  and  dismissed.  Just  before  the  proceedings  in  his  ease  were 
ready  to  publish,  the  general  distribution  of  courts-martial  orders 
was  stopped  by  direction  of  the  War  Department,  and  little  ever  be- 
came known  of  this  disgraceful  case. 

•  Many  readers  will  ask  why  did  a  man  of  Mr.  Stanton's  iron 
nerve  hesitate  to  put  all  these  offenders,  high  and  low,  on  trial  at 
once?  The  reason  given  by  one  acquainted  with  all  the  facts  as 
they  were  known  here,  is  signifieant :  He  was  driven  in  the  opposite 
direction  by  military  necessity.  His  first  impulse  was  to  try  all  con- 
cerned, but  men  so  high  in  the  nation's  counsels,  and  in  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people,  were  compromised,  that  to  uncover  their  iniquity, 
perpetrated  in  the  very  darkest  days  of  the  war,  would  result,  as  he 
feared,  in  destroying  the  confidence  of  the  people. 

"'Just  in  the  darkest  days  of  the  whole  war  these  men  had  been 
pressing  their  diabolical  schemes.  The  defeat  at  Chancellorsville 
had  enabled  Lee  to  invade  the  North.  Vallandigham  was  exciting 
rebellion  from  the  Canada  border.  There  were  peace  flags  flying  in 
the  North  ;  there  was  resistance  to  the  draft  in  Ohio  and  Indiana,  and 
in  the  latter  State  the  Sons  of  Liberty  were  planning  an  outbreak. 
There  was  great  gloom  everywhere,  and  it  may  shake  the  confidence 
of  loyal  people  beyond  restoration,  reasoned  Mr.  Stanton,  if  they 
are  allowed  to  know  that  the  financial  agents  of  the  government 
and  some  of  its  most  prominent  political  supporters  had  been  in  such 
a  league  for  plunder  during  the  darkest  days  of  the  war.  And  so  he 
strove  to  cover  the  most  startling  points  from  the  public  eye.  And 
so  the  court  was  dissolved,  and  the  officer  who  knew  all  the  facts,  and 
who  had  the  full  confidence  of  his  commanding  general,  was  obliged 
to  leave  with  his  family,  in  the  dead  of  winter,  for  the  most  distant 
point  on  American  soil,  lest  the  facts  in  regard  to  a  band  of  robbers, 
holding  high  position,  should  by  any  possibility  come  to  light. 

"The  documents  given  below  were  copied  from  the  originals,  now 
in  the  files  of  the  War  Department.  Even  these  are  but  the  outline 
history  of  the  great  outrage  which  men  high  in  position  and  high  in 
the  confidence  of  the  loyal  people  conspired  to  perpetrate,  and  exe- 
cuted in  part. 

"  The  papers  given  were  connected  with  the  trial  of  F.  W.  Hurtt, 
a  purchasing  and  disbursing  quartermaster  of  volunteers,  who  was 
stationed  at  Cincinnati,  and  whose  trial,  exciting  great  interest  at 
the  time,  was  concluded  at  that  place  in  March,  186-1.  The  most 
strenuous  exertions  were  made  there  then  to  obtain  the  reports  and 
evidence  in  the  case;  but  the  authorities  and  politicians  succeeded  in 
concealing  nearly  everything. 

"  A  preliminary  review  of  the  case  will  make  the  reading  of  the 
official  papers  presented  quite  clear. 

'•  Hurtt  was  commissioned  assistant-quartermaster  of  volunteers' 
October  31,  1861.  He  had  hardly  reached  his  post  before  he  began 
to  speculate  in  forage  and  supplies,  in  connection  with  persons  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  the  Ohio  State  Journal.  This  he  continued  with 
the  same  parties  in  purchases  for  Camp  Chase,  and  afterward  at  Cin- 
cinnati. But  all  this  was  insignificant  compared  with  the  great  vil- 
lainy which  began  in  the  spring  of  1863  at  Cincinnati. 

•'  He  then    entered  into    correspondence  with   Henry  D.   Cooke, 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  519 

formerly  of  the  Ohio  State  Journal,  then  the  Washington  representa- 
tive of  the  great  firm  of  Jay  Cooke  &  Co.,  the  confidential  financial 
agents  of  the  government,  and  these  two,  with  other  members  of  thai 
firm,  and  with  sueh  political  influence  as  the}*  could  command,  con- 
spired to  speculate  in  quartermasters'  supplies,  and  to  defraud  the 
government  on  a  gigantic  scale. 

"After  Cooke  had  sent  a  man  to  Cincinnati  to  represent  the  Wash- 
ington interest,  and  immense  transactions  were  in  progress,  they 
became  bolder  and  joined  hands  and  the  influences  they  could  com- 
mand to  secure  the  removal  of  Captain  John  H.  Dickerson,  the  senior 
quartermaster  at  Cincinnati,  both  because  his  honesty  endangered 
present  operations  and  limited  their  extent.  They  determined  to 
remove  him,  put  Hurtt  in  his  place,  and  associate  with  him  Captain 
C.  W.  Moulton,  a  quartermaster  and  brother-in-law  of  Senator  Sher- 
man, to  the  end,  as  expressed  in  one  of  the  specifications  upon  which 
Hurtt  was  convicted,  that  he  (Hurtt)  'might  be  charged  with  the 
heaviest  possible  disbursements  of  the  government  funds.'  Nothing 
was  to  stand  in  the  way,  and  the  Quartermaster-General  himself  was 
to  be  removed,  if  necessary  to  accomplish  their  ends. 

"  This  last  movement  was  in  progress,  and  their  speculations  and 
swindlings  going  on  upon  a  great  scale,  when  General  Burnside,  who 
had  taken  command  of  the  Department  of  the  Ohio,  became  con- 
vinced that  the  government  was  being  defrauded,  and  on  the  28th  of 
July,  1863,  ordered  Major  N.  H.  McLean,  an  assistant  adjutant-gen- 
eral of  the  regular  army,  to  take  possession  of  Hurtt's  papers,  and 
investigate  his  transactions.  Major  McLean  made  his  report,  the 
terrible  nature  of  which  will  appear  below,  September  28,  1863,  and 
on  November  23  a  court  was  ordered  to  try  Hurtt.  All  the  influen- 
tial parties  in  interest  were  instantly  alarmed,  and  in  seven  days 
after  the  court  was  ordered  it  was  dissolved  upon  an  order  tele- 
graphed from  the  War  Department,  and  all  the  papers  were  sealed 
and  sent  to  Washington,  as  directed.  Time  .had  scarcely  elapsed  for 
an  examination  of  the  papers  at  the  War  Department,  when  Major 
McLean  was  peremptorily  ordered  from  his  post  at  Cincinnati,  and 
directed  to  report  for  dut}"  at  Fort  Vancouver,  in  Washington  Terri- 
tory. The  extraordinary  haste  exercised  in  getting  Major  McLean 
out  of  the  country  will  appear  in  the  orders  copied  below." 

It  was  under  the  head-lines,  "  Startling  Disclosures — Chapter  of 
Secret  War  History — The  Great  Hurtt  Frauds  Brought  to  Light," 
that  the  Gazette  gave  this  matter  to  its  readers.  But  it  was  with 
some  of  the  subheadings,  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  that  I  hit 
most  concerned.     These  ran,  in  part,  as  follows : 

"A  Conspiracy  to  Ruin  Honest  Men  and  Swindle  the  Govern- 
ment. The  Private  Correspondence  of  Hurtt  with  his  Backers. 
Henry  D.  Cooke  and  Associates.  The  Strings  that  were  Pulled. 
Senator  Sherman,  Governor  Dennison,  Secretary  Chase,  and  other 
Prominent  Men,  use  their  Influence." 

We  have  seen,  thus  far,  nothing  to  charge  the  hero  of  this  work 


520  THE    PRIVATE    EIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

with  guilty  knowledge.     But  here  are  two  letters,  taken  from  the 
series  given  by  General  Boynton  : 

"  Cincinnati,  January  23,  1863. 

"Dear  Cooke:  I  wrote  you  some  time  ago,  asking  your  ideas 
about  financial  matters,  etc.,  hoping  to  obtain  some  new  data  upon 
which  I  could  found  an  opinion  as  to  the  pecuniary  policy  of  holding 
on  to  the  Journal.  I  have  since  decided  to  hold  on  to  it  for  reasons 
independent  of  financial  matters,  so  far  as  they  concern  me  person- 
ally just  now.  I  am  doing  all  I  can  for  Chase's  financial  scheme, 
both  in  our  paper  and  here  in  Cincinnati.  You  notice  the  Cincin- 
nati Gazette  came  out  in  favor  of  it  yesterday.  We  have  been  doing 
all  we  can  to  be  effectual.  I  am  not  versed  in  such  matters  very 
much,  but  I  pointed  out  the  barriers  in  the  way  to  Mr.  Mellen,  whom 
I  have  seen  several  times  lately,  which  have  since  appeared,  and  I 
fear  now  they  will  prove  more  formidable  than  I  have  anticipated 
up  to  this  time.  Chase's  war  has  just  begun.  What  a  great  mistake 
it  was  not  carried  through  last  winter.  Now  reasons  for  not  enter- 
ing upon  it  with  great  zeal  will  arise,  especially  in  the  West,  which 
would  then  have  made  theauthor  of  them  shudder.  AVhat  was  treason 
then  is  becoming  now,  in  an  undercurrent  of  feeling,  unconscious,  at 
least  unexpressed,  conviction.  The  people  dare  not,  as  yet,  acknowl- 
edge to  themselves  the  undercurrent  of  unbelief  of  the  stability  of 
the  government.  What  is  there  }7et  in  store  for  us?  I  am  anxious 
to  know  how  you  people  near  the  throne  feel.  Is  Governor  Chase 
hopeful  now?  Do  you  think  he  will  get  through  safely?  Some  of 
my  friends  are  in  my  vouchers  enough  to  ruin  them.  No  money  and 
no  certificates  just  now.  They  are  suffering  materially.  If  I  had 
$200,000  it  would  only  save  them,  yet  the  government  can't  give  us 
any.  Do  you  think  Chase  will  give  any  more  certificates  of  indebt- 
edness? Do  you  think  he  can  give  our  department  any  of  the 
$100,000,000  he  is  now  issuing?  A  full  answer  will  much  oblige  me, 
and  you  ma}'  give  me  valuable  hints  about  what  Chase  desires,  as 
well  as  his  hopes.  My  business  is  very  slack  just  now,  and  I  am 
worked  down.  I  have  not  been  out  of  my  room  for  three  days.  My 
purchases  are  heavy  enough,  but  they  trouble  but  little,  except  in 
the  advance  prices  on  account  of  the  poor  market  for  vouchers. 

"  (Kegards,  etc.)  Very  truly  }ours, 

F.  W.  HURTT." 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  March  14,  1863. 
"  My  Dear  Hurtt  :  I  have  but  a  few  moments  to  drop  you  a  hint 
of  what  is  going  on.  I  did  not  let  your  matter  drop,  but  went  to 
work  at  once.  Governor  Chase  will  say  all  you  could  ask  him  to  say 
to  Stanton.  He  is  warmly  your  friend.  Sherman  took  hold  of  the 
matter  with  zeal.  He  went  to  Edward  Stanton  the  next  day  after 
you  left,  dwelt  upon  your  admirable  business  qualifications,  integrity, 
etc.,  and  urged  you  upon  Stanton  for  promotion  and  assignment  to 
duty  at  Cincinnati  in  place  of  Dickerson.  Stanton  got  out  the  list 
of  quartermasters,  and  when  he  found  your  name  remarked  that  you 
were   very  far  down   on  the  list — your  commission   being  No.  one 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  521 

hundred  and  something,  so  there  are  a  large  number  ahead  of  you. 
To  this,  Sherman  urged  that  what  the  department  wanted  was  a 
good  man  for  the  position,  and  that  this  ohjeet  ought  not  to  be  de- 
feated by  so  trifling  a  consideration  as  a  mere  difference  in  the  dates 
of  original  appointments  of  different  officers.  To  this  Stanton 
assented,  and  thereupon  made  a  minute  opposite  your  name  on  his 
private  list. 

"Stanton  told  Sherman  that  he  had  ordered  Moulton  to  Cincin- 
nati with  a  view  to  his  superseding  Dickerson,  and  to  this  end  be 
had  Moulton  transferred  to  the  regular  army.  But  Sherman  pro- 
tested against  Moulton  being  sent  to  Cincinnati,  as  it  might  em- 
barrass him  (Sherman),  he  being  a  brother-in-law  of  Moulton 's,  and 
accordingly  Moulton  is  to  be  sent  out  West.  Stanton  did  not  promise 
to  give  you  Dickerson's  place,  but  he  did  say  that  he  was  sorry  he 
had  not  seen  Sherman  before  the  vacancies  in  the  regular  army  ap- 
pointments had  all  been  filled. 

"Sherman  is  satisfied  that  your  standing  at  the  War  Department 
is  now  all  right,  and  thinks  your  chance  good  of  getting  a  fair  show 
in  the  purchasing  department  at  Cincinnati. 

"I  have  not  seen  your  friend  Wrightson  since  jTou  were  here.  I 
think  if  he  and  Gurley  had  pushed  the  matter  it  might  have  been 
clinched.  In  regard  to  brevet  rank,  the  Senate  passed  over  the  en- 
tire list  of  brevet  promotions  without  confirmation. 

11  Please  remember  me  to  Mrs.  Hurt  and  the  boy,  and  believe  me, 
as  ever,  Yours  truly,  H.  D.  COOKE." 

"Governor  Chase  will  say  all  you  could  ask  him  to  say  to  Stan- 
ton." What  did  those  words  mean  to  him  to  whom  they  were  ad- 
dressed ?  It  is  in  the  light  of  the  circumstances  in  which  these 
words  were  written  and  received  that  they  are  now  to  be  con- 
strued. 

The  context  is,  in  part,  to  be  resorted  to  for  ascertaining  some  of 
those  interpretive  circumstances ;  and  part  of  the  context  is  the 
sentence : 

"  He  is  warmly  your  friend." 

But  was  that  true?  It  was,  no  doubt,  intended  to  be  true;  but  it 
involved  not  fact  but  judgment.  Henry  D.  Cooke  judged  that 
Salmon  Portland  Chase  was  warmly  the  friend  of  graceless  Captain 
Hurtt. 

Perhaps,  indeed,  that  judgment  was  correct.  Had  not  our  hero 
been  the  friend  of  Stone?  Did  he  not  to  the  last  continue  to  be  the 
partial  friend  of  more  than  one  unworthy  character  ? 

How  my  heart  sickens  as  I  make  up  the  long  list  of  knaves  or 
fools  in  whom  the  hero  of  this  work  confided  !  But  I  half  recover 
when  I  begin  to  make  up  the  still  longer  list,  the  greatly  longer  list, 


522  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

of  the  good  men  who  believed  in  him,  and  in  whom  he  believed  and 
trusted ;  and  I  go  but  a  little  way  in  making  up  that  longer  list 
when  I  am  wholly  well  again,  and  tempted  to  lift  up  a  song  of  glad- 
ness and  of  triumph. 

I  knew  our  hero  well.  He  thought,  himself,  that  I  knew  him 
well ;  and  I  believe  that,  in  that  behalf,  he  was  well  warranted  in  his 
opinion. 

Let  us  now  go  calmly  back  to  that  Hurtt-Cooke  correspondence. 
Let  us  narrowly  examine  its  true  indications. 

Cooke  does  not  even  say  to  Hurtt :  "  Governor  Chase  tells  me 
that  he  is  warmly  your  friend,  and  that  he  will  say  all  you  could 
ask  him  to  say  to  Stanton."  Not  at  all.  Even  so,  the  evidence 
against  our  hero  would  fall  far  short  of  proof.  But  this  is  not  all. 
Suppose  that  Chase  had,  with  his  own  lips  or  with  his  own  hand, 
addressed  Hurtt  thus:  "I  am  warmly  your  friend,  and  I  will  say 
to  Stanton  all  that  you  could  ask  me  to  say."  What  then  ?  Even 
then  there  would  only  be  another  indication  of  misplaced  friendship 
and  confidence  on  the  part  of  a  man  so  prone  to  such  mistakes  that 
he  was  almost  a  laughing-stock  to  men  of  ordinary  judgment  on  that 
acccount.  There  would  still  be  nothing  even  tending  to  show  that 
Chase  had  guilty  knowledge  of  Hurtt's  heartless,  villainous  design. 

Chase  loved  and  trusted  Cooke.  He  so  loved  and  trusted  Cooke 
that,  long  after  the  dates  here  in  question,  he  made  that  wretched 
weakling  the  executor  of  his  last  will  and  testament. 

Cooke  says  to  Hurtt,  in  another  letter  : 

"  I  fear  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  do  you  much  good  by  any  per- 
sonal effort  I  might  make  with  Stanton.  I  am  finally  drifted  out  of 
the  political  current,  and  Stanton  knows  my  fealty  to  Governor  C, 
and  that  he  could  expect  nothing  from  me  where  it  would  conflict 
with  the  governor.  You  know  I  am  always  positive  in  my  choice  of 
men,  so  there  may  be  no  doubt  as  to  my  position." 

Were  the  theme  less  grave,  what  laughter  might  not  be  the  proper 
commentary  on  that  sentence  about  positiveness! 

I  know  too  well  the  immeasurable  weakness  of  the  man  who 
wrote  those  words  about  himself.  And  it  seems  that  others  know 
at  least  a  little  of  his  weakness.  He  is  painted  in  this  fashion  by  a 
friendly  hand : 

"Henry  D.  Cooke  is  a  short,  thick-set  man  of  about  fifty.  He  has 
one  of  the  kindest  faces  ever  put  in  front  of  any  brain,  and  his 
nature  does  not  belie  his  appearance.     His  life  has  been  one  of  great 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  523 

purity,  and  his  business  career  one  of  high-toned  integrity.  He  is 
the  most  thoughtful,  and  really,  the  ahlest,  of  the  Cookes.  in  which  1 
differ  from  the  majority — Jay  Cooke  being  regarded  as  the  bead  of 
this  remarkable  family.  The  one  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of  Henry 
D.  is  his  utter  inability  to  nay  'no.'  When  that  monosyllable 
becomes  necessary  Henry  D.  retreats  behind  Jay  or  Huntington.  He 
shrinks  from  giving  pain,  and  has  hosts  of  warm  personal  friends. 
His  face  is  more  attractive  than  striking,  and  on  an  introduction  the 
look  at  him  is  given  after  the  name  is  heard.  Through  his  kind  dis- 
position, or  good  nature,  he  is  apt  to  be  imposed  upon  ;  but  no  one 
knowing  Governor  Cooke  ever  dreams  of  charging  him  with  an 
intentional  shortcoming." 

Donn  Piatt,  in  his  Capitol,  says  that  the  letter  from  which  I 
take  this  extract  "is  evidently  from  the  pen  of  some  Bohemian, 
who  has  his  organ  of  reverence  considerably  knocked  in."  But 
that  portrait  of  Cooke  seems  to  me,  after  all,  a  fearfully  flattered 
likeness  ;  and  I  have  had  reason,  more  than  once,  and  long  ago,  to 
study  the  original  with  care. 

But  is  it  not  a  little  hard  that  this  volume  has  to  defend  its  hero's 
memory  against  the  man  in  whom  he  so  confided  that  he  made  him 
the  executor  of  his  last  will  and  testament? 

Yet  it  is  not  my  purpose  here  to  intimate  that  he  has  not  some 
amiable  qualities.  And  I  do  not  undertake  to  pronounce  judgment, 
as  to  the  indications  furnished  by  the  just  quoted  letter,  as  to  the 
characteristics  of  its  author's  morals  and  his  public  spirit.  I  desire 
only  to  guard  readers  against  doing  wrong  to  Chase's  memory,  on 
account  of  the  Cooke-Hurtt  correspondence. 

On  the  5th  of  February  Mr.  Chase  composed  this  note : 

"Dear  Sir:  I  am  always  happy  to  receive  and  give  such  consid- 
eration as  my  pressing  engagements  permit,  to  intelligent  sugges- 
tions concerning  public  finances.  Of  course,  I  shall  be  glad  to  receive 
yours.     I  desire  all  attainable  light  from  whatever  quarter. 

"Yours  truly  S.P.CHASE. 

"  Jas.  Monroe,  Esq.,  box  5142,  P.  O.  New  York." 

How  free  from  arrogance  the  writer  of  that  note ! 

Here  is  a  most  creditable  and  decidedly  characteristic  letter : 

"  Treasury  Department,  February  27,  1863. 

"  Sir:  I  learned  to-day  at  the  Senate  chamber  that  the  nomination 
of  Mark  Howard,  as  collector  of  internal  revenue  for  the  District  of 
Connecticut,  was  rejected  by  that  body. 

"It  is  due  to  Mr.  Howard  to  say  that  no  more  faithful,  capable,  or 
honest  man  has  been  appointed  to  any  collectorship  under  the  law; 


524  THE  PEIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

and  that  he  has  performed  the  responsible  duties  of  the  office  to  the 
entii'e  satisfaction  of  the  Commissioner  of  Internal  Revenue  and 
myself. 

"  I  am  told  by  senators  that  Mr.  Howard's  nomination  was  rejected 
at  the  instance  of  Senator  Dixon,  and  merely  in  deference  to  his  per- 
sonal wishes,  notwithstanding  the  unanimous  report  of  the  committee 
on  finance  in  favor  of  confirmation,  and  without  the  slightest  impeach- 
ment of  the  character  or  capacity  of  the  nominee. 

"  Such,  I  have  no  doubt,  is  the  fact;  and  I  feel  bound  by  my  duty 
to  an  honest  man,  to  your  administration,  and  to  the  public  interests 
placed  under  my  charge  in  this  department,  to  protest,  most  respect- 
fully, against  the  appointment  to  the  vacanc}T  created  by  this  rejec- 
tion of  any  person  recommended  by  the  gentleman  who  procured  it. 
Such  an  appointment  would,  indeed,  manifestly  tend  to  the  grossest 
abuses;  for  if  gentlemen  hostile  to  a  particular  nominee,  or  eager 
to  secure  his  place  for  some  favorite,  can  expect  to  control  the 
appointment,  after  rejection,  it  is  manifest  that  confirmations  will 
depend  less  on  merit  than  on  animosity  or  favoritism. 

"In  my  judgment  Mr.  Howard  should  be  renominated  in  order 
that  the  Senate  may  have  an  opportunit}7  to  reconsider  its  action, 
«almly  and  dispassionately.  His  renomination,  indeed,  under  the 
circumstances,  seems  to  me  a  simple  act  of  justice  to  him,  and  a 
proper  assertion  of  your  own  right  to  have  your  nominations  con- 
sidered on  their  merits. 

"I,  therefore,  send  a  renomination  for  your  consideration,  and  your 
signature,  if  approved. 

"Should  your  judgment  differ  from  mine  on  this  point,  I  shall  ask 
permission  to  recommend  some  other  person,  selected  on  the  same 
considerations  which  governed  my  original  recommendation  of  Mr. 
Howard,  namely  :  capacity,  integrity,  and  fidelity  to  the  country  and 
to  your  administration.     With  great  respect,  yours  truly, 

"  The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Lincoln,  however,  answered : 

"  Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  March  2,  1863. 
"Hon.  Secretary  of  the  Treasury : 

"  My  Dear  Sir:  After  much  reflection,  and  with  a  good  deal  of 
pain  that  it  is  adverse  to  }*our  wish,  I  have  concluded  that  it  is  not 
best  to  renominate  Mr.  Howard,  for  collector  of  internal  revenue,  at 
Hartford,  Connecticut.  Senator  Dixon,  residing  at  Hartford,  and 
Mr.  Loomis,  representative  of  the  district,  join  in  recommending 
Edward  Goodman  for  the  place,  and,  so  far,  no  one  has  presented  a 
difl'erent  name.  I  will  thank  you,  therefore,  to  send  me  a  nomina- 
tion, at  once,  for  Mr.  Goodman. 

"Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN." 

Next  we  have  this  document : 

"  Treasury  Department,  March  3,  1863. 
"Sir:     Finding  myself  unable  to  approve  the   manner  in  which 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  525 

selections  for  appointment  to  important  trusts  in  this  department 
have  been  recently  made,  and  being  unwilling  to  remain  responsible 
for  its  administration,  tinder  existing  circumstances,  I  respectfully 

resign  the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

"  With  great  respect,  yours,  etc., 
"The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

This  paper  was  never  actually  sent  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  It  is  auto- 
graph ieally  indorsed  :  "  S.  P.  Chase  to  President  Lincoln,  Wash- 
ington, March  3,  '63.     Resignation — withheld." 

Here  is  a  letter  that  was  actually  sent  to  the  President : 

Washington,  D.  C,  March  2,  1863. 

'•  My  Dear  Sir  :  It  was  on  Friday,  I  think,  that  you  directed 
me  to  send  you  a  letter  embodying  the  views  concerning  the  appoint- 
ment of  collectors  (with  especial  reference  to  the  vacancy  created  by 
the  rejection  of  your  nomination  for  the  Hartford  district,  in  Con- 
necticut), which  I  had  expressed  in  conversation. 

"  The  letter  was  prepared  ;  but  before  it  could  be  sent,  I  received 
a  note  from  Senator  Dixon,  expressed  in  terms  of  great  personal  re- 
spect and  kindness,  to  which  I  replied  in  the  same  spirit.  This  cir- 
cumstance induced  me  to  withhold  the  letter  I  had  written  to  j-ou, 
under  the  expectation  that  matters  would  take  a  turn  which  would 
relieve  you  from  all  embarrassment. 

"  This  morning  I  received  your  note  directing  me  to  send  the  nom- 
ination proposed  by  Mr.  Dixon  and  Mr.  Loomis,  and  was  about  to 
reply  to  it  when  the  senator  [called]  and  Ave  talked  the  matter  over. 
The  result  of  our  conversation  was  an  agreement  to  call  on  you  as  soon 
as  practicable,  and  submit  the  matter  to  your  further  consideration. 
I  do  not  insist  on  the  renomination  of  Mr.  Howard  ;  and  Mr.  Dixon 
and  Mr.  Loomis,  as  I  understand,  do  not  claim  the  nomination  of  his 
successor. 

"  I  shall  be  glad  if  this  shall  prove  agreeable  to  you.  My  only  ob- 
ject— and  I  think  }-ou  so  understand  it — is  to  secure  fit  men  for  re- 
sponsible places,  without  admitting  the  rights  of  senators  or  repre- 
sentatives to  conti-ol  appointments,  for  which  the  President  and  the 
Secretary,  as  his  presumed  adviser,  must  be  responsible.  Unless 
this  principle  can  be  practically  established,  I  feel  that  I  can  not  be 
useful  to  you  or  the  country  in  my  present  position. 

With  the  greatest  respect  and  esteem,  yours  veiy  truly, 

"  The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

In  Memories  of  Many  Men  and  of  Some  Women,  a  book  of  which 
more  than  passing  notice  has  been  already  taken  in  the  present 
work,  I  find1  these  words  ascribed  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  said  to 
have  been  spoken  in  1864: 

"Some  time  after  this  there  was  a  collector  of  customs  on  the 
1  Page  302. 


526  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Pacific  coast,  one  of  Chase's  men,  who  was  represented  to  me  to  bo 
a  worthless  vagabond,  and  even  a  defaulter.  I  spoke  to  Chase  about 
him;  but  he  had  entire  confidence  in  him,  and  refused  to  listen  to 
anything  to  his  disadvantage.  While  matters  stood  thus.  Chase  one 
day  told  me  that  he  felt  overworked,  and  proposed  taking  a  little 
trip  down  the  Potomac,  but  that  he  would  not  be  gone  longer  than 
two  days.  I  said  'All  right,  Mr.  Secretary,'  and  we  shook  hands  and 
parted.  As  luck  would  have  it,  I  was  waited  upon  the  very  next 
day  by  a  delegation  of  all  the  gentlemen  from  the  Pacific  coast,  both 
official  and  unofficial,  who  then  happened  to  be  in  Washington. 
They  filed  formal  charges  with  me  against  the  collector  to  whom  I 
have  referred,  and  demanded  his  immediate  removal.  I  told  them 
that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasuiy  was  out  of  town  ;  that  it  would 
be  discourteous  to  him  if  I  acted  upon  the  matter  in  his  absence,  but 
that  he  would  return  in  one  or  two  days  at  the  latest,  and  I  invited 
them  to  call  upon  me  again,  in  about  a  week,  when  I  promised,  under 
all  the  circumstances,  a  definite  answer  to  their  report.  A  week 
passed.  No  Chase.  The  delegation  returned,  and  as  I  was  thor- 
oughly convinced  of  not  only  the  propriety  of,  but  even  the  necessity 
for,  the  act,  I  removed  the  collector,  and  appointed  another  in  his 
stead.  The  first  notice  that  I  received  of  Chase's  return  was  about 
three  days  afterward,  when  I  found  his  resignation  tying  upon  my 
table.  I  waited  until  evening  and  then  ordered  my  carriage  and 
drove  to  his  house.  I  found  him  in  the  office  to  the  left  as  you  enter 
the  door.  I  went  directly  up  to  him,  with  the  resignation  in  my 
hand,  and,  putting  ray  arm  around  his  neck,  said  to  him,  'Chase, 
here  is  a  paper  with  which  I  wish  to  have  nothing  to  do;  take  it 
back,  and  be  reasonable.'  I  then  explained  to  him  what  had  occurred 
while  he  was  away.  I  told  him  that  the  man  whom  I  appointed 
happened  to  have  been  dead  several  weeks;  that  I  couldn't  replace 
the  person  whom  I  had  removed — that  was  impossible — but  that  I 
would  appoint  any  one  else  whom  he  should  select  for  the  place.  It 
was  difficult  to  bring  him  to  terms;  I  had  to  plead  with  him  a  long 
time,  but  I  finally  succeeded,  and  heard  nothing  more  of  that  resig- 
nation." 

As  already  hinted,  I  consider  that  there  is  good  reason  to  scrutinize 
all  the  accounts  given  by  that  book  of  its  author's  talks  with  Lin- 
coln ;  but  the  foregoing  statement  ought  to  go  for  what  it  may  be 
worth.  And  it  may  be  proper  to  subjoin,  that  it  is  preceded  by 
these  words,  the  first  sentence  of  which  relates  to  our  hero's  final 
resignation  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  : 

"But  there  is  a  history  behind  all  this,  which  I  don't  mind  telling 
you.  Are  you  aware  that  this  was  the  fourth  time  that  Chase  had 
tendered  me  his  resignation?     No?     Well,  it  was."1 

Now,  here  is  a  matter  of  unquestionable  authenticity.  The  Pres- 
ident, on  the  8th  of  May,  1863,  wrote  as  follows : 

!Page  302. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  527 

" Hon.  Secretary  of  Treasury  : 

"  My  Dear  Sir:  Please  send  me,  at  once,  an  appointment  of 
Henry  Clay  Wilson,  of  Washington  Territory,  to  be  collector  of  cus- 
toms for  the  Puget  Sound  district,  in  place  of  Victor  Smith. 

'  Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN." 

And  on  the  same  day,  the  President  wrote  tin's  little  letter  : 

" Son.  S.  P.  Chase: 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  address  this  to  you  personally,  rather  than 
officially,  because  of  the  nature  of  the  case.  My  mind  is  made  up 
to  remove  Victor  Smith  as  collector  of  the  customs  at  the  Puget 
Sound  district.  Yet,  in  doing  this,  I  do  not  decide  that  the  charges 
against  him  are  true.  I  only  decide  that  the  degree  of  dissatisfac- 
tion with  him  there  is  too  great  for  him  to  be  retained.  But  I  helieve 
he  is  your  personal  acquaintance  and  friend;  and,  if  you  desire  it,  I 
will  try  to  find  some  other  place  for  him. 

"  Yours  as  ever,  A.  LINCOLN." 

Secretary  Chase  did  not  immediately  answer.  As  we  shall  presently 
see,  all  that  fine  story  about  his  having  been  overworked,  and  his 
going  down  the  Potomac  for  a  day  or  two,  and  staying  aAvay  for  a 
week  and  more,  is  a  fiction  of  somebody's  fancy  ;  but  the  fact  was, 
that  the  Secretary,  having  gone,  on  business,  to  some  of  the  Eastern 
cities,  did  not  return  to  Washington  till  Friday  night,  May  8.  Why 
did  he  not  answer  on  Saturday?  That  which  is  entirely  certain  is, 
that  he  allowed  Saturday  and  Sunday  to  pass  without  responding  to 
the  President.  Perhaps  that  fired  the  Presidential  pride  a  little;  who 
knows?  At  least,  it  is  quite  certain  that  he  next  addressed  our  hero, 
on  Monday,  May  11,  in  this  fashion  : 

" Hon.  Secretary  of  Treasury: 

"  My  Dear  Sir:  I  have  just  learned  that  Henry  C.  Wilson,  whom 
I  had  appointed  as  the  successor  of  Victor  Smith,  at  Puget  Sound,  is 
dead.     Please  send  me  a  commission  for  Frederick  A.  Wilson. 

'•Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN." 

That  drew  out  this  letter  from  the  stiff-necked  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  : 

"Treasury  Department,  May  11,  1863. 

"Dear  Sir:  Some  weeks  ago  you  verbal  I}*  directed  me  to  inves- 
tigate the  papers  connected  with  the  case  of  the  collector  of  the 
Puget  Sound  district,  and  to  report  the  result  to  you. 

"Almost  immediately  afterward,  important  business  of  my  de- 
partment called  me  to  the  Eastern  cities.  On  leaving,  I  directed  the 
Assistant-Secretary  to  examine  all  the  papers,  arrange  them  in  proper 
order,  and  make  a  brief  of  the  contents,  so  that,  on  my  return,  I 
could  at  once  make  the  investigation  you  inquired. 


528  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

"I  came  back  on  Friday  night  (8th),  and  was  informed  by  the 
Assistant-Secretary  that  you  had  already  directed  him  to  make  out 
and  send  to  you  a  commission  for  a  new  collector. 

"  This  information  surprised  and  greatly  pained  me  ;  for  I  had  not 
thought  it  possible  that  you  would  remove  an  officer  of  my  depart- 
ment without  awaiting  the  result,  although  somewhat  delayed,  of  an 
investigation,  directed  bjT  yourself,  and  appoint  a  successor,  for  whose 
action  I  must  be  largely  responsible,  without  even  consulting  me  on 
the  subject. 

"  To-day,  I  have  received  your  note,  stating  that  the  person  for 
whom,  in  my  absence,  a  commission  was  prepared,  is  deceased;  and 
directing  one  to  be  made  out  for  another  person  of  whom  I  know 
absolutely  nothing. 

"It  has  been  and  is  my  ardent  desire  to  serve  you,  by  faithful  ser- 
vice to  the  country,  in  the  responsible  post  to  which  you  have  called 
me  ;  but  I  can  not  hope  to  succeed  in  doing  so  if  the  selection  of  per- 
sons to  fill  subordinate  places  in  the  department  is  to  be  made,  not 
only  without  my  concurrence,  but  without  my  knowledge. 

"  I  can  ask,  of  course,  nothing  more  than  conference.  The  right 
of  appointment  belongs  to  3-011 ;  and  if,  after  fair  consideration  of  my 
views,  in  any  case,  your  judgment  in  relation  to  a  proper  selection 
differs  from  mine,  it  is  my  duty  to  acquiesce  cheerfully  in  your  de- 
termination; unless,  indeed,  the  case  be  one  of  such  a  character,  as 
to  justify  my  withdrawal  from  my  post.  I  have,  however,  a  right  to 
be  consulted.  That  right  was  virtually  conceded  to  me  when  you 
invited  me  to  assume  the  charge  of  the  department  and  make  my- 
self responsible  for  its  administration. 

"The  blank  commission  which  you  direct  me  to  send  you  is  in- 
closed; for  to  obey  your  directions,  so  long  as  I  shall  hold  office  un- 
der you,  is  my  duty.  It  is  inclosed,  however,  with  my  most  respect- 
ful protest  against  the  precedent,  and  with  the  assurance  that  if  you 
find  anything  in  my  views  to  which  your  own  sense  of  duty  will  not 
permit  3*011  to  assent,  I  will  unhesitatingly  relieve  you  from  all  em- 
barrassment, so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  by  tendering  you  my  resigna- 
tion. With  very  great  respect,  yours  truly, 

"The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  next  document  I  find  relating  to  this  matter  has  the  tenor 
following : 

"  Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  May  13,  1863. 
"  Hon.  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  return  the  letters  of  General  Garfield  and  Mr. 
Flanders.  I  am  sorry  to  know  the  general's  pet  expedition  under 
Colonel  Straight,  has  already  been  captured.  Whether  it  had  paid 
for  itself,  as  he  hoped,  I  do  not  know.  If  you  think  it  proper  to 
fill  the  agency  mentioned  by  Mr.  Flanders,  by  all  means  let  Mr.  F. 
be  the  man. 

"Please  send  me  over  the  commission  for  Lewis  C.  Ghinn,  as  you 
recommend,  for  collector  of  customs  at  Puget  Sound. 

"Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN." 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  529 

On  the  legal  principle  relating  to  the  reconciliation  of  conflicting 
statements,  it  is  just  to  Mr.  Field,  the  author  of  the  quoted  book, 
entitled,  Memories  of  Many  Men  and  of  Some  Women,  to  note  the 
probability  that  there  was,  between  the  11th  and  13th  of  May,  1863, 
an  interview  of  some  kind,  somewhere,  between  the  President  and 
Mr.  Chase.  And  it  is  possible,  if  not  probable,  that,  at  that  inter- 
view, the  President  absolutely  hugged  our  hero.  But  if  Mr.  Lin- 
coln, in  1864,  made  the  statement  we  have  found  Mr.  Field  ascrib- 
ing to  him,  it  is  reasonably  certain  that,  in  that  statement,  Mr. 
Lincoln  did  not  tell  the  truth.  Did  he  forget  the  facts?  or  did  he 
wilfully  misstate  them?  I  can  not  believe  that  he  forgot  the  facts. 
Still  less  can  I  believe  that  he  willfully  misstated  them.  It  is  much 
easier  to  believe — much  more  rational  to  suppose — that  Mr.  Field's 
account  is,  like  so  many  other  accounts  of  hearsay,  given  long  after 
the  time  when  the  alleged  conversation  happened.  But,  as  already 
intimated,  I  expect  to  show  that  there  are  yet  other  reasons  for 
carefully  scrutinizing  Mr.  Maunsell  B.  Field's  account  of  that 
talk  with  Lincoln. 

It  is  proper,  I  conceive,  to  anticipate  somewhat  by  offering  at 
once  this  letter,  showing  how  our  hero  "stuck"  to  Victor  Smith  : 

"Washington,  D.  C,  January  5.  1865. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  return  your  printed  letter  to  Mr.  Fessenden. 
What  I  suggested  was  a  brief,  uucolored  statement  of  facts — not  an 
impeachment  of  anybody — with  reference  to  securing  the  aid  of  the 
department  in  obtaining  from  Mr.  Merryman  the  amount  embezzled, 
or  lost,  during  his  charge  of  the  office  at  Port  Townsend.  I  fear  the 
letter  you  have  prepared,  and  especially  the  putting  of  it  in  print, 
will  not  advance  that  object.     I  hope  I  may  be  mistaken. 

"  I  believe  I  am  3Tour  true  friend  ;  but  I  can  not  look  at  everything 
as  you  do;  and  perhaps  can  not  feel  exactly  as  you  would  wish,  or 
as  1  should  were  3-our  temperament  mine. 

" If  any  icord  of  mine  would  make  you  collector  again  you  icould  be 
reappointed ;  but  I  think  you  are  mistaken  as  to  the  influence  of  my 
words.  Sincerely  vour  friend, 

"  Victor  Smith,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  author  of  this  work  knew  Victor  Smith  quite  well.  He 
seemed  to  me  as  honest  as  the  average  of  men  ;  but  I  considered 
him  a  special  moralist  and  a  "weak  brother." 

Chase  had  wonderful  idealizing  faculty.  He  could  idealize  the 
most  prosaic  character.  He  con  Id  neglect  his  truest  friends  to  win 
the  doubtful  friendship   of  weak  men.      Bad    men  as  well    as  good 


530  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

men  saw  the  weakness  here  alluded  to.     He  was,  indeed,  sought  less 
by  strong  men  and  by  good  men  than  by  weak  men  and  by  bad  men. 
But  of  that  more  must  be  said  hereafter.     Here  is  a  thoroughly 
characteristic  note  from  the  President  to  our  hero : 

"Executive  Mansion,  "Washington,  June  25.  1863. 
"Hon.  Secretary  of  Treasury  : 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  Hon.  William  Kellogg  will  tell  you  plainly  what 
he  wants;  and  I  wish  him  obliged  so  far  as  you  can  consistently  do 
it.  Please  strain  a  point  for  him,  if  you  do  not  have  to  strain  it  too 
far.  Yours  truly,  A.  LIXCOLX." 

Next,  attention  is  invited  to  this  document : 

"June  28,  1863. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  There  are  two  or  three  circumstances  -vvhich 
perhaps  I  should  have  mentioned,  this  morning,  when  the  subject  of 
General  Hooker's  request  to  be  relieved  was  talked  about.  I  sug- 
gested that  the  request  was  properly  attributable  to  General 
Hooker's  persuasion  that  he  could  not  rely  on  cordial  cooperation 
from  General  Halleck,  and  mentioned  the  receipt  from  the  latter  by 
the  former,  when  I  happened  to  be  with  him,  of  a  telegram  author- 
izing General  Hooker  to  issue  commands  direct  to  troops  in  the  de- 
partment of  General  Heintzelman  and  General  Schenck,  from  which 
I  drew  an  argument,  which  T  urged  on  General  Hooker,  that  General 
Halleck,  tar  from  being  unwilling,  was  really  anxious  to  support  him. 

'•  I  forgot  to  say  what  struck  me  at  the  time  the  telegram  came — 
that  it  was  quite  general  in  its  terms,  and  did  not  except  from  the 
authority  given  the  troops  essential  for  the  immediate  defense  of 
Washington  and  Baltimore  so  distinctly  as  would  have  been  desir- 
able. 

"  Might  not  this  written  telegram  have  conveyed  to  General 
Hooker  a  larger  notion  of  his  authority  than  was  intended?  I 
thought  at  the  time  that  it  would  lead  to  difficulties  through  misap- 
prehension. 

'•After  the  receipt  of  it,  I  have  learned  at  the  War  Department 
that  General  Hooker  issued  an  order  to  the  general  commanding  at 
Alexandria,  which  was  disobeyed.  General  Hooker  directed  him  to 
be  placed  in  arrest ;  but  it  turned  out  that  the  offii-er  was  simply 
obeying  an  order  from  General  Heintzelman,  at  head-quarters  of  the 
army,  to  disregard  all  orders  not  proceeding  from  one  or  the  other  of 
these  sources.  You  will  readily  understand  what  distrust  this  con- 
flict of  orders  might  give  rise  to.  A  day  or  longer  afterward,  Gen- 
eral Hooker  ordered  the  commanding  officer  at  Poolesville  to  proceed 
to  Harper's  Ferry.  I  believe  the  order  was  obeyed;  but  just  such  an 
order  as  was  addressed  to  the  commanding  officer  at  Alexandria,  was 
addressed  to  General  Heintzelman  at  head-quarters,  was  addressed 
to  the  commanding  officer  (Colonel  Jewett,  I  believe)  at  Pooles- 
ville; this  act  again  was  most  unfortunately  calculated  to  impair 
confidence. 

"  Then,  finally,  came  the  order  detaining  a  large  force  at  Harper's 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  531 

Ferry  against  General  Hooker's  urgent  call  for  them  in  his  advance. 
I  know  nothing  of  the  military  reasons  for  it;  hut  can  easily  im- 
agine that  an  arm}"  occupying  a  position  like  that  of  the  Maryland 
Heights  would  boot  little  use,  when  the  main  army  was  in  advance 
of  them  and  would  fall  back  and  reoccupy  the  position  should  it 
become  necessary. 

"  I  mention  these  matters  for  your  consideration,  and  in  order  that 
no  injustice  may  be  done  to  anybody.         Yours  truly, 

"  The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  next  offering  I  make  is  a  great  temptation  to  my  heart  and 
my  pen.  But  the  temptation  is  resisted.  I  will  only  say,  by  way 
of  farther  introduction,  that  had  I  not  written,  though  I  have  never 
dared  to  publish,  a  little  book  which  Chase  decidedly  encouraged 
me  to  put  before  the  public,  it  is  to  me,  at  least,  most  probable  that 
I  would  not  have  written  the  present  work.  The  first  form  of  that 
little  book  was  entitled  Ernest  and  the  Flag  he  Followed,  in  respect 
to  which  Chase  wrote  to  me  as  follows  : 

"  August  15,  1863. 

';  My  Dear  Judge  :  Your  letter  of  the  14th  is  before  me.  I  send 
you  a  copy  of  Grant's  official  report  in  the  '  War  [Army]  and 
Navy  Gazette,'  though  you  have  doubtless  already  seen  it.  I  shall 
be  very  glad  to  see  your  biography  of  Ernest.  The  obituary  which 
you  sent  failed  to  reach  me.  What  sacrifices  are  made  of  our  noblest 
j-outh  for  the  suppression  of  this  accursed  rebellion,  and  yet  what 
memories  will  be  kept  greener  than  theirs!  God  grant  that  the  sup- 
p>ression  may  be  so  effectual  <tn<l  thorough  that  such  sacrifices  need  never 
be  repeated.  Cordially,  your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  Hon.  E.  B.  Warden,  Cincinnati,  Ohio." 

Here  is  another  letter  on  the  same  sad  subject : 

"  October  23,  18G3. 

"  My  Dear  Judge  :  Yours  of  the  20th  is  just  received,  and  touches 
me  deeply.  The  loss  of  your  noble  son  moves  my  profoundest  sym- 
pathies, and  it  is  fit  that  just  such  a  monument  as  j-our  book  will 
make  for  him  should  be  constructed  by  your  hand.  It  is  the  will  of 
God  that  the  precious  blood,  poured  out  in  this  terrible  struggle,  shall 
nourish  the  vine  which  He  planted  in  America  to  fresher,  nobler  growth  f 
I  reverently  hope  so.  The  effects  of  the  fiery  trial  to  your  mind  and 
many  other  spirits  of  like  reach  and  culture  confirm  the  hope.  It  is 
a  real  gratification  to  be  assured  that  any  words  of  mine  have  con- 
tributed to  your  present  convictions. 

"  I  was  never  an  Abolitionist  of  that  school  which  taught  that  there 
could  never  be  a  human  duty  superior  to  that  of  the  instant  ami  uncon- 
ditional  abolition   of  slavery.      He    who    sees    the    tower   in    the 

QUARRY    AND    THE    OAK    IN    THE    ACORN    REQUIRES    NO  IMPOSSIBLE   TASK 

from  his  creatures.     But,  for  more  than  half  my  life,  I   bave  been 
an   abolitionist  of  that  other  school,  which  believed  slavediolding 
35 


532 


THE   PRIVATE     LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 


wrong,  and  that  all  responsible  for  the  wrong  should  do  what  was 
possible  for  them,  in  their  respective  spheres,  for  its  redress.  I  shall 
be  very  glad  to  see  your  book. 

"  Sincerely,  your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"Hon.  E.  B.  Warden,  Cincinnati,  Ohio." 

August  29  furnishes  the  following  : 

"  Eeoeived  from  A.  C.  Wilson,  President  of  the  Continental  Bank 
Note  Company,  his  charges  against  Mr.  Clark,  and  referred  them  to 
Mr.  C.  for  explanation  or  answer.  The  charges  seem  to  be  inspired 
by  no  public  reason,  but  by  hostility  to  Mr.  Clark  because  of  his  sup- 
posed animosity  and  injustice  to  the  company. 

"  Conferred  with  Mr.  McCulloch  on  the  subject  of  deposits  with  the 
national  banks,  and  determined  that  the  clerk  having  special  charge 
of  this  business  and  its  correspondence,  shall  take  a  desk  under  Mr. 
McC.  and  be  attached  to  his  bureau. 

"Mr.  Smith,  chief  clerk  of  the  Third  Auditor's  Office,  was  con- 
sulted on  the  subject  of  the  selection  of  the  chief  clerk  in  his  place, 
in  view  of  his  probable  appointment  to  some  outside  position." 

In  the  afternoon  the  President  came  in,  with  letters  from  General 
Grant  and  Banks  in  relation  to  the  arming  of  negro  troops,  and  read 
them  to  Mr.  Chase.  General  Banks  stated  that  he  had  already  about 
12,000  in  about  twenty-five  regiments  of  500  each,  which  number  he 
regarded  as  most  likely  to  secure  good  discipline  and  drill,  and  the 
greatest  efficiency  of  the  regiments  when  filled  to  their  maximums, 
which  he  expected  to  accomplish  by  degrees.  He  thought  he  had 
now  organized  about  all  the  blacks  who  could  be  obtained  till  a  larger 
extent  of  country  should  be  occupied.  General  Grant's  was  much  to 
the  same  effect,  except  that  he  did  not  contemplate  any  other  orig- 
inal organization  as  to  numbers  than  that  of  the  white  regiments, 
nor  did  he  specify  the  numbers  actually  enlisted.  Both  generals  ex- 
press confidence  in  the  efficiency  of  these  troops  and  clear  opinions  in 
favor  of  using  them.  These  letters  gave  much  satisfaction  to  the 
President,  and  Mr.  Chase  suggested  to  him  that  not  only  was  the 
public  sentiment  of  the  loyal  people  of  Louisiana  in  favor  of  negro 
troops,  but  also  in  favor  of  the  revocation  of  the  exception  in  his 
Proclamation  of  the  two  districts,  including  New  Orleans,  from  its 
operation,  and  told  him  that  some  weeks  ago,  after  talking  with 
him  on  this  subject,  though  more  particularly  in  reference  to  the  ex- 
cepted Virginia  districts,  he  (Mr.  Chase)  had  prepared  the  draft  of 
a  proclamation  revoking  the  exceptions,  which,  with  his  permission, 
he  would  hand  to  him.  The  President  received  it  kindly,  and  said 
he  would  consider  it  further. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  '>'■)■) 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  Mr.  Mellen  and  Mr.  Risley  went 
to  Mr.  Chase's  house,  and  they  with  him  read  through  the  new  reg- 
ulations of  trade  and  concerning  abandoned  property,  and  completed 
their  revision.  Mr.  Mellen  was  then  to  return  to  his  agency,  and 
Mr.  Risely  to  supervise  the  printing  of  the  new  regulations. 

Next  I  ask  attention  to  a  matter  which  appears  to  me  of  more 
than  ordinary  interest: 

On  Sunday,  August  30,  1863,  Mr.  Covode  called  at  Mr.  Chase's 
house  after  church,  and  desired  to  know  Mr.  C.'s  opinion  as  to  the 
proper  course  to  be  taken  in  Pennsylvania.  Mr.  Chase  replied 
there  seemed  to  him  but  one  course  to  be  taken,  and  that  was  to 
give  a  hearty  support  to  the  reelection  of  Governor  Curtin.  Mr. 
Covode  thought  Governor  Curtin  and  his  friends  designed  that  he 
should  be  brought  forward  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  and 
that  if  elected  Governor  he  would  shape  matters  in  Pennsylvania 
so  as  to  secure  its  delegates  in  the  convention,  while  a  majority  of 
the  loyal  men  of  Pennsylvania  preferred  Mr.  Chase,  and  that  the 
vote  of  the  State  controlled  by  Curtin  would  not  be  given  to  Chase 
unless  under  some  arrangement  which  would  pledge  to  Governor 
Curtin  and  his  friends  the  patronage  in  Pennsylvania.  To  this  Mr. 
Chase  replied  that  no  speculations  as  to  Governor  Curtin's  future 
course  could  excuse  the  loyal  men  from  supporting  him  now;  that 
the  future  must  take  care  of  itself.  That  he,  Mr.  Chase,  was  not 
anxious  for  the  Presidency.  That  there  was  but  one  position  in  the 
government  which  he  really  would  like  to  have,  if  it  were  possible  to 
have  it  without  any  sacrifice  of  principle  or  public  interest,  and  that 
was  the  Chief  Justiceship  ;  and  that,  should  the  wishes  of  these  po- 
litical friends  incline  to  him  as  a  nominee  for  the  Presidency,  these 
wishes  must  certainly  be  of  a  public  nature;  for  he  certainly  would 
never  consent,  under  any  circumstances,  to  make  pledges  as  to  ap- 
pointments to  office,  but  would  insist  upon  being  left  entirely  free 
to  avail  himself  of  the  services  of  the  best  men  in  the  country.  Mr. 
Covode  approved  of  these  sentiments,  and  said  that  he  would  con- 
fer with  a  number  of  prominent  citizens  opposed  to  Mr.  Curtin, 
the  next  evening,  at  Philadelphia,  and  endeavor  to  secure  united 
action  in  his  favor. 

After  Mr.  Covode  left  Mr.  Mellen  called  and  dined  with  the  Sec- 
retary. Mr.  Mellen's  agency  was,  in  part,  the  theme  of  conversa- 
tion. Mr.  Chase  records  that  he  considered  his  guest  "  active,  in- 
telligent, and  faithful,"  and  thought   if  any   one   could   accomplish 


534  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

the  work  of  regulating  trade  without  prejudice  to  military  opera- 
tions, and  at  the  same  time  to  the  satisfaction  of  honest  people  en- 
gaged in  it,  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of  the  rebel  States 
within  our  military  lines,  Mr.  Mellen  could  do  it. 

Mr.  Mellen  is  dead.     Pie  died  since  the  death  of  Chase. 

We  find  the  following  entry  dated  August  31,  1863: 

"Business  at  the  department  for  to-day  was  chiefly  routine. 
Wrote  to  Mr.  Cisco,  directing  him  to  ascertain  whether  the  banks 
and  bankers  of  New  York  would  subscribe  $35,000,000  for  five  per 
cent,  treasury  notes,  payable  in  a  year,  and  made  a  legal  tender  for 
their  face.  Addressed  similar  letters  to  the  assistant  treasurers  at 
Boston  and  Philadelphia,  asking  for  a  subscription  of  ten  millions 
at  Boston  and  five  millions  at  Philadelphia.  I  am  not  at  all  san- 
guine in  the  expectation  that  success  will  attend  these  applications. 
It  is  substantially  a  proposition  to  the  capitalist  to  loan  money  to 
the  government  for  a  year  at  about  5J  per  cent.,  with  a  privilege, 
however,  of  being  repaid  at  any  time  after  30  days  when  the  treas- 
ury notes  can  be  delivered. 

"A  note  from  Senator  Henderson  apprised  me  that  a  delegation 
from  St.  Louis  desired  to  call  upon  me  with  reference  to  the  regula- 
tions of  the  river  trade.  I  replied  that  I  would  see  them  to-morrow 
at  ten  or  two  o'clock,  as  best  suited  them.  I  afterward  received  a 
note  from  the  senator,  saying  they  would  call  at  two  to-morrow 
afternoon." 

In  the  afternoon  of  August  31st  Mr.  Chase  called  at  the  Presi- 
dent's, and  found  him  listening  to  representations  of  Senator  Bowdoin 
and   Representatives    Chandler    and    Segur,  of   Virginia,  and  Dr. 

,  of  Northampton  county,  concerning    the   tax    imposed    by 

order  of  the  War  Department  on  the  people  of  that  county  to  pay 
for  the  rebuilding  of  a  light-house  lately  destroyed  by  rebels. 
The  object  of  these  gentlemen  was  to  induce  the  President  to  revoke 
that  order,  on  the  ground  that  the  people  of  Northampton  were 
thoroughly  loyal,  and  that  the  destruction  of  the  light-house  was 
without  the  least  privity  of  theirs,  but  by  rebels  who  came  from 
that  portion  of  Virginia  still  controlled  by  rebels.  After  these  gen- 
tlemen took  their  departure,  the  President  said  to  Mr.  Chase  that 
he  felt  inclined  to  revoke  the  order.  Mr.  C.  suggested  that  per- 
haps it  would  be  well  to  suspend  the  exception  of  Northampton  and 
the  other  counties  of  Virginia  from  his  Proclamation,  and  accompany 
that  revocation  by  the  revocation  of  the  order  imposing  the  tax,  in- 
asmuch as  the  first  revocation  would  insure  the  loyalty  which  the 
people  of  the  county  professed. 

Turning  from  this  subject,  Mr.  Chase  asked  the  President  to  ap- 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  535 

point  Mr.  Shellabarger  Governor  of  Dacotah  if  he  should  determine 
not  to  give  that  plaee  to  Judge  Bliss,  and  if  lie  should,  then  to  give 
the  Chief  Justiceship  to  Mr.  Shellabarger.  He  also  asked  the 
President,  in  case  Mr.  Bingham  should  decline  the  judgeship  at 
Key  West,  to  give  it  to  Judge  Lawrence,  of  Logan  county,  Ohio. 
The  President  received  these  requests  favorably,  but  promised 
nothing. 

Mr.  Chase  then  called  at  the  War  Department  and,  not  finding  the 
Secretary,  left  a  request  that  he  would  call  at  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment. He  then  went  to  the  Navy  Department,  to  inquire  if  there 
was  any  necessity  for  a  judge  at  Key  West.  Secretary  Welles  was 
absent  at  the  North,  but  Assistant-Secretary  Fox  informed  Mr.  C. 
that  the  want  of  a  judge  at  Key  West  occasioned  great  inconvenience, 
and  risk  of  public  and  private  injuries;  but  that  he  thought  Judge 
Marvin  would  hold  the  court,  if  requested,  until  his  successor  could 
arrive  in  November.  Mr.  Fox  informed  Secretary  Chase  that  there 
were  at  that  time  between  sixty  and  seventy  naval  vessels  undergoing 
repairs  at  New  York,  and  the  loss  in  consequence  of  the  poor  tim- 
ber necessarily  employed  in  their  construction  was  enormous.  Mr. 
Chase  inquired  if  any  steps  had  been  taken  toward  purchasing  tar, 
pitch,  and  turpentine,  and  ship  timber,  in  North  Carolina,  the  export 
of  which  he  (Mr.  Chase)  had  prohibited,  in  order  to  give  the  Navy 
Department  an  opportunity  to  buy  at  reasonable  rates.  Mr.  Fox 
replied  that  orders  had  been  given  to  purchase,  except  as  to  ship 
timber.  Mr.  Chase  then  inquired  the  cause  of  such  frequent  viola- 
tions of  the  blockade  at  Wilmington,  to  which  Mr.  Fox  answered 
that  the  blockage  there  was  now  weak,  in  consequence  of  the  with- 
drawal of  so  many  of  the  ships  for  Charleston,  and  for  repairs;  but 
that  in  a  few  days  it  would  be  greatly  strengthened.  Mr.  Chase  then 
returned  to  the  department.  Mr.  Stanton  soon  called,  and  Mr.  C. 
suggested  to  him  to  propose  to  the  President  the  revocation  of  the 
Proclamation  exceptions  in  Virginia  in  connection  with  the  sus- 
pension or  revocation  of  the  Northampton  tax  order.  Mr.  Stanton 
seemed  disinclined  to  connect  the  two,  but  was  disposed  to  insist  on 
the  tax.  They  discussed  the  question  briefly  and  left  it  unsettled. 
Mr.  Chase  represented  to  Secretary  Stanton  the  great  importance 
of  prompt  and  vigorous  military  action  ;  that  the  following  day 
the  amount  of  suspended  requisitions,  including  the  pay  of  the 
whole  army  for  July  and  August,  would  approach  $35,000,000, 
of    which    Secretary    Chase  said   he    could  not    command,   in    or- 


536  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

dinary  ways,  over  $5,000,000,  and  that  unless  the  war  could 
be  pushed  more  vigorously,  and  with  greater  certainty  of  early 
and  successful  termination,  there  was  cause  for  serious  apprehen- 
sion of  financial  embarrassment.  Mr.  Stanton  replied  that  the 
delay  of  General  Rosecrans  was  the  principal  cause  of  difficulty  ; 
that  he  (General  R.)  commanded  a  full  third  of  all  the  effective 
force  of  the  country,  and  did  nothing,  comparatively,  with  it.  That 
in  a  week's  time  he  could,  if  he  would,  penetrate  those  portions 
of  Georgia  and  Alabama  in  which  the  negroes  had  been  taken 
by  their  masters,  and  where  the  gathering  of  large  bodes  of  negro 
troops  would  be  easy.  He  said  that  he  had  represented  these  things 
to  the  President,  but  so  far  without  much  effect. 

"At  the  house,  in  the  evening,"  continues  the  entry  here  drawn 
from,  "Major  Ta3'lor,  Dr.  Schmidt,  and  Mr.  Wright  of  California, 
called.  Dr.  Schmidt  warned  me,  in  his  way,  against  Mr.  Clark  and 
Dr.  Gwinn  ;  to  which  I  answered  that,  if  facts  were  presented  to  me 
instead  of  vague  generalities,  they  would  be  considered.  Mr.  Wright 
said  he  should  like  some  position  at  my  hands  some  fourteen  months 
hence;  to  which  I  replied  that,  at  that  time,  it  was  not  likely  I 
should  have  any  to  give.  He  then  went  into  a  statement  of  his  con- 
nection with  the  Fremont  campaign  in  1856,  and  of  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  in  '60,  and  expressed  his  conviction  that  I  would  be  the 
nominee  in  '64,  and  that  it  was  his  wish  to  promote  that  result.  I 
replied  that  nothing  could  be  more  uncertain  than  the  currents  of 
popular  sentiment;  that  I  was  by  no  means  anxious  that  they  should 
turn  toward  me;  and  that,  if  they  did,  and  the  result  should  be  such 
as  he  predicted,  it  must  be  without  any  pledges  from  me  in  relation 
to  appointments  ;  for  no  man  could  honorably  take  charge  of  the 
administration  under  any  obligations  than  those  of  duty,  and  exer- 
cise its  power  for  the  best  good  of  the  whole  country,  in  conformity 
Avith  the  principles  upon  which,  and,  in  general,  with  the  aid  of  the 
best  men  by  whom  he  had  been  elected." 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  537 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

MARTIAL   MEASURES   AND   FINANCIAL   MATTERS — HABEAS   CORPU8. 

SEPTEMBER   1,  1863,  a  committee  from  St.  Louis,  of  whom 
Mr.  Breckinridge  appeared   to  be  the  chairman,  handed  Mr. 
Chase  a  letter,  and  withdrew. 

"On  reading  the  letter,"  says  our  hero,  "  I  found  it  an  indictment 
against  the  course  of  the  government  in  respect  to  Western  trade, 
with  a  demand  that  the  river  be  opened  to  the  same  freedom  of 
trade  as  in  times  of  peace,  except  so  far  as  restoration  might  be 
necessaiy  at  points  of  distribution  within  the  rebel  States.  I  sent  for 
Mr.  Barnitz,  and  consulted  with  him  on  this  subject.  He  prepared 
a  draft  of  a  replj'  to  the  committee. 

"I  directed  Mr.  Plantz1  to  prepare  an  abstract  of  the  papers  re- 
lating to  the  compensation  of  Jay  Cooke  as  general  subscription 
agent  for  the  sale  of  five-twenties."2 

Next,  I  call  attention  to  the  following  statement  under  date  Sep- 
tember 2,  1863 : 

"Nothing  of  note  transpired  during  the  day. 

"In  the  evening  General  Schenck  called,  and  conversed  freely 
about  the  court  of  inquiry  called  nominally  to  investigate  the  con- 
duct of  General  Milroy,  but  which  subjected  to  its  investigations  his 
conduct,  as  well  as  all  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  evacua- 
tion of  Winchester.  He  was  much  dissatisfied  with  these  proceed- 
ings, which  gave  him  no  notice,  and  allowed  him  no  opportunity  for 
proper  defense.  He  said  he  should  call  upon  the  President,  and  have 
the  matter  set  right.  I  tendered  him  my  services,  so  far  as  they 
might  be  useful." 

Under  date  September  3  the  same  record  says : 

"  Mr.  Risley  came  to  breakfast,  bringing  with  him  the  still  unfin- 
ished regulations.  I  could  give  but  little  attention  to  them,  being 
compelled  to  prepare  an  answer  to  the  St.  Louis  committee,  which  I 
wrote  after  breakfast  and  took  to  the  department  to  be  copied. 

"Governor  Pierpont  called,  and  talked  about  Virginia  affairs.     He 


1  Private  secretary. 

2 There  is  this:     "Note — This  draft  was  not  used." 


538  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

thought  a  majority  of  the  members  of  the  legislature  would  be  in 
favor  of  calling  a  convention  to  amend  the  constitution  so  as  to 
make  it  a  free  labor  State.  He  said  he  had  not  yet  sent  a  written 
request  to  the  President  for  a  revocation  of  the  exception  of  the 
south-eastern  counties  in  his  Proclamation  ;  and  that  though  he  had 
originally  asked  for  this  exception,  he  became  fully  satisfied  that  it 
was  unwise,  and  had  represented  to  the  President  his  wish  to  have 
it  revoked,  I  told  him  that  if  he  would  put  this  wish  in  writing, 
and  place  his  wish  on  grounds  of  military  necessity,  the  revocation 
would  probably  be  made;  and  I  suggested  to  him  some  grounds  of 
military  necessity  which  seemed  to  me  important.  He  replied  that, 
if  I  would  make  a  draft  of  a  letter  he  would  use  it  in  framing  a 
request  to  the  President  for  the  revocation.  I  told  him  I  would  do 
so  within  the  next  half  hour.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time  he 
called,  and  I  handed  him  the  draft.1" 


1  Indorsed,  "Draft  of  letter,  Governor  Pierpont  to  the  President,  asking  revo- 
cation of  exceptions  to  Emancipation  Proclamation,"  is  a  paper,  of  which  the  con- 
tents, in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Chase,  are  transcribed  as  follows: 

"Sir:  The  exception  of  the  two  eastern  shore  counties  of  Virginia,  and  four 
other  counties  on  the  other  shore,  including  the  two  cities  of  Norfolk  and  Portsmouth 
from  the  operation  of  your  Proclamation  of  the  1st  of  January,  has  not  been  attended 
with  the  beneficial  consequences  you  anticipated.  Instead  of  inducing  a  return  to 
loyalty,  it  has,  in  my  judgment,  encouraged  disloyalists;  while  the  military  neces- 
sity which  warranted  the  Proclamation  was  as  urgent  in  the  excepted  counties  as  in 
any  other. 

"That  military  necessity  has  now  become  even  more  obvious  than  it  was  then. 
Within  the  last  few  weeks,  the  Cape  Charles  light-house  has  been  destroyed  by  reb- 
els or  by  traitors.  No  such  outrage  could  be  perpetrated  if  the  exception  were 
revoked  and  the  necessary  military  force  for  protection,  by  recruits  from  any  class 
disposed  to  enlist.  Blacks  enough  to  form  a  substantial  defense  and  security  for  the 
public  property  and  the  commerce  protected  by  the  light-house,  could  be  easily 
enlisted,  if  the  exceptions  were  revoked. 

"It  is  admitted,  now,  by  nearly  all,  that  the  recruiting  of  black  troops,  sanctioned 
by  you,  is  a  wise  and  necessary  measure.  In  few  places  could  more  or  better  men, 
in  proportion  to  the  whole  population,  of  this  description,  be  obtained  than  in  Nor- 
folk, Portsmouth,  and  the  excepted  counties,  if  the  exception  were  revoked.  As 
long  as  it  continues,  it  is  a  discouragement  and  embarrassment  to  such  enlist- 
ments. 

"The  fact  of  the  existence  of  the  exception  has  greatly  emboldened  opposition 
to  the  government  in  its  efforts  to  suppress  the  rebellion.  Had  there  been  no  excep- 
tion, it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  the  murder  by  Dr.  Wright  of  an  officer,  for 
the  reason  that  he  commanded  colored  troops,  would  not  have  occurred.  Certain  it 
is  that  if  it  be  revoked,  military  administration  in  Norfolk  and  its  vicinity  will  be 
much  easier,  and  military  operations  in  that  region  be  much  safer  and  much  less 
liable  to  be  thwarted  or  defeated. 

"I  respectfully  submit  that  these  reasons  fully  justify,  and,  indeed,  require  the 
revoking  of  the  exceptions,  on  the  ground  of  military  necessity;  and  I  will  not  now 
advert  to  other  reasons,  which,  not  being  precisely  of  a  military  nature,  should 
not  influence  your  action,  but  which,  nevertheless,  are  very  strong  with  the  loyal 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  539 

The  register  goes  on  as  follows: 

"Judge  Whittaker,  of  New  Orleans,  dined,  and  afterward  look  a 
ride,  with  me.  We  conversed  fully  about  the  state  of  t hinga  in  Louisi- 
ana, and  be  expressed  himself  as  being  sat islit'd  thai  slavery  was 
virtually  abolished,  and  that  the  constitution  of  the  State  should  lie 
so  formed  as  to  prohibit  it  permanently.  He  was  not,  at  first,  as  de- 
cided in  these  sentiments  as  he  became  toward  the  end  of  our  con- 
versation. Indeed.  I  had  expected  to  find  him,  from  the  representa- 
tions of  Mr.  Dennison  and  Mr.  Plumlev,  much  farther  advanced  than 
1  did. 

"In  the  evening,  Messrs.  Mc.Iilton.  Meredith,  Turner,  and  Snow- 
den  called,  to  converse  about  matters  in  Maryland.  They  stated  that 
Mr.  Swann  would  probably  be  a  candidate  against  Mr.  ])avis  on  tho 
part  of  the  Conservative  Union  men;  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Radicals  would  probably  nominate  candidates  in  the  several  districts 
where  the  Conservatives  had  succeeded  in  carrying  the  conventions. 
All  these  gentlemen  seemed  to  belong  to  the  Conservative  side,  but 
were  desirous  that  Mr.  Swann  should  not  be  a  candidate  ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  the  candidates  who  had  been  nominated  by  the  Con- 
servatives should  not  be  opposed.  I  expressed  my  great  regret  that 
the  division  had  occurred,  but  said  that  I  felt  it  was  founded  in  dif- 
ferences too  radical  to  be  overcome.  I  could  see  no  remedy,  unless 
both  sides  could  agree  to  call  a  convention  upon  a  platform  satis- 
factory to  each,  and  support  the  candidates  that  were  alread}-  or 
might  be  nominated,  and  accept  it  in  good  faith.  Mr.  McJilton 
thought  if  some  of  the  leaders  would  come  together  and  talk  mat- 
ters over  in  a  patriotic  spirit  of  accommodation,  that  some  good 
might  come  of  it,  and  some  common  ground  be  found.  I  begged  him 
to  do  what  he  could  to  accomplish  this  result,  and  especially  to  call, 
with  some  others  of  Mr.  Swann's  friends,  and  represent  to  him  the 
impossibility  of  supporting  him,  if  he  should  be  a  candidate,  and 
induce  him,  if  possible,  not  to  consent  to  such  a  use  of  his  name. 
He  promised  to  do  this,  and  the  gentlemen  left  me. 

"Mr.  Taftand  Mr.  French,  of  Cincinnati,  also  called,  to  talk  over 
Ohio  affairs  and  political  matters  generally.  Mr.  Parker,  of  St.  Louis, 
also  called,  about  his  express  company,  with  a  letter  from  Mr.  Mc- 
Kee.     Sent  wTord  to  him  to  call  at  the  department  to-morrow." 

Under  date  September  4  appears  the  entry  : 

"  At  the  meeting  of  the  Cabinet  (so  called),  to-day,  Mr.  Bates  stated 
that  the  restrictions  on  trade  created  a  great  deal  of  inconvenience; 
that  he  thought  the  river  should  now  be  free  to  trade  as  in  times  of 
peace,  except  a«t  points  occupied  by  our  troops,  and  that  care  should 
be  taken  that  supplies  did  not  reach  rebels,  lie  admitted  that  some 
few  thousands  of  dollars  worth  of  goods  would  get  to  them  under  the 
system  he  proposed,  but  he  thought  this  evil  would  be  trivial  com- 
pared with  the  evils  of  restriction.     I  stated  briefly  the  law  and  tho 


citizens  of  Virginia,  for  desiring  that  all  parts  of  the  State  be  placed  precisely  on 
the  same  footing  in  respect  to  exemption  from  slavery." 


540  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

executive  action  on  the  subject,  and  that  the  change  proposed  by  Mr. 
Bates  was  disapproved  by  Generals  Banks  and  Grant.  I  added  that 
I  had  been  revising  the  regulations,  and  hoped  soon  to  have  them 
complete;  that  they  had  been  modified  in  favor  of  trade  as  far  as  the 
improved  condition  of  affairs  would  allow,  but  would  not,  I  foared, 
meet  the  sanction  of  the  generals,  whose  views  and  wishes  were  en- 
titled to  the  most  consideration.  Mr.  Stanton  stated  that  a  letter  had 
been  recently  received  from  General  Grant,  in  which  he  proposed  to 
prohibit  all  trade  except  in  certain  articles  through  post-sutlers;  that 
he  did  not  agree  with  General  Grant  in  this  view,  believing  that  sut- 
lers should  be  confined  to  furnishing  supplies  to  the  army,  and  that 
all  trade  with  citizens  should  be  under  the  regulations  of  the  Treas- 
ury Department.  After  some  observations  from  the  President  and 
others,  the  subject  was  dropped." 

The  President  then  called  the  attention  of  Mr.  Stanton  to  the 
order  prohibiting  the  export  of  arms;  and,  after  some  conversation, 
it  was  agreed  that  all  arms  imported  into  the  country  should  be 
allowed  to  be  exported  to  the  place  from  which  they  were  shipped. 
Mr.  Chase  then  called  Mr.  Stanton's  attention  to  the  order  prohib- 
iting the  exportation  of  live  stock,  and  he  consented  that  the  order 
should  be  modified  so  far  as  to  allow  exportation  from  ports  on  the 
Pacific.  On  returning  to  the  department,  in  order  to  avoid  delay, 
Mr.  Chase  drew  up  an  executive  order  modifying  the  former  order, 
so  as  to  allow  exportation  of  imported  arms  to  the  place  from  which 
they  were  originally  shipped,  and  the  exportation  of  live  stock  from 
the  ports  of  the  Pacific,  and  sent  them  to  Mr.  Stanton  for  his  ap- 
proval, and  then  to  the  President  for  his  signature;  and  he  then 
telegraphed  the  collector  at  San  Francisco  that  the  exportation  of 
live  stock  was  permitted. 

Mr.  Scudder,  of  Memphis,  called,  to  whom  Mr.  Chase  read  the 
letter  of  the  St.  Louis  committee  and  his  reply.  Mr.  S.  approved 
the  letter,  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  no  greater  liberty  of  trade 
than  Mr.  Chase  proposed  could  be  allowed  safely  at  present. 

Then  we  have  the  statement : 

"  Mr.  Tilton,  of  the  New  York^ Independent,  came  to  dinner,  and  rode 
with  me  afterward.  I  endeavored  to  impress  upon  his  mind  that 
there  were  but  two  practical  ways  of  reconstructing  the  proclamation 
States  so  as  to  [protect]  them  against  the  reestablishment  of  slavery; 
one  b}T  the  organization  of  provisional  governments  ;  the  other  by  en- 
couraging the  loyal  citizens  to  reestablish  State  governments  under 
constitutions  prohibiting  slavery.  He  inquired  much  concerning 
men  and  things,  and  I  endeavored  to  give  him  correct,  information. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Turner  (colored)  called  for  a  letter  to  Mr.  Stanton, 
recommending  him  as  chaplain,  which  I  gave  him.  Professor  Hed- 
rick  also  called  to  talk  about  North  Carolina  matters." 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE,  ".  I  1 

Under  date,  Saturday,  September  5,  we  liave  what  follows: 

"Telegraphed  the  collector  at  San  Francisco,  congratulating  him 
on  the  result  of  the  California  election. 

'•Received  a  telegram  from  Judge  Bond,  desiring  to  have  an  inter- 
view  arranged  with  the  President  for  Mr.  Goldsborough,  and  other 
Maryland  gentlemen.  Sent  to  the  President  a  commission  for  Mr. 
Stewart,  in  place  of  Mr.  Ridgeley,  who  was  removed  because  of  his 
hostility  to  the  President's  policy." 

Sunday,  September  6,  Mr.  Heaton  took  breakfast  with  Mr.  Chase, 
and  gave  him  a  full  account  of  the  progress  of  the  emancipation 
sentiment  in  North  Carolina.  He  represented  the  hostility  to  the 
Proclamation  to  be  confined  principally  to  the  former  slave-owners, 
who  wish  to  reenslave  the  emancipees,  but  the  poorer  classes,  and 
many  of  the  middle  class,  desire  freedom  and  with  it  education  and 
progress.  On  talking  with  men  who  came  in  to  sell  a  barrel  of 
turpentine,  sometimes  bringing  it  in  a  boat  for  several  miles,  or  to  sell 
watermelons  from  an  old  cart,  he  found  them  always  quick  to  un- 
derstand the  cause  of  their  troubles  and  their  poverty,  and  anxious 
for  the  removal  of  slavery,  in  order  that  their  children  might  have 
the  advantages  of  education,  which  had  been  denied  to  them  by  the 
aristocracy. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  Mr.  Stickney  called.  lie  had 
just  arrived  from  Florida,  and  lastly  from  Morris  Island.  lie 
said  that  it  was  easy  at  that  time  to  take  possession  of  Florida  ;  that 
five  thousand  men  could  accomplish  it.  General  Saxton  desired  the 
command,  and  General  Gilmore  approved  the  expedition,  and  was 
willing  to  spare  one  or  two  regiments  to  aid  it.  If  the  business 
could  be  promptly  taken  hold  of  and  pushed  vigorously,  Mr.  Stick- 
ney was  confident  that  Florida  could  be  restored  as  a  free  State  by 
the  1st  of  December. 

Friday,  September  11,  Mr.  Galloway  breakfasted  with  Secretary 
Chase.  They  talked  of  Ohio  affairs.  Mr.  Galloway  spoke  encour- 
agingly of  the  political  prospects  at home  ;  but  what  of  that?  What 
did  "  Sam.  Galloway"  ever  thoroughly  learn  about  either  polities  or 
politicians?  If  possible,  he  was  even  a  worse  politician  than  our 
hero. 

Mr.  Chase  called  on  the  President  immediately  alter  breakfast  to 
obtain  his  approval  of  the  revised  regulations  of  trade.  The  Presi- 
dent referred  him  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  wishing  that  the  Secre- 
tary's order  to  officers  to  observe  the  regulations  should  precede  his 


542  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

approval.     Going  then  to  the  "War   Office,  Mr.  Chase  obtained  Mr 
Stanton's  order,  and  at  the  Navy  Department  obtained  that  of  Secre- 
tary Welles.     Mr.  C.  then   returned  to   the   President's,  where  the 
President  read  to  him  the  rough  draft  of  a  letter  to  Andrew  John- 
son, of  Tennessee,  urging  immediate  measures   to  reconstitute  that 
State,  and   to   so   amend  the  constitution  as  to  insure  emancipation, 
and   promising   him    that  the  reconstituted    State    government,  so 
framed  as  to  exclude  the  possibility  of  rebels  regaining  the  ascend- 
ancy, would  be   recognized  and  sustained  by  the  national   govern- 
ment.    Immediately  after  this,  Secretaries   Stanton  and   Fox   and 
General  Halleck  came  in.     Some  conversation   took  place  about  the 
farther  steps  for  the  reduction   of  Charleston.     Fox  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  harbor  outside  of  Charleston  had  been  closed  by  the 
rebels  so  as  to  be  inaccessible  to  our  ships,  except  through  a  narrow 
passage,  in  which  they  kept  a  ship  ready  to  be  sunk,  so  as  to  close 
it  completely.     He  said  he  thought  that,  if  such  proved  to  be  the 
fact,  the  only  course  would  be  to  reduce  the  batteries  on  Sullivan's 
Island,  so  as  to  command  that  portion  of  the  inner  harbor  outside 
of  the  obstructions.     Gilmore  had  told  him,  he  said,  before  going  on 
the  expedition,  that  he  could  reduce  Fort  Moultrie  from  Cumming's 
Point.     Mr.  Stanton  doubted  the  existence  of  the  obstructions,  and 
said  that  the  admiral  should  try  immediately  what  could  be  done. 
After  Fox  left  the  President  mentioned  the  resignation  of  General 
Burnside,  received  the  day  before,     lie  said  he  was  not  willing  to 
accept  it — at  present,  at  any  rate — as  Burnside  was  then  doing  very 
well,  and  was  very  loyal  and  true-hearted.     He  proposed  to  say  to 
him  that  he  could  not  be  spared  just  then;  but  that,  after  a  while, 
should  success  still  attend  us,  and  his  private  affairs  should  make  his 
retirement   necessary,  his   resignation  would   be  accepted.     General 
Ilalleck    then    spoke  briefly  of  affairs  in    Tennessee.     He    thought 
Rosecrans  should  advance,   so   as  to  hold    the   mountains   between 
him  and  Atlanta;  but  not  attempt  to  advance  on  Atlanta  until  the 
movements  of  the  rebels  were  more  fully  developed;  that  Burnside 
should  also  hold  the  country  toward  the  eastern  limits  of  Tennessee, 
but  not  attempt  a  farther  advance  till  more  certain  intelligence  con- 
cerning the  enemy  and  their  designs. 

While  Mr.  Chase  was  at  the  "War  Department,  Mr.  Stanton  told 
him  he  would  endeavor  the  next  day  to  prevail  on  the  President  to 
revoke  his  exceptions  in  Virginia,  and  to  adopt  some  settled  prin- 
ciples respecting  the  enlistment  of  negroes  held  as  slaves,  and  that 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  .",  |.) 

he,  Mr.  Stanton,  wanted  Mr.  Chase  to  be  int. -cut.  He  wished  him 
also  to  see  Seward  and  ask  him  to  use  his  influence  with  the  Presi- 
dent to  have  Farrago*  sent  to  Charleston. 

After  Stanton  and  Halleck  had  left,  Mr.  Chase  explained  briefly 
the  trade  regulations  to  the  President,  who  said,  "  Yon  understand 
these  tilings — I  do  not,"  and  signed  the  approval. 

At  the  department  little  of  interest  occurred.  General  Blair 
called,  with  Colonel  Sanford,  and  Secretary  C.  promised  to  speak  to 
the  Secretary  of  War  in  Sanford's  behalf.  General  Cameron  called 
and  told  Mr.  Chase  he  was  about  leaving  town,  and  could  not  dine 
with  him.  The  Secretary  gave  him  a  designation  for  Mr.  Minor. 
Directed  payment  of  the  ten  per  cent,  gold  loan  in  full.  Called  on 
Governor  Seward  and  spoke  to  him  about  sending  Farragut  to 
Charleston,  and  he  promised  to  see  the  President  on  the  subject. 

In  the  evening  Mr.  Chase  had  several  callers,  as  usual ;  among 
others  Reese,  who  promised  to  bring  Judge  Edmonds,  which  Mr.  C. 
told  him  to  do  at  any  time  ;  and  Brand,  whom  the  Secretary  prom- 
ised to  assist  in  obtaining  promotion,  if  practicable;  and  Field,  who 
gave  him  an  account  of  the  bank  discussion  in  the  bank  meeting 
about  the  loan. 

Monday,  September  14,  Governor  Andrew  breakfasted  with  Mr. 
Chase.  Afterward  they  went  to  the  President's,  where  they  found 
Secretary  Stanton,  to  whom  Mr.  Chase  recommended  "  Scotty"  for 
a  medal,  as  he  had  promised  him.  Stanton  said  he  would  order  one 
engraved  as  soon  as  Chase  sent  him  the  name  and  inscription.  At 
eleven  a  meeting  of  Heads  was  held.  The  President  said  that  the 
applications  for  discharges  by  drafted  men  and  deserters  were  very 
numerous,  and  were  granted  under  circumstances  which  show  that 
the  judges  were  disposed  to  defeat  the  objects  of  the  law.  He  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  State  courts  had  no  authority  to  issue  a 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  for  any  person  in  the  custody  of  United  Stat<  - 
officers,  claiming  to  act  under  the  national  law.  He  proposed,  there- 
fere,  to  direct  officers  holding  persons  in  such  custody  to  make  a 
return  of  the  fact  that  they  were  so  held,  and  to  refuse  to  obey  the 
writ;  and  if  force  should  be  used  to  overcome  it  by  force.  Mr. 
Seward  favored  this  action,  and  there  was  no  expression  against  it 
until  Mr.  Chase  remarked  that  he  had  always  been  accustomed  to 
regard  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  as  a  most  important  safeguard  of 
personal  liberty.  "  It  has  been  generally  conceded,"  he  went  on  to 
say,  "or  at  least  such  has  been  the  practice,  that   State   courts   may 


544  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

issue  writs  of  habeas  corpus  for  persons  detained  as  enlisted  soldiers, 
and  to  discharge  them.  Several  eases  of  this  kind  have  occurred  in 
Ohio,  and  the  proceeding  of  the  State  court  was  never  questioned 
to  my  knowledge.  Of  course,  a  proper  exercise  of  the  power  does 
not  justify  its  improper  exercise.  If  the  writ  is  abused  with  a  crimi- 
nal purpose  of  breaking  up  the  army,  the  persons  who  abuse  it 
should  be  punished  as  any  other  criminals  are.  But  before  taking 
any  action  which  seems  to  set  aside  the  writ,  a  clear  case  should  be 
made,  which  will  command  the  concurrence  of  the  people  and 
their  approval.  I  suggest,  therefore,  that  the  Secretary  of 
War  should  make  a  statement  of  the  number  of  persons  dis- 
charged from  military  service  under  the  writ,  with  such  notes 
of  the  circumstances  as  will  show  the  abuse  of  it ;  after 
which  such  action  can  be  taken  as  the  case  requires."  Mr. 
Blair  and  Mr.  Usher  coincided  substantially  with  these  views, 
Mr.  Blair  remarking  that  he  had  often,  when  a  judge  in  Missouri, 
discharged  soldiers  on  habeas  corpus.  The  President  thought  there 
was  no  doubt  of  the  bad  faith  in  which  the  writ  was  now  being  used. 
Mr.  Seward  thought  it  indispensable  to  assert  the  authority  of  the 
government  at  once ;  and  Mr.  Bates  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
President,  as  head  of  the  army,  could  not  be  interfered  with  by  any 
civil  authority  whatever,  but  was,  in  his  action  as  Commander-in- 
Chief,  superior  to  any  process ;  and  this  without  any  suspension  of 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  except  as  incidental  to  the  exercise  of  his 
legitimate  authority.  Mr.  Stanton  thought  prompt  action  necessary. 
The  President  ended  the  discussion  by  saying  he  would  prepare  such 
an  order  as  he  thought  best,  and  would  see  the  gentlemen  the  next 
day  at  half-past  two.  The  conversation  then  turned  upon  writs  of 
habeas  corpus  issued  from  Federal  courts,  when  it  appeared  that  the 
number  of  discharges  made  by  two  Federal  judges  in  Pennsylvania — 
Cadwalader,  at  Philadelphia,  and  McCandless,  at  Pittsburg — largely 
exceeded  the  number  discharged  by  all  the  State  courts  put  together. 
So  it  appeared  that  an  order  to  reach  the  State  courts  only  would  be 
inefficient. 

After  leaving  the  President,  Mr.  Chase  returned  to  the  depart- 
ment, and  attended  to  its  ordinary  duties;  the  principal  that  day 
being  that  of  drawing  upon  the  banks  for  ten  percent,  of  their  sub- 
scription for  treasury  notes,  and  the  beginning  of  the  distribution  of 
the  revised  regulations  concerning  trade. 

On  Tuesday,  September  15,  Mr.  Chase  went  to  the  President's  at 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CUASE.  545 

half-past  nine,    and   nut    there  young  Mr.  Stephen,  nephew  of  the 
English  lawyer,  and  Mr.  Gillespie,  of  Illinois. 

Most  all  of  the  heads  of  departments  having  come  in,  the  President 
read  his  order.  It  was  a  direetion  to  the  military  officers  holding 
persons  in  eustody  as  soldiers,  deserters,  or  drafted  men,  to  make 
return  to  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  from  any  court,  that  the  prin- 
cipal in  the  writ  was  so  held,  and  refuse  obedience ;  and  that  if  force 
should  be  used  to  compel  obedience,  to  overcome  it.  After  the  order 
was  read,  the  Secretary  of  War  made  a  statement  showing  the  great 
number  of  persons  discharged  by  habeas  corpus,  principally  by  the 
two  Federal  judges,  Cadwalader  and  McCandless,  and  stated  some 
very  gross  proceedings  under  color  of  judicial  authority,  manifestly 
intended  to  interfere  with  the  recruiting  and  maintenance  of  the 
army.  The  President  remarked  that  the  order  he  had  read  was  the 
same  he  had  proposed  the  day  before,  only  modified  so  as  to  apply  to 
Federal  as  well  as  to  State  courts. 

Secretary  Chase  then  remarked  :  "  This  is  an  important  matter. 
The  statement  made  by  the  Secretary  of  War  clearly  shows  a  design 
to  defeat  the  measures  which  Congress  and  the  Executive  have 
thought  necessary  to  maintain  the  army.  The  only  question,  then, 
is,  in  what  mode  should  this  attempt  be  met?  You,  Mr.  President, 
have  believed  that  you  have  the  power  to  suspend  the  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  without  being  authorized  by  Congress,  and  in  some  eases 
have  acted  on  this  belief.  After  much  consideration  I  have  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  your  opinion  and  action  are  sanctioned  by  the 
constitution.  Whatever  doubt  there  may  have  been  as  to  your 
power  to  suspend  the  writ,  it  has  been  removed  by  express  legislation. 
The  act  of  3d  March  last,  approved  by  you,  authorizes  you  to  sus- 
pend the  writ  in  any  case  during  the  existing  rebellion,  when  in 
in  your  judgment  the  public  safety  may  require  it.  The  order  you 
have  just  read  does  not  suspend  the  writ  in  terms,  though  it  prob- 
ably does  in  effect.  It  leaves  the  question  of  suspension  open  to 
debate,  and  will  lead  to  serious  collisions  probably,  with  the  disad- 
vantages on  the  side  of  the  Federal  authority.  In  my  judgment 
therefore,  instead  of  this  order  there  should  be  a  proclamation  dis- 
tinctly suspending  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  so  far  as  may  be  neces- 
sary to  prevent  the  great  evil  of  virtually  disbanding  the  army,  and 
when  once  issued  any  attempt  to  interfere  with  the  organization 
should  be  punished,  under  the  act  of  Congress,  promptly  and  deci- 
sively, no  matter  who  the  offender  may  be,  whether  governor  or 


546  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

judge,  or  any  less  conspicuous  personage.  By  this  bold  and  direct 
action  I  think  you  will  command  the  confidence  of  the  public,  avoid 
collisions  upon  uncertain  grounds,  and  secure  most  completely  the 
great  objects  you  have  in  view."  This  Mr.  Chase  said  in  substance. 
The  President  seemed  to  be  struck  with  the  force  of  it ;  took  the 
law  to  which  Mr.  Chase  had  referred,  and  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  best  mode  was  to  issue  a  proclamation  under  it  suspending 
the  writ.  Some  conversation  then  took  place  as  to  the  proper  return 
to  be  made  by  the  officer  to  whom  the  writ  was  addressed.  As  this 
matter,  however,  seemed  to  be  sufficiently  provided  for  by  the  law,  the 
subject  was  not  pursued.  Mr.  Chase  was  surprised  to  find  that,  in  a 
matter  of  this  importance,  no  one  but  himself  seemed  to  have  read 
the  act  of  March  3d,  with  reference  to  the  subject  under  discussion, 
and  that  its  provisions  were  unfamiliar  to  all. 

Again  I  find  myself  induced  to  drop  a  line  into  Mr.  Field's  Mem- 
ories of  Many  Men  and  of  Some  Women.  And  the  fish  I  catch  is 
this : 

"In  the  summer  of  the  year  1863,  the  Hon.  George  Harrington, 
the  Assistant-Secretary  of  the  Treasmy,  broke  down  completely 
in  health,  and  by  the  advice  of  his  physicians  determined  to  seek 
repose  and  relaxation  by  withdrawing  for  a  time  from  public  affairs 
and  visiting  Europe.  In  this  emergency,  Secretary  Chase  invited 
me  to  Washington."1 

Again  I  drop  my  line  into  the  same  water,  and  again  I  am 
rewarded  by  a  little  more  than  a  nibble.  I  draw  up  this  fine  piscine 
specimen  : 

"I  entered  upon  my  new  duties  as  Assistant-Secretaiy  of  the  Treas- 
ury upon  the  first  day  of  October,  1863,  and  continued  in  the  discharge 
of  them,  under  Secretaries  Chase,  Pessenden,  and  McCulloch,  until 
the  first  of  July,  1865,  when,  with  impaired  strength  and  energy,  I 
was  transferred  by  President  Johnson,  at  my  own  request,  to  a  Fed- 
eral office  in  the  city  of  New  York." 

•How  impairing  to  the  strength  and  energy  of  a  fine  nature  such 
an  office  as  Assistant-Secretary  of  the  Treasury  must  be,  to  be  sure! 
But  let  me  not  be  tempted  to  digress.  Here  is  an  extract  from  our 
hero's  record,  under  date  September  16: 

"  Mr.  Field  left  for  New  York  to-day.  I  offered  to  make  him  chief 
clerk,  with  $3,000  a  year,  and  to  make  him  second  assistant  secretary 
in  ciisc  Congress  would  give  me  such  an  officer.  He  will  consider  it 
and  reply." 

i  Page  261. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    (HASH.  .~,  17 

A  splendid  memory  has  Mr.  Field  :  that  grows  more  and  more 
apparent.  Then,  his  love  of  accuracy  seems  to  amount  to  a  very 
passion. 

The  Secretary  recorded  that  he  was  much  gratified  to  find,  by 
reports  of  the  proper  officers,  that  the  averages  in  the  issue  of  5-20 
bonds  was  nearly  made  up,  and  that  there  was  reason  t<>  expect  that 
in  the  course  of  that  month  they  would  be  prepared  l<>  issue  frac- 
tional currency  and  treasury  notes  in  sufficient  quantities  for  the 
public  demand. 

How  Secretary  Chase  at  this  time  regarded  Senator  Sumner  is 
not  ill  indicated  by  this  little  note: 

"Washington,  September  16,  1863. 
"  My  Dear  Sumner  :     In  spite  of  the  finest  print,  almost  illegible, 
I  have  read  your  great  speech  from  beginning  to  end.     It  is  a  noble 

effort,  quite  worthy  of  you.  It  exhausts  the  subject,  leaving  nothing 
even  for  a  gleaner.  I  shall  await  with  curiosity,  not  unmixed  with 
anxiety,  the  response  from  Europe. 

"Things  here  are  looking  better  and  better,  though  some  anxiety, 
I  hear,  is  felt  in  military  quarters.  Oh  !  for  a  great  general,  honest 
and  faithful,  and  inspired  by  our  cause,  at  the  head  of  the  war. 

"Faithfully  your  friend, 

"  Hon.  Charles  Sumner.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Wednesday,  September  16,  1863,  was  made  this  record: 

"Nearly  my  whole  time  was  consumed  by  callers.  Endeavored  to 
examine  the  papers  in  relation  to  Jay  Cooke's  agency,  but  made  small 
progress.  Some  claims  for  cotton  surrendered  to  Yeatman,  the  agent, 
the  largest  of  which  was  represented  by  Colonel  Letherman,  came 
in.  Mr.  Moore,  from  Washington  Territory,  called.  He  is  a  candi- 
date for  the  collectors!! ip  vacated  by  Major  Goldsborough.  He 
explained  the  transaction  relating  to  the  Herald  of  Progress  and  l>r. 
Allyn.  showing  that  Victor  Smith  had  no  connection  with  Dr.  Allyn's 
contribution  to  the  Herald.  His  explanation  was  entirely  satisfac- 
tory on  this  point.  He  also  denied  positively,  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Smith, 
the  statement  of  Henry  and  others,  that  Smith  asserted  that  I  was 
indebted  to  him.  In  the  evening,  Mr.  Pierce  and  Mr.  McKint  called  ; 
also,  Major  Smith  and  Mr.  Green,  the  latter  of  whom  said  that  la- 
was  requested  by  Judge  Balcom,  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  New 
York,  to  tender  his  respects  to  me  and  Bay  that  the  court  bad 
agreed  upon  a  decision  in  the  legal  tender  cases  before  them,  affirm- 
ing the  constitutionality  of  the  law.  Major  Giddings  and  Captain 
Hgis  also  called,  who  in  the  course  of  conversation  made  these 
remarkable  statements  about  the  condition  of  the  regular  regiments. 
They  said  that  the  Twelfth,  now  in  New  York,  had  600  men  and 
about  twenty-seven  officers,  the  full  complement  These  two  regi- 
ments are  of  the  new  organisation,  2400  men  each  ;  that  the  Third 
had  180  men  and  eight  officers;  the  Fourth  twenty-two  men  and 
36 


548  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

nineteen  officers;  the  Sixteenth  130  to  140  men  and  fifteen  officers; 
the  Tenth  thirty-one  men  and  nearly  a  full  complement  of  twenty- 
seven  officers.  The  Third,  Fourth,  Sixth,  and  Tenth  are  old  regi- 
ments." 

"We  have,  under  date  of  Thursday,  September  17,  1863  : 

"Went  to  the  President's  immediately  after  breakfast.  Found 
Governor  Newall  and  other  New  Jersey  gentlemen  interceding  with 
the  President  for  the  pardon  of  a  deserter.  Said  to  the  President 
that  I  feared  some  injustice  had  been  done  in  removing  Mr.  Kidgeley, 
who  had  in  conversation  with  me  the  day  before  expressed  the  most 
decided  support  of  the  administration,  saying  that  the  ground  of 
complaint  against  him  was  that  he  had  supported  Mr.  Webster  for 
nomination  to  Congress,  and  that  Mr.  Webster  was  as  decided  a  friend 
to  the  administration  as  himself.  Mr.  Kidgeley  had  asked  me  for  a 
pass  to  go  to  the  army  to  see  Colonel  Webster,  and  I  suggested  to  the 
President  the  propriety  of  allowing  him  to  go.  The  President  said 
he  could  go  after  a  few  days,  but  that  just  now  the  army  might  be 
moving.  I  mentioned  to  the  President  the  message  of  Judge  Bal- 
com.  and  he  said  that  Judge  Davies  had  given  him  similar  informa- 
tion. I  again  referred  to  the  case  of  General  Hamilton,  and  he  told 
me  that  General  Hamilton  had  been  sent  for,  and  would  probably 
return  to  Texas  as  brigadier-general  and  military  governor.  Re- 
ferred again  to  the  subject  of  revoking  the  exceptions  of  the  south- 
eastern counties  of  Virginia  from  his  Proclamation,  and  he  read  to 
me  the  draft  of  an  unfinished  letter  he  had  begun  to  me  on  that  sub- 
ject, the  argument  of  which  was  very  strongly  put,  but  based  entirely 
upon  the  idea  that  the  military  necessity  which  justified  the  Procla- 
mation did  not  now  exist  in  regard  to  these  counties.  I  questioned 
the  correctness  of  this  view  and  referred  to  the  letter  of  Governor 
Pierpont,  urging  the  revocation  upon  the  distinct  grounds  of  mili- 
tary necessity.  He  then  remarked  that  the  revocation,  at  all  events, 
was  not  expedient  at  present,  and  should  be  deferred  until  after  the 
fall  elections.  We  then  talked  on  the  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus. 
He  said  that  I  was  quite  right  in  recommending  it,  rather  than  the 
order  which  had  been  prepared,  and  that  he  had  been  convinced  of 
it  as  soon  as  he  heard  my  statement  of  the  law.  I  also  spoke  to  him 
about  the  promotion  of  Colonel  Davies,  saying  that  I  thought  he 
deserved  it  by  his  gallantry  and  ability,  and  that  I  should  be  partic- 
ularly glad  to  have  it  done  because  of  the  judge's  steady  support  of 
the  government.  He  intimated  that  it  had  been  already  decided 
upon,  which  I  was  glad  to  hear. 

'•I  then  went  to  the  War  Department.  Mr.  Stanton  stated  a  curi- 
ous circumstance.  Yesterday,  he  said,  a  shot  or  shell  from  the  navy 
yard  fell  into  a  cavalry  camp  on  the  Maryland  side  of  the  Potomac, 
killing  one  man  and  doing  considerable  injury  to  the  camp.  He 
directed  a  report  of  the  facts  to  be  made  to  Secretary  Welles,  with  a  re- 
quest to  change  the  direction  of  the  guns  ;  to  which  the  Secretary  re- 
plied that  he  paid  $200  a  year  for  the  privilege  of  firing  on  that  piece 
of  ground  !  Mr.  Stanton  said  that  he  was  going  to  offer  him  $600  a 
year  to  make  such  a  change  as  would  save  his  camp. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  648 

"After  returning  to  the  department.  Mr.  I'lumley  called  to  talk 
about  matters  in  Louisiana,  and  I  invited  him  to  hrcakl'ast  to-morrow 
morning." 

The  18th  of  September  yields  as  follows: 

'•.Mr.  L.  E.  Straughn,  of  the  Cambridge  (Maryland)  Tntelligencer} 

called.  He  had  been  recommended  for  assessor  in  place  of  Russell, 
and  naturally  thought  the  change  a  desirable  one.  He  impressed  mo 
veiy  favorably,  indeed  ;  I  had  already  been  satisfied  l>y  his  paper  of 

his  activity  and  patriotism,  and  should  be  very  glad  to  show  my 
6ense  of  it,  but  am  not  prepared  to  make  the  desired  removal. 

"Plumley  breakfasted  with  me,  and  gave  quite  a  clear  inside  view 
of  military  and  civil  affairs  at  New  Orleans.  He  represents  General 
Banks  as  very  friendly  to  me. 

"General  Hamilton  called  and  bid  me  'good-bye,'  being  about  to 
leave  for  his  new  position  in  Texas.     Schurz  also  called." 

Having  been  impressed,  by  somewhat  careful  study,  with  appre- 
hensions for  the  condition  of  Rosecrans'  army,  Secretary  Chase  was 
a  good  deal  alarmed  by  the  telegrams  in  the  morning  papers  of  the 
20th  of  September,  and  went  immediately  to  the  AVar  Department 
after  breakfast,  where  he  found  two  telegrams,  one  from  Kosecrans 
himself,  and  one  from  Dana,  both  dated  at  Chattanooga,  and  both 
reporting  serious  disaster.  Later  in  the  day  another  telegram  came 
from  Dana,  saying  that  Thomas  had  successfully  resisted  the  enemy's 
advance,  but  left  room  for  serious  forebodings. 

On  the  following  day  he  wrote  as  follows  : 

"  Washington,  September  21,  1863. 

Mv  Dear  Sir  ■  I  am  not  responsible  for  the  management  of  the 
war.  and  have  no  voice  in  it,  except  that  I  am  not  forbidden  to  make 
suggestions;  and  do  so.  now  and  then,  when  I  can't  help  it. 

"  You  are  wrong  in  blaming  Stanton  as  you  do.  You  ought  to 
allow  for  the  great  difficulties  of  his  position,  and  remember  that  it 
[is]  much  easier  to  criticise  than  to  act  so  as  to  avoid  even  jusl  criti- 
cism. Nor  should  you  forget  that  a  war  managed  by  a  President,  a 
Commanding  General,  and  a  Secretary,  can  not.  especially  when  the 
great  differences  of  temperament,  wishes,  and  intellectual  character' 
istics  of  these  three  are  taken  into  the  account,  reasonably  be  ex- 
pected to  be  conducted  in  the  best  possible  manner.  This  condition 
can  only  he  remedied  by  the  President,  and.  a-  y.-t,  lie  tears  the 
remedv  most.     Dont  be  so  impatient.  Your  friend. 

"M.  Halstead,  Esq.  S,  P.  CHASE." 

On  the  22d  of  September,  of  the  same  year,  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Heads  of  Departments,  the  President  gave  an  account  of  the  battle 
of  Sunday.  Results  were  less  unfavorable  than  was  feared,  although 
the  losses  were  great  in  killed,   wounded,  and  prisoners,  and   seme 


550  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

fifty  guns  captured  by  the  enemy  on  the  center  and  right.  On  the 
left,  Thomas,  and  Granger  and  Garfield,  who  had  joined  Thomas  at 
great  personal  risk,  had  distinguished  themselves  greatly. 

On  the  same  day,  22d,  Mr.  Chase  received  a  letter  from  Sehurz, 
inclosing  a  printed  scheme  for  a  testimonial  to  McClellan,  which 
Was  being  circulated  in  the  army  for  subscriptions,  with  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  commanding  general  and  his  staff.  Called  Stanton's 
attention  to  it,  who  agreed  with  Mr.  C.  in  thinking  it  an  insult  to 
the  President.  Mr.  Chase  also  showed  the  letter  and  the  paper  to 
the  President,  who  took  the  paper  and  promised  to  see  Stanton  about 
it.  Harrington  left  on  this  day  for  Europe,  hoping  to  recover  his 
health,  impaired  by  over-exertion.  Mr.  Chase  received  a  telegram 
from  Mrs.  Charles  Jones  that  her  brother  and  Mr.  Chase's  brother- 
in-law,  Lieutenant  Ludlow,  was  wounded  and  a  prisoner  at  Chicka- 
mauga.  Mr.  Chase  telegraphed  Garfield,  at  Chattanooga,  and  re- 
ceived a  reply  confirming  the  report,  and  urging  prompt  reinforce- 
ments. 

On  the  23d  of  this  month,  September,  Secretary  Chase  spoke  to 
Stanton  about  promoting  Charles  A.  Cooledge,  who  enlisted  as  a 
private,  and  had  been  promoted  lance  sergeant  in  the  Sixteenth 
Regulars. 

Under  date  September  24,  appears  this  statement : 

"  Having  gone  home  last  evening  very  weary,  was  called  up  from 
my  bed  about  midnight  by  a  messenger  from  the  War  Department, 
who  said  I  was  wanted  there  immediately.  The  summons  real]}7 
alarmed  me.  I  felt  sure  that  disaster  had  befallen  us;  that  the 
army  of  Roseerans  had  been  attacked  before  his  defenses  were  com- 
pleted, and  had  been  compelled  to  surrender,  or  had  been  defeated 
with  great  loss  in  another  bloody  battle,  and  its  remains  driven 
across  the  Tennessee.  Great  was  my  relief  when  reaching  the  War 
Department,  and  asking,  '  More  bad  news?  '  Stanton  replied,  'No  ; 
what  there  is  favorable.'  He  then  handed  me  a  telegram  from  Gar- 
field to  myself  which  stated  that  Roseerans  could  hold  out  ten  days 
where  he  was,  but  earnestly  urged  reinforcements.  Other  telegrams 
from  Roseerans  and  Dana  gave  encouraging  expectations  that  he 
could  hold  out  still  longer  time.  Both  also  urged  reinforcements. 
Alter  a  little  while  the  President  and  Mr.  Seward  also  came  in. 
General  Hal  leek  was  already  there.  Mr.  Stanton  then  opened  the 
conference  by  inquiring  of  General  Halleck  what  reinforcements 
Burnside  could  add  to  Roseerans,  and  in  what  time.  Halleck  replied, 
twenty  thousand  men  in  ten  days,  if  uninterrupted.  The  President 
then  said,  '  Before  ten  days  Burnside  will  put  in  enough  to  hold  the 
place,  (Chattanooga). 

"Stanton  to  Halleck— How  many  in  eis;ht  davs? 

"Halleck— 12,000. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  551 

"  Tho  President — After  Burnside  begins  to  arrive  the  pinch  will 
be  over. 

•■  Stanton — Unless  the  enemy,  anticipating  reinforcements,  attacks 
promptly.     (To  Halleck) — When  will  Sherman's  reach  Rosecrans? 

"Halleck — In  about  ten  days,  if  already  moved  from  Vicksburg. 
His  route  will  be  to  Memphis,  thence  to  Corinth  and  Decatur,  ami  a 
march  of  a  hundred  or  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Tennessee  river.  Boats  have  already  gone  down  from  Cairo, 
and  every  available  man  ordered  forward,  say  from  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  thousand. 

"  Stanton — Are  any  more  available  elsewhere? 

"  Halleck — A  few  in  Kentucky  ;  I  don't  know  how  many  ;  all  were 
ordered  to  Burnside. 

"  Stanton — I  propose  to  send  30,000  from  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
There  is  no  reason  to  expect  that  General  Meade  will  attack  Lee, 
although  greatly  superior  in  force;  and  his  great  numbers,  where 
they  are.  are  useless.    In  five  days  30.000  could  be  put  with  Rosecrans. 

"  The  President — I  will  bet  that  if  the  order  is  given  to-night  the 
troops  could  not  be  got  to  "Washington  in  five  days. 

■Stanton — On  such  a  subject  I  don't  feel  inclined  to  bet;  but  the 
matter  has  been  carefully  investigated,  and  it  is  certain  that  30,000 
bales  of  cotton  could  be  sent  in  that  time,  by  taking  possession  of 
the  railroads  and  excluding  all  other  business,  and  I  do  not  see  why 
30,000  men  can  not  be  sent  as  well.  But  if  30,000  can't  be  sent,  let 
20,000  go. 

"  Much  conversation  followed,  the  President  and  Halleck  evidently 
disinclined  to  weaken  Meade's  force,  whilst  Seward  and  myself  were 
decided  in  recommending  the  reinforcement  of  Rosecrans.  It  was  at 
length  agreed  that  Halleck  should  telegraph  to  Meade  in  the  morn- 
ing,  and  if  an  immediate  advance  was  not  certain,  the  Eleventh  and 
Twelfth  Corps,  supposed  to  make  about  13.000  men,  should  be  sent 
westward  at  once,  under  Hooker,  with  Butterfield  as  his  ehief-of-staff." 

The  next  day  affords  what  follows: 

"By  telegram,  after  we  separated  last  night,  the  .Secretary  of  "War 
called  the  officers  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio,  the  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore,  and  the  Pennsylvania  Central  Railroads,  to  Washington. 
They  were  in  conference  with  him  the  greater  part  of  the  da}'.  The 
inovement  of  the  troops  was  arranged.  It  was  found  that  the  num- 
ber would  exceed  15,000  ;  but  no  doubt  was  expressed  that  the  move- 
ment would  [and]  could  be  accomplished  promptly,  though  not 
quite  so  soon  as  Stanton  had  anticipated.  In  the  evening  1  found 
myself  quite  unwell." 

On  September  26,  having  been  kept  awake  most  of  the  previous 
night  with  severe  pains,  Mr.  Chase  telegraphed  Garrett  and  Smith 
that  he  could  not  go  to  Baltimore  and  visit  Mr.  Hopkins,  as  he  had 
proposed.  A  little  before  11  o'clock  the  Secretary  received  a  reply 
from  Mr.  Smith,  to  the  effect  that  Mr.  Hopkins  had  notified  some 
twelve  or  fifteen  of  the  leading  financial  men  to  meet  him  at  dinner, 


552  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

and  that  the  disappointment  would  be  great  if  he  did  not  come. 
Mr.  Chase  concluded,  therefore,  to  risk  the  journey,  and  answered 
that  he  would  come  on  the  11:15  train.  He  arrived  in  Baltimore; 
met  Mr.  Garrett  and  Mr.  Smith,  who  insisted  that  he  should  take  a 
ride  with  them  through  Federal  Hill  and  Fort  McHenry  before 
o-oing  to  Mr.  Hopkins',  to  which  he  consented.  They  reached  Mr. 
Hopkins'  about  five  o'clock.  Only  two  or  three  of  the  guests  had 
arrived,  and  Mr.  Hopkins  proposed  to  show  them  his  place.  They, 
therefore,  accompanied  him  on  a  walk  around  the  grounds,  which 
were  very  spacious  and  beautiful.  Extensive  graperies,  with  every 
variety  of  grapes  in  rich  clusters  ;  a  pleasant  fruit  orchard,  the  trees 
of  which  were  loaded  with  fruit ;  a  vegetable  garden,  conveniently 
situated,  with  commodious  and  handsome  farm  buildings  near,  to- 
gether with  a  lake,  so  artistically  contrived  with  islands,  trees,  and  ■ 
shores,  as  to  give  it  the  appearance  of  great  extent,  formed  the  prin- 
cipal features  of  this  beautiful  place.  The  whole  extent  of  the 
grounds  was  about  four  hundred  acres,  of  which  perhaps  sixty  wrere 
used  for  the  purpose  just  mentioned,  while  the  rest  were  devoted 
to  farm  cultivation.  Mr.  Hopkins  insisted  that,  though  a  gentleman 
farmer,  he  continued  to  make  both  ends  meet  at  the  close  of  each 
year.  His  dinner  was  simple,  but  excellently  prepared,  and  in  the 
best  taste.  His  dessert  of  grapes  exceeded  in  beauty  and  variety 
and  flavor  anything  Mr.  Chase  had  ever  seen.  Mr.  C.'s  indisposition 
condemned  him  to  almost  total  abstinence,  much  to  his  regret. 
The  guests  were  intelligent  and  substantial  men,  constituting,  as  Mr. 
Hopkins  said,  the  best  part  of  the  Baltimore  merchants  and  capi- 
talists. And  all  of  them  earnest  Union  men  ;  and  nearly  all,  if 
not  all,  decided  Emancipationists.  It  was  about  nine  o'clock  when 
they  left  Mr.  Hopkins'  hospitable  mansion  and  returned  to  the  city, 
where  Mr.  Chase  soon  found  himself  established  in  comfortable  quar- 
ters at  Mr.  Garrett's. 

Next  we  have  the  following: 

"September  27,  1863. 

u  I  slept  better  last  night  than  the  night  before,  though  far  from 
well.  A  slight  fever  made  me  fancy  myself  beset  with  matters  of 
public  concern,  when  I  Avas  sure  I  was  not  so  engaged  ;  and  would 
try  to  dispel  the  illusion,  and  sometimes  succeeded  for  a  moment, 
only  to  find  it  coming  back  the  next.  This  was  unpleasant  enough, 
and  I  was  glad  when  the  morning  came  to  my  relief.  After  break- 
fast, of  which  I  partook  very  slightly,  I  found  myself  sufficiently 
well  to  accompany  the  family  to  church,  where  I  heard  an  excellent 
sermon  and  spent  two  pleasant  hours.     On  coming  out,  Judge  Bond 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  553 

asked  us  to  go  with  him  to  see  a  dress  parade  of  a  colored  regiment, 
at  Camp  Barney.  They  asked  Mr.  Garrett  if  he  would  go,  and  he 
assented.  A  little  after  five  o'clock  we  rode  to  the  camp.  The  regi 
ment  was  already  in  line,  nine  hundred  strong,  besides  the  guards 
on  duty.  Behind  it  was  another  line — three  or  four  hundred  new 
recruits.  These  were  rough  and  ragged  in  their  negro  clothes,  fresh 
from  the  plantations.  I  directed  .Mr.  Garrett's  attention  to  tho 
spectacle,  saying  that  the  front  line  in  uniform,  and  the  rear  line  in 
negro  clothes,  soon  to  come  forward  also  into  the  front  rank,  in 
uniform,  was  very  suggestive.  Mr.  Garrett  looked  and  said  nothing. 
The  sight  could  hardly  be  palatable  to  one  so  recently,  if  not  still, 
thoroughly  pro-slavery  in  his  sentiments. 

"After  some  conversation  with  Colonel  Barney,  in  charge  of  the 
recruiting  service,  and  Colonel  Duncan  (whose  graduation  I  wit- 
nessed some  years  ago  at  Dartmouth  College),  commanding  the  uni- 
formed, we  returned  to  the  city." 

Dated  September  28  is  an  entry  of  this  tenor: 

"I  slept  pretty  well  last  night,  under  the  hospitable  roof  of  Mr. 
Garrett.1  After  breakfast,  he  and  Mr.  Smith  accompanied  me  to  Mr. 
Swann's,  with  whom  I  exchanged  kind  greetings;  thence  to  the  hat- 
store  of  Mr.  Smith's  father-in-law,  Mr.  Yan  Zandt,  where  I  supplied 
myself  with  something  more  suitable  to  the  season  than  my  'straw;' 
thence  to  the  Custom  House,  where  I  exchanged  salutations  with  the 
officers  and  clerks;  and  thence  to  the  cars,  where  I  found  Judge 
Jewett,  with  whom  I  proceeded  to  Washington,  and  resumed  my 
duties  at  the  department. 

"Mr.  Garrett  informed  me  that  the  movement  of  the  troops  was 
going  on  successfully,  which  was  confirmed  by  Mr.  Stanton,  who  is 
greatl}7  delighted  by  its  success.  He  told  me  that  the  number  to  be 
moved  had  heen  found  to  reach  20,000,  and  yet  the  whole  had  been 
put  in  motion  without  disturbance  and  in  perfect  order.  The  last 
were  expected  to  reach  Washington  to-day,  and  would  be  immedi- 
ately sent  forward.  Thus,  in  five  days,  the  men  who,  as  the  Presi- 
dent was  ready  to  bet,  could  not  be  got  to  Washington,  would  be 
already  past  that  point,  on  their  way  to  Rosecrans,  while  their 
advance  had  reached  the  Ohio  River.  If  this  whole  movement  is 
carried  through  to  the  end  as  well  as  it  has  been  thus  far,  it  will  be 
an  achievement  in  the  transportation  of  troops  unprecedented,  I 
think,  in  history." 

The  next  day  is  thus  recorded  : 

"Nothing  of  much  interest  to-day.  At  the  President's,  neither 
Mr.  Seward  nor  Mr.  Stanton  were  present.  They  Seemed,  reason- 
ably enough,  to  have  given  up  attendance  on  these  meetings  of  the 
Heads  of  Departments  as  useless ;  and,  for  aught  I  see.  I  may  as 
well  follow  their  example.  Received  a  note  from  Miss  Walker,  ask- 
ing the  promotion   of   Bryant   Walker  to  be  an  assistant  adjutant- 


*At  Baltimore. 


554  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

general,  with  the  rank  of  captain;  and  sent  a  note  to  Mr.  Stanton, 
bogging  that  the  favor  might  be  done,  which  was  promptly  and 
kindly  done." 

The  last  day  of  the  month  affords  these  paragraphs: 

"Received  a  note  from  Mr.  Stanton,  notifying  me  that  young 
Walker's  commission  would  be  sent  to  him  as  soon  as  possible.  I 
inclosed  the  note  to  Miss  Walker,  New  York.  There  was  the  usual 
number  of  callers  and  the  usual  variety  of  talk  and  business,  but 
nothing  of  special  importance. 

"  In  the  evening  I  entertained,  at  my  house,  a  delegation  of  'Rad- 
icals '  from  Kansas  and  Missouri,  with  Mr.  Charles  D.  Drake  as  their 
chairman,  come  hither  to  ask  of  the  President  such  a  change  in  the 
conduct  of  military  affairs  in  that  department  as  shall  better  secure 
the  loyal  men  in  their  rights  and  homes." 

A  paper,  indorsed,  "  Partial  draft  of  letter  on  suspension  of  habeas 
corpus  by  President,  September,  1863,"  is  written,  in  penciling,  as 
follows : 

"  It  has  been  often  held  by  the  courts  that  they  have  jurisdiction 
to  issue  writs  of  habeas  corpus  for  persons  restrained  of  liberty  under 
claim  of  enlistment  in  the  national  army. 

"  It  is  needless  now  to  consider  whether  this  holding  is  sound  ;  it 
is  certain  that  the  claimed  jurisdiction  will  not  be  yielded  without  a 
struggle. 

"The  constitution  forbids  the  suspension  of  the  writ  of  habeas  cor- 
pus, except  in  times,  except  when  in  cases1  of  rebellion  or  invasion, 
the  public  safety  may  require  it. 

"Congress,  by  act  of  3  March,  1863,  authorizes  the  President, 
whenever,  in  his  judgment,  the  public  safety  may  require  it  to  sus- 
pend the  priv.  of  h.  c,  in  any  case,  throughout  the  U.  S.,  or  any  part 
thereof.  And  whenever  and  wherever  the  said  priv.  shall  be  sus- 
pended, no  military  or  other  officer  shall  be  compelled  to  answer  to 
any  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  return  the  body  of  any  person  or  per- 
sons detained  by  him  by  authority  of  the  President;  but,  upon  the 
certificate,  under  oath,  of  the  officer  having  charge  of  any  one  so  de- 
tained, that  such  person  is  so  detained  by  him  as  a  prisoner,  under 
authority  of  the  President,  further  proceedings  under  the  writ  of 
habeas  corpus  shall  be  suspended  by  the  judge  or  court  having  issued 
the  said  writ  so  long  as  said  suspension  by  the  President  shall  remain 
in  force  and  said  rebellion  continue." 

Next,  I  am  enabled  to  offer  another  letter,  markedly  characteristic 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.     It  reads  as  follows  : 

"  Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  October  26,  1863. 
"  Hon.  Secretary  of  Treasury : 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :     The  writer  of  the  accompanying  letter  is  one  of 


'So  in  the  original. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  555 

Mrs.  L's  numerous  cousins.  He  is  a  grandson  of  '  Millikin'a  Bend,' 
near  Vieksburg — that  is,  a  grandson  of  the  man  who  gave  name  to 
Millikin'a  Bond.  His  father  was  a  brother  to  Mrs.  L's  mother.  I 
know  not  a  thing  about  his  Loyalty  beyond  what  he  Bays.  Suppos- 
ing he  is  loyal,  can  any  of  his  requests  be  gi'anted  ?  and,  if  any, 
which  of  them  ?  Yours  truly, 

"A.LINCOLN." 

I  have  not  been  able  to  find  the  answer,  if  there  was  one,  to  this 
letter. 

Here  is  another  letter  from  the  President  to  Secretary  Chase  : 

"  Executive  Mansion,  "Washington,  November  17,  18G3. 
"  Hon  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  : 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  I  expected  to  see  you  here  at  Cabinet  meeting, 
and  to  say  something  about  going  to  Gettysburg.  There  will  be  a 
train  to  take  and  return  us.  The  time  for  starting  is  not  yet  fixed  ; 
but,  when  it  shall  be,  I  will  notify  you. 

"  Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN." 

An  already  cited  letter  to  General  Hooker,  dated  December  21, 
contains  also  this  language  : 

"  My  Dear  General  :  I  have  been  quite  unwell  of  late,  and  my 
correspondence  is  a  good  deal  in  arrears.  I  must  take  time  to  dictate 
a  few  lines  to  you.  I  can  not  tell  you  how  much  I  have  been  gratified 
by  your  brilliant  achievement  in  Tennessee  and  Georgia.  How 
providential  it  was  that  you  were  sent  West  at  the  head  of  the 
Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Corps!  It  seems  clear  now,  that,  but  for  Mr. 
Stanton's  determination  in  insisting  upon  these  reinforcements  going 
promptly  and  going  under  you,  Rosecrans'  army  would  have  experi- 
enced the  gravest  disasters.  And  then  it  seems  equally  providential 
that  the  assault  on  Lookout  Mountain  had  to  be  made  under  your 
direction.  The  only  thing  I  do  not  clearly  see  the  value  of  is  your 
magnificent  achievement  at  Ringgold.  It  was  a  splendid  battle 
splendidly  won.  But  what  is  the  use  of  sacrificing  so  much  to  take 
a  town,  if,  after  all,  the  town  is  to  be  abandoned  and  the  army  is 
to  fall  back?  Whether  it  was  necessary  to  fall  back  or  not  I  find 
myself  unable  to  form  any  judgment.  General  Grant  ought  to  know 
best.  I  most  sincerely  hope  that  he  was  governed  only  by  the  best 
and  most  patriotic  motives.  Grant's  whole  career  has  excited  my  admi- 
ration and  commanded  my  respect,  and  there  certainly  ought  to  be  no  j<  al- 
ousies  between  two  such  officers  as  you  and  he.  Each  should  rejoice  in 
what  adds  to  the  honor  of  the  other.'" 

Surely,  the  indications  of  this  letter,  as  to  the  spirit'w  which  Chase 
regarded  martial  men  and  martial  measures,  are  most  creditable  to 
its  writer. 


556 


THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 


CHAPTER    XL. 

CHASE    AND    BARNEY — TROUBLE    BETWEEN    CHASE   AND    LINCOLN. 

THE  task  of  this  work    becomes    more  and  more  difficult  and 
delicate.     It  now  comes  to  the  year  1864. 
January  11th,  of  that   year,   was  marked   by  the  writing  of  this 
letter: 

"Executive  Mansion,  January  11,  1864. 
'•'•Hon.  Secretary  of  Treasury : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  am  receiving  letters  and  dispatches  indicating 
an  expectation  that  Mr.  Barney  is  to  leave  the  Custom  House,  at 
New  York.    Have  you  anything  on  the  subject? 

"  Yours  very  truly,  A.  LINCOLN." 

What  the  Secretary  answered  is  recited  in  his  letter  of  January 
22d,  to  Mr.  Bailey.1  But  I  find  in  Mr.  Maunsell  B.  Fields'  Me- 
moirs of  Many  Men  and  of  Some  Women2  what  purports  to  be  a 
copy  of  a  letter,  dated  January  13,  1864,  from  Secretaiy  Chase  to 
the  President,  as  follows  : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  am  to-day  fifty-six  years  old.  I  have  never 
consciously  and  deliberately  injured  a  fellow  man.  It  is  too  late  for 
me  to  begin  by  sacrificing  to  clamor  the  reputation  of  a  man  whom 
I  have  known  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  whose  repute  for 
honesty  has  been  all  that  time  unsullied. 

"I  shall  not  recommend  the  removal  of  Mr.  Barney,  except  upon 
such  show  of  his  misconduct  or  incapacity  as  makes  it  my  duty 
to  do  so. 

"  In  such  a  case  I  shall  not  shrink  from  my  duty.  I  pretend  no 
indifference  to  the  consequences  personal  to  myself,  which  you  refer 
to  as  likely  to  follow  this  avowal  on  my  part;  but  the  approval  of 
my  own  conscience  is  dearer  to  me  than  political  position,  and  I 
shall  cheerfully  sacrifice  the  latter  to  preserve  the  former. 

" I  received  some  days  ago  your  note  in  relation  to  a  biographic 
sketch  to  be  printed  in  a  Philadelphia  periodical.  It  was  a  matter 
in  which  I  had  no  concern.  If  anybody  wants  my  autograph,  and  I 
have  time,  I  give  it ;  if  anybody  wants  to  take  my  daguerreotype  or 
photograph,  and  I  have  time,  I  sit  for  it;  if  anybody  wants  to  take 


Jfost. 


2Page  305. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  557 

my  life,  in  the  way  of  a  biographical  sketch,  T  hi  him  take  if  ;  and,  if 
I  have  time,  give  such  information  as  is  wanted  that  ho  may  take  it 
more  easily.  Some  friends  wanted  such  a  sketch  prepared,  and  en- 
gaged a  gentleman  to  prepare  it.     The  pnblieher  of  the   American 

Exchange  and  Review,  a  respectable  periodical  by  the  way,  I  am  told, 
was  about  to  print  a  series  of  such  sketches,  and  proposed  to  begin 
with  that  of  me.   How  could  Iobioct?  He  asked  for  subscriptions  and 

obtained  them.  How  could  I  control  or  supervise  that?  1  was  \<iv 
busy  with  the  affairs  of  my  department,  and  had  no  time  to  look 
after  such  matters,  even  had  I  been  aware  of  what  was  being  done. 
If  I  had  been  consulted,  I  should  certainly  have  objected  to  any  sub- 
scription by  Mr.  Jay  Cooke  or  his  brother,  except  such  a  moderate 
one  as  any  friend  might  have  made.  Not  that  any  wrong  was  in- 
tended to  he  done,  but  because  the  act  was  subject  to  misconstruction, 
and  there  are  so  many  to  misconstrue.  Mr.  Jay  Cooke  is  a  friend, 
and  though  he  did  not  subscribe,  he  doubtless  sanctioned  the  sub- 
scription of  his  brother  Henry,  who  is  also  a  friend,  (and  the  son  of 
a  friend),  whose  friendship  was  formed  when  I  was  powerless  to  be- 
stow favors.  Neither  of  the  brothers,  nor  the  father  have  ever  re- 
ceived, at  my  hands,  since  I  have  had  some  power,  any  favor  which 
they  have  not  earned  by  strenuous  and  untiring  labors  for  the  public 
interest;  nor  any  which  my  worst  enemy  would  not  have  received 
as  freely  had  he  rendered  the  same  services.  What  Mr.  H.  D.  Cooke 
did  about  the  unfortunate  biograplry  was  done  of  his  own  accord, 
without  prompting  from  me,  and  his  brother's  aj)proval  was  given  in 
the  same  way. 

"  You  will  pardon  me  if  I  write  as  one  somewhat  moved.  It  makes 
me  hate  public  life  when  I  realize  how  powerless  are  the  most  faith- 
ful labors  and  the  most  upright  conduct  to  protect  any  man  from 
carping  envy,  or  malignant  denunciations,  and  how  little  he  can 
expect,  even  from  the  best  and  most  intelligent  men,  when  such 
noises  prevail.  It  is  almost  equally  painful  to  think  how  little  friends 
are  disposed  to  bear  with  the  mistakes  and  inadvertencies  of  other 
friends,  and  how  ready  to  make  me  responsible  for  them  as  well  as 
my  own.  Very  sincerely  yours, 

"To  the  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

How  happens  it  that  I  am  indebted  to  the  work  of  Mr.  Field  for 
a  copy  of  that  lettei — I  who  was,  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  Chief 
Justice  Chase,  the  only  person  in  existence  who  was  in  possession  of 
the  means  of  writing  a  complete  biography  of  that  man  so  often 
named  in  this  volume — I,  in  whose  hands  were,  at  the  time,  all  the 
letter-books  and  diaries  he  had  furnished  to  me,  as  stated  in  the  in- 
troduction ?  I  have  already  hinted,  but  I  shall  hereafter  state  more 
fully. 

It  is  almost  with  a  sense  of  shame  that  I  now  present  this  copy  of 
a  letter  to  Mr.  Barney  from  our  hero: 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  April  25,  18G4. 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Barney:     A  recent  sale  of  some  Cincinnati  prop- 


558  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

erty  enables  me  to  send  you  the  inclosed  check  for  82,675;  §175  to 
pay  semi-annaul  interest  due  1st  January  last  and  82.500  to  be  cred- 
ited on  the  note  due  July  1.  I  hope  to  be  able  to  anticipate  the 
payment  of  the  residue.     Please  acknowledge  receipt  of  inclosed. 

Yours  truly, 
"  H.  Barney,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Extraordinary  pains  have  been  taken  to  discredit  the  present  work 
by  the  statement  that  Mr  Hiram  Barney  is  preparing  for  the  press 
a  life  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  and  that  the  daughters  of  our  hero 
specially  sanction  that  work.  When  I  first  heard  the  name  of  Mr. 
Barnev  in  connection  with  the  opposition  to  the  present  work,  he 
was  named  to  me  as  the  legal  adviser  of  that  opposition,  and  alleged 
to  have  expressed  the  opinion  that  my  right  to  the  exclusive  use  of 
the  biographic  matter  furnished  me,  as  elsewhere  stated,  could  not 
be  maintained  against  the  will  of  the  executor.  No  matter  now,  as 
to  that.  I  promise,  Deo  volente,  to  read  very  carefully,  and  even 
prayerfully,  any  life  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase  by  Hiram  Barney. 
I  shall  be  particularly  anxious  to  examine  his  account  of  the  indebt- 
edness referred  to  in  the  just  cited  letter. 

I  do  not  repent  me  that  I  undertook  this  work.  I  still  believe 
in  the  ultimate  worthiness,  the  general  rectitude  of  Salmon  Portland 
Chase,  in  spite  of  that  at  least  unfortunate  indebtedness  to  the  col- 
lector of  customs  at  New  York.  For  I  remember  and  respect  the 
rule  of  judgment  which  the  introduction  to  these  chapters,  quoting 
Chase's  own  words,  gives  in  this  fashion  : 

"  It  seems  to  me  better  and  wiser  to  judge  particular  acts  by  the 
general  tenor  of  life,  than  the  general  tenor  of  life  by  particular 
acts." 

But  that  golden  rule  of  judgment  was  not  laid  down  by  Chase 
till  after  he  had  erred,  as  indicated  in  that  Barney  letter.  Erred? 
Nay,  sinned.  In  that  respect  he  evidently  sinned  against  the  public 
service  and  against  himself. 

We  must  remember  that  that  indebtedness  evidently  existed  on 
and  before  the  first  of  January,  1864.  When  it  arose  I  have  not 
been  able  to  ascertain.  But,  alas !  it  must  have  been  in  the  mind — 
aye  !  in  the  heart — of  our  wretched  hero,  when,  on  his  six-and-fiftieth 
birthday,  he  addressed  the  President  as  we  have  seen. 

I  have  already  rather  clearly  indicated  my  distrust  of  the  design 
with  which  Mr.  Maunsell  B.  Field,  in  his  3femories  of  Many  Men 
and  of  Some  Women,  has  attempted  to  anticipate  some  revelations 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHA8E.  559 

of  the  present  work  affecting   him  and  others.      Let   me  DOW   add 
that  the  same  work1  makes  Mr.  Lincoln  say  in  18<!  I  : 

"You  remember  that  when  Hiram  Barney  was  appointed,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  administration,  collector  of  the  porl  of  New  STork, 
everybody  Bupposed  that  ho  was  Chase's  selection,  and  nobody  else's. 

Now,  Barney  was  as  much   my  choice  as  he  was  Chase's." 

Is  not  here  clear  evidence  of  sinister  design?  It  is  conceded,  by 
this  eminently  questionable  statement,  that  everybody  supposed  that 
Barney  was  Chase's  selection.  All  we  have  to  the  contrary,  up  to 
this  hour,  is  Mr.  Maunsell  B.  Field's  report,  in  1873,  of  a  talk  with 
Lincoln  in  1864.  The  historian  and  the  biographer  must  throw 
aside  all  statements  of  that  character.  I  do  so  boldly  and  decidedly, 
although  I  overrule  my  wishes  in  so  judging. 

Next  I  call  attention  to  this  letter: 

"Washington,  D.  C,  January  22,  1864. 

"Dear  Sir:  Your  two  letters  of  the  17th  were 'duly  received,  as 
also  one  of  the  lGth.  I  have  had  no  conversation  with  the  President 
about  Mr.  Barney.  He  addressed  me  a  very  brief  note  the  other 
day,  asking  what  the  meaning  was  of  letters  and  telegrams  he 
received,  and  if  I  knew  of  anything  affecting  Mr.  Barney.  I  replied 
that  I  knew  of  nothing  which  should  shake  confidence  in  him,  or  some- 
thing to  this  effect,  I  do  not  remember  precisely  what.  I  will  try  and 
see  the  President,  though  my  time  is  very  much  occupied  ;  and  1  have 
thought  that,  unless  called  upon  by  him,  1  ought  not  to  take  any 
steps.  I  do  not  believe  it  has  assumed  any  such  importance  with 
him  as  one  in  New  York  might  imagine.  The  President,  I  know, 
believes  in  Mr.  Barne3T's  integrity,  and  his  sense  of  justice  is  such 
that  he  can  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  remove  an  honest  man  to  gratify 
politicians  of  any  stripe. 

"I  am  preparing  a  reply  to  the  resolution  of  Congress  about  Jay 
Cooke's  connection  with  the  department.  It  will  state  the  facts 
plainly  and  truly.  I  will  send  you  a  copy,  and  such  statements  of  a 
historical  character  as  will  enable  yow  to  compare  what  has  been 
accomplished  through  him  and  his  sub-agents,  in  points  of  economy 
and  efficiency,  with  what  was  ever  accomplished  hy  any  other 
agency  in  the  world. 

"I  have  not  had  time  to  prepare  any  full  statement  of  the  Mar- 
garet Garner  case,  but  inclose  with  this  a  copy  of  two  letters,  one  to 
Mr.  Pierce  and  one  to  Judge  Corwin,  of  Ohio.  If  you  think  it  im- 
portant to  come  to  Washington,  come,  without  waiting  for  a  formal 
direction.  I  do  not  advise  the  volunteering  of  any  communication 
to  the  President  at  present. 

"You  are  right  about  not  connecting  any  committee  of  merchants 
with  the  investigation   of  Custom-llouse  matters.     I  will,  however, 

1  Page  304. 


560  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

address  a  letter  to  the  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  invito 
ing  them  to  appoint  a  committee  to  confer  with  those  charged  with 
the  preparation  of  the  new  Code. 

"I  am  much  gratified  by  the  prudence  and  efficiency  with  which 
you  act,  and  I  am  always  glad  to  receive  any  suggestion  from  you. 

t;  Very  truly  j'ours, 

"  I.  T.  Bailey,  Esq.,  New  York.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

On  the  18th  of  January  Secretary  Chase  wrote  as  follows  to  Hon. 
James  C.  Hall,  of  Toledo,  Ohio  : 

"Mr  Dear  Sir:  Your  kind  note  is  just  received.  As  it  has  been 
so  long  on  the  way  I  have  telegraphed  you  that  I  will  reply  by  mail. 

"At  the  instance  of  man}'  who  think  that  the  public  interests  would 
be  promoted  by  my  election  to  the  Chief  Magistracy,  a  committee, 
composed  of  prominent  senators  and  representatives  and  citizens, 
has  been  organized  hei-e  for  taking  measures  to  promote  that  object. 

"This  committee,  though  a  sub-committee,  has  conferred  with  me, 
and  I  have  explained  to  them  the  objections  which  seem  to  me  to 
exist  against  any  use  of  my  name  in  that  connection.  They  have 
taken  these  objections  into  consideration,  and  assure  me  that  they 
think  I  ought  not  to  refuse  its  use ;  and  I  have  consented  to  their 
wishes,  assuring  them,  however,  that  whenever  any  consideration, 
by  them,  or  by  the  friends  of  the  cause,  thought  entitled  to  weight, 
should  indicate  the  expediency  of  any  other  course,  no  consideration 
of  personal  delicacy  should  be  allowed  to  prevent  its  being  taken. 

"If  I  know  my  own  heart,  I  desire  nothing  so  much  as  the  sup- 
pression of  this  rebellion  and  the  establishment  of  Union,  Order,  and 
Prosperity,  on  sure  and  safe  foundations;  and  I  should  despise  my- 
self if  I  felt  capable  of  allowing  any  personal  objects  to  influence 
me  to  any  action  which  would  affect,  by  one  jot  or  title,  injuriously, 
the  accomplishment  of  those  objects.  And  it  is  a  source  of  real  grati- 
fication to  believe  that  those  who  desire  my  nomination,  desire  it  on 
public  grounds  alone,  and  will  not  hesitate,  in  any  matter  which  may 
concern  me,  upon  such  grounds  and  such  grounds  only. 

"Of  course,  under  these  circumstances,  I  desire  the  support  of 
Ohio.  If,  however,  it  shall  be  the  pleasure  of  a  majority  of  our 
friends  in  Ohio  to  indicate  a  preference  for  another,  I  shall  accept 
their  action  with  that  cheerful  acquiescence  which  is  due  from  me  to 
friends  who  have  trusted  and  honored  me  beyond  an}T  claim  or  merit 
of  mine.  Very  truly  your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

A  letter  to  Mrs.  Helen  M.  Walbridge,  dated  January  2,  contains 
the  following  pleasant  sentences : 

"  We  are  all  pretty  well  Kate  seems  very  happy.  She  and  her 
husband  seem  to  love  each  other  dearly.  He  is  a  noble  fellow,  and  I 
love  him  almost  as  much  as  she  does.  Eliza  Whipple  is  with  us,  and 
seems  to  enjoy  herself  very  much.  She  is  an  excellent  woman,  and 
somebody  has  missed  having  one  of  the  best  wives  in  the  world. 
Nettie  is  still  at  Mrs.  McCaulley's,  in  New  York.  We  should  be  de- 
lighted to  have  you  with  us  again.     Can't  you  come? 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  OlJl 

"Give  my  best  love  to  brother  Henry  and  the  children,  and,  if  you 

can,  write  and  tell  me  till  about  them. 

"By  the  way,  there  is  a  gentleman   in  Boston  engaged  in  writing 

a  sort  of  biography  of  me  for  the  use  of  boys  and  girls,  and  wants 
facts.  I  have  tried  to  furnish  him  some;  but  I  never  though!  much 
of  passing  events,  except  to  do  the  work  I  had  to  do.  and  nay  memory 
is  sadly  at  fault.  Can  you  remember  anything  about  inc.-'  [f  you 
can.  and  will  write,  or  have  somebody  else  write  what  you  remember, 
giving  dates  as  well  as  you  can,  it  will  doubtless  be  of  great  service — 
the  sooner  the  better.  Your  affectionate  brother, 

"  Mrs.  Helen  M.  Walbridqe,  Toledo,  O.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Here  is  another  piece  of  pleasant  reading  matter: 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  January  23,  1864. 

"  My  Dear  Friend  :  I  am  very  sorry  that  I  am  obliged  to  answer 
all  your  questions  with  '  I  don't  know.' 

"Should  any  act  for  the  payment  of  French  spoliations  become  a 
statute — that  is,  pass  Congress  and  receive  the  sanction  of  the  Presi- 
dent— it  will  be  in  my  power  to  tell  what  cases  fall  within  it.  and 
■whether  that  of  the  Fair  American  is  one  of  them;  and  will  gladly 
be  of  any  use  possible  to  you.  But  you  must  wait  till  there  is  a  law 
before  disturbing  yourself  about  the  matter. 

"  Do  you  know  that  Eliza  Whipple  is  making  us  a  visit?  She  and 
Kate  were  talking  .of  you  the  other  evening,  and  expressing  their 
wish  to  see  you.  I  wish  you  could  come  to  Washington  ;  though  I 
could  probably  see  so  little  of  you  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  toll 
which  would  be  greater,  the  pleasure  of  seeing  3-ou  or  the  sensation 
of  not  seeing  you  enough.  Sincerely  your  friend, 

"  Miss  Susan  Walker.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  same  day,  the  Secretary  wrote  as  follows  to  Geo.  Wilkes,  Esq.: 

"  Dear  Sir  :  I  inclose  General  Hooker's  letter,  or  rather  two  of 
his  letters.  Please  return  them  when  read.  Theorders  to  which  he 
refers  are  not  important  to  a  clear  understanding  of  his  views  in 
respect  to  the  matter  mentioned  in  your  note;  and  as  he  expresses  a 
doubt  whether  in  strict  propriety  he  ought  to  have  sent  them  even  to 
me,  though  the  head  of  a  department,  I  refrain  from  sending  them 
to  you,  though  I  should  like  to  do  so. 

"  Mr.  Hutchins,  who  will  soon  go  to  New  Orleans,  will  take  with 
him  the  commission  of  Mr.  Plumley.  Almost  all  whose  opinions  are 
of  value,  and  who  have  any  interest  in  the  subject,  unite  in  advising 
his  appointment.         Very  truly  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Here  is  an  explanatory  letter  of  decided  interest — with  an  account 
of  Lincoln  that  seems  hardly  just: 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  January  24,  1864. 

"My  Dear  Friend:  Some  time  ago  I  received  a  letter  from  yon 
about  the  publication  of  your  article  on  the  Monroe  Doctrine  in  pam- 
phlet. My  impression  is  that  I  did  not  reply— my  intent  ions  t,,  do  so 
being  frustrated  by  demands  on  my  time  and  attention,  which  pushed 


562  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

it  out  of  ray  thoughts  for  the  time.  Recently  my  thoughts  were 
recalled  to  the  subject  by  receiving  a  copy  of  the  pamphlet ;  and  I 
now  wish  to  say  that  if,  in  consequence  of  my  remissness,  you  have 
been  put  personally  to  anjT  expense,  I  want  the  privilege  of  reim- 
bursing it  to  you.  I  am  not  a  rich  man,  and  I  am  glad  to  be  able 
to  Bay  that  I  have  become  poorer  instead  of  richer  from  public 
employments;  but  still,  I  can  better  afford,  I  fancy,  to  pa}'  such  a 
contribution  to  a  public  object  than  most  editors  of  religious  news- 
papers. 

"  In  the  main,  I  concur  in  your  views — wholly,  in  their  principle 
and  spirit.  I  believe  that  the  statesmen  whose  views  were  repre- 
sented by  Mr.  Monroe's  Message — including  Mr.  Monroe  himself — 
intended  to  be  understood  in  the  plain  sense  of  the  language 
employed — meant  that  any  attempt  to  force  the  European  system  on 
America  would  be  dangerous  to  our  safety,  and  that  any  interference 
with  any  American  government  by  European  powers  for  the  purpose 
of  oppressing  it,  or  possibly  controlling  its  destiny,  would  be  regarded 
as  an  unfriendly  manifestation.  In  this  sense  the  declaration  was 
understood  and  accepted  by  the  American  people,  and  became  a  car- 
dinal principle  of  American  policy.  After  all,  however,  it  is  not  so 
important  to  inquire  into  the  history  as  into  the  soundness  of  the 
principle  and  the  propriety  of  insisting  on  its  application  to  recent 
events  in  San  Domingo  and  Mexico. 

"It  certainly  would  have  suited  my  temper  and  taste  much  better 
to  do  so,  and  yet  I  can  not  blame  Mr.  Seward  for  not  having  done  so. 
He  never  renounced  it:  he  only  forebore  to  insist  on  it:  when  insist- 
ing would  probably  have  been  counted  as  a  menace,  and  would  have 
precipitated  recognition  of  the  rebel  Confederacy,  and  that  recogni- 
tion would  have  been  followed  by  war. 

"Had  there  been  here  an  administration  in  the  true  sense  of  the 
word — a  President  conferring  with  his  Cabinet  and  taking  their 
united  judgments,  and  with  their  aid  enforcing  activity,  economy, 
and  energy,  in  all  departments  of  public  service — we  could  have 
spoken  boldly  and  defied  the  world.  But  our  condition  here  has 
always  been  very  different.  I  preside  over  the  funnel;  everybody 
else,  and  especially  the  Secretaries  of  War  and  the  Navy,  over  the 
spigots — and  keep  them  well  open,  too.  Mr.  Seward  conducts  the 
foreign  relations  with  very  little  let  or  help  from  anybod}'.  There 
is  no  unity  and  no  system,  except  so  far  as  it  is  departmental.  There 
is  progress,  but  it  is  slow  and  unvoluntary — just  what  is  coerced  by 
the  irresistible  pressure  of  the  vast  force  of  the  people.  How 
under  such  circumstances  can  anybody  announce  a  policy  which  can 
only  be  made  respectable  by  union,  wisdom,  and  courage? 

'■But  I  have  written  more  than  I  intended.  Have  you  seen 
Baptist  Norl'e  book  on  our  American  Rebellion?  He  was  sadly 
mistaken  in  his  account  of  parties  as  connected  with  slavery. 
Can't  you  Avrite  an  article  like  that  on  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  giving 
the  true  view  of  political  action  as  influenced  successively  by  the 
Liberty  Party  and  the  Independent  Democracy,  or,  as  our  Whigish 
friends  preferred  to  call  it,  the  Free  Soil  Party? 

"Who  could  do  that  as  well  as  you?  Your  friend, 

"  Rev.  J.  Leavitt,  D.  D.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  568 

On  the  26th  the  Secretary  wrote  as  follows  to  James  B.  Bingham, 
Esq.,  of  Memphis : 

"Dear  Sir:  I  have  noticed  with  great  pleasure  your  determina- 
tion to  commit  yourself  to  the  policy  of  emancipation  in  Tennessee, 
as  a  certain  and  Bpeedy  means  of  its  restoration  to  the  Union.  Early 
in  our  great  struggle  my  reflections  resulted  in  the  conviction  that 
slavery  must  perish  through  the  war  which  slavery  had  begun.  'Flic 
events  of  every  month  strengthen  this  conviction,  and  I  was  glad  to 
see,  from  time  to  time,  that  it  was  beginning  to  he  shared  hy  the 
most  intelligent  Union  men  in  the  Slave  States. 

"  I  rejoice  now  that  you  place  your  influential  journal  on  that  side. 
I  am  sure  you  will  never  regret  doing  so.  To  have  led  in  this  work 
in  Tennessee  will  be  an  honor  which  you  will  hereafter  regard 
as  among  the  most  precious  of  your  possessions. 

"  Yours  very  trulj^ 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

This  letter  to  Judge  Key  will  repay  perusal,  especially  in  itsallu- 
sion  to  McClellan  : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  January  26,  1864. 

"  My  Dear  Judge  :  Mr.  Goodrich  sent  me  your  kind  note,  and  it 
was  a  real  delight  to  me  to  see  your  handwriting  once  more.  God 
grant  that  it  may  foretoken  your  complete  restoration  to  health. 

"Among  the  gratifications  which  have  more  than  compensated  the 
vexation  and  chagrin  I  have  had  to  endure  here,  I  prized  few  more 
highly  than  that  which  your  appreciation  of  my  work  and  your 
prompt  award  to  me  of  your  esteem  and  friendship  gave  me.  Would 
that  j'our  chief  had  had  the  wisdom  to  see  and  the  courage  to  act  as 
you  would  have  had  him  !  How  much  might  have  been  spared  to 
our  country  ! 

"What  I  did  to  aid  you  when  }tou  first  came  from  Ohio,  I  should 
have  done  for  any  one  charged  with  the  same  mission.  I  simply  did 
my  duty.  How  generously  you  overpaid  me  by  your  confidence  and 
good-will  will  pass  from  memory  only  when  memory  retains  no 
traces. 

"  If  it  is  too  much  trouble  for  you  to  write  yourself,  will  you  oblige 
me  by  having  some  friend  write  me  how  j'ou  are?  You  remember 
that  I  proposed  to  you  when  in  New  York  to  take  a  Southern  voyage 
on  one  of  the  revenue  cutters.  If  your  health  will  now  permit  yon 
to  go  round  to  Fernandina,  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  have  you  avail 
yourself  of  her  accommodations,  which  are  really  good,  while  she 
cruises  for  the  coming  two  or  three  months  on  the  Florida  and  South 
Carolina  coasts.     Can't  you  do  so? 

"  I  am  terribly  worked  and  had  no  time  to  talk  with  Mr.  Goodrich 
about  his  plan,  but  referred  him  to  a  friend  in  the  Senate.  As  to 
political  affairs  and  prospects,  it  is  absolutely  impossible  for  me  to 
keep  myself  posted.  Some  friends  are  sanguine  that  my  name  will 
receive  favorable  consideration  from  the  people  in  connection  with 
the  Presidency.  I  tell  them  that  I  can  take  no  part  in  anything  they 
37 


504  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

may   propose  to   do,  except  by  trying  to  merit  confidence    where 
I  am  Faithfully  j*our  friend, 

"  Hon.  Thomas  M.  Key,  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Here  is  conclusive  evidence  that  our  hero  was  not  a  Portuguese 
scholar : 

'•  Washington,  D.  C,  January  26,  1864. 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Granert  :  Accept  my  thanks  for  your  brothers 
Portuguese  grammar.  I  wish  I  understood  the  language  that  I  might 
form  a  proper  estimate  of  its  value.  Yours  truly, 

"  Prof.  Granert.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

In  a  letter  addressed,  next  day,  to  Wayne  McVeigh,  Esq.,  are  the 
words : 

"Oh,  for  a  vigorous,  earnest,  thorough,  prosecution  of  this  war! 
for  a  speedy  and  complete  suppression  of  this  rebellion  !  How  often 
does  the  question  come  to  me  with  terrific  force!  How  much  longer 
can  the  strain,  which  delay  and  extravagance  make,  be  endured  be- 
fore the  links  of  credit  snap?" 

Next,  attention  is  invited  to  this  letter : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  January  27,  1864. 

"  My  Dear  Judge  :  I  thank  you  for  your  frank  and  friendly  let- 
ter. Your  appreciation  of  the  situation  is  doubtless  correct.  The 
situation  itself  could  be  changed,  perhaps  will  be  changed.  I  am 
content  whether  or  no. 

"Most  sincerely  do  I  grieve  with  you  in  your  bereavement.  I 
have  experienced  the  pangs  of  one  almost  exactly  similar.  May  God 
comfort  j'ou. 

"  One  opinion  to  which  you  refer  as  prevalent  is  certainly  erroneous. 
The  administration  can  not  be  continued  as  it  is.  There  is  in  fact  no 
administration,  properly  speaking.  There  are  departments  and  there 
is  a  President.  The  latter  leaves  administration  substantially  to  the 
Heads  of  the  former,  deciding  himself  comparitively  few  questions 
These  Heads  act  with  almost  absolute  independence  of  each  other. 
The  determination  of  the  people  to  suppress  the  rebellion  has  thus 
far  give  a  measure  of  success  to  this  departmental  action.  When 
peace  shall  come,  or,  sooner,  if  it  be  long  in  coming,  that  coincidence 
of  aim,  which  is  mistaken  for  unity  of  action,  will  be  at  an  end. 

"  I  have  not  the  slightest  idea  that  under  any  circumstance  I  can 
remain  or  can  be  persuaded  to  remain  in  my  present  position  another 
year.  Your  friend, 

"  Hon.  Wm.  M.  Dickson.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  same  day,  Wm.  H.  Kincaid,  Esq.,  of  Pittsburg,  was  ad- 
dressed in  a  letter  containing  the  words : 

"  The  commendation  and  support  of  the  good  are  especially  valu- 
able at  a  time  when  so  many  are  recklessly  endeavoring  to  destroy 
confidence  in  the  financial  administration  of  the  country.    Few  things 


OF   SALMON    FORTLAND    OHASF..  566 

could  lie  more  evil  than  the  success  of  these  efforts.     It  would  arrest 
the  progress  of  our  armies  and  bring  distress  to  countless  fireside 

To  Hon.   E.   D.   Mansfield   was    written,  on   the   28th,  a  letter 

saying : 

"I  have  no  doubt  of  the  value  of  the  suggestions  you  inclose 
Nothing  except  the  waste  of  life  is  more  painful  in  this  war  than 
the  absolutely  reckless  waste  of  means.  Avery  large  pari  of  the 
frauds  which  disgrace  us  may  be  traced  to  the  want  of  systematic 
supervision  ;  and  yet  what  encouragement  is  there  to  endeavors 
toward  economy  ?  Such  endeavors  league  against  him  who  makes 
them  all  the  venality  and  corruption  which  is  interested  in  ex- 
travagance. Most,  if  not  all,  the  bitter  attacks  made  upon  me 
have  originated  in  the  spite  of  the  people  whose  interests  Mere 
thought  to  be  affected  by  mj*  efforts  to  keep  things  in  the  right 
direction  and  under  economical  mangement." 

Here  is  a  letter  written  with  some  heat — a  good  letter,  notwith- 
standing : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  January  28,  1864. 

" My  Dear  Sir:  I  return  Mr.  Batchelor's  letter.  I  should  de- 
spise myself  if  I  felt  capable  of  appointing  or  removing  a  man  for  the 
sake  of  the  Presidency.  Captain  Grace  has  been  retained  because  I 
have  been  assured  by  many  reliable  political  friends  that  he  dis- 
charged his  duties  faithfully  and  well,  and  because  there  was  no 
proof  that  he  was  hostile  to  the  government.  I  was  at  one  time 
strongly  inclined  to  remove  him  because  of  allegations  that  he  es- 
pecially consorted  and  sympathized  with  the  men  who  obstruct,  to 
the  best  of  their  ability,  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  and  I  have  not. 
yet  absolutely  determined  what  shall  be  done.  When  I  act  I  shall 
act  upon  public  considerations,  not  personal. 

"I  have  never  sought  to  manage  newspapers.  If  the}-  have  sup- 
ported me  I  have  been  glad  of  it,  and  grateful.  If  they  have  op- 
posed, it  has  been  their  own  matter,  and  I  have  let  them  take  their 
course.  I  have  never  undertaken,  and  never  shall  undertake  to 
manipulate  the  press. 

"So  far  as  the  Presidency  is  concerned,  I  must  leave  that  wholly 
to  the  people.  Those  of  them  who  think  that  the  public  good  will 
be  promoted  by  adherence  to  the  one  term  principle,  and  by  the  use 
of  my  name,  are  fully  competent,  and  far  more  competent  than  I  am. 
to  bring  the  matter  before  the  public  generally;  and  the  people  will 
dispose  of  the  case  according  to  their  own  judgment.  Whatever 
disposition  they  make  of  it,  I  shall  be  content.  My  time  is  wholly 
absorbed  by  my  public  duties  ;  and  I  can  best  serve  the  public,  and 
my  friends  too,  by  the  faithful  discharge  of  them. 

"I  inclose  the  check  for  §33  78.  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  bo 
much  money  on  deposit.  If  not,  let  Masters  pay  the  amount,  and 
let  your  receipt  stand  as  one  of  his  vouchers,  and  return  me  the 
check. 

"  I  can  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  such  project  as  buying  out  the 


566  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

Times.  Even  if  I  were  disposed  to  have  I  could  not,  for  I  have  no 
money;  and  a  little  reflection  will  convince  3-011  that  I  ought  not  to 
be  consulted  in  reference  to  any  such  matter,  so  long  as  m3r  name  is 
at  all  considered  in  connection  with  the  next  Presidential  canvass. 

"Just  let  me  hint  to  3*011  before  closing  that  when  writing  to  me 
the  business  of  your  agency,  3-011  should  address  me  in  the  manner 
usual  in  official  communications,  in  the  beginning  and  ending.  When 
3-ou  write  upon  other  topics,  address  me  as  what  I  am,  and  expect 
to  remain,  Your  friend, 

«  Thos.  Heaton,  Esq.,  Cincinnati,  O.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

But  here  is  a  thorough  1)T  agreeable  epistle: 

"  Washington,  January  29,  1864. 

"My  Darling  Nettie:  I  have  been  quite  unfatherly  in  neglect- 
ing to  write  3*011  so  long.     I  will  try  to  do  better. 

"Inclosed  with  this  is  a  check  for  ninety  dollars,  your  quarterly 
allowance  for  the  winter. 

"You  will  remember  that  3*011  are  to  have  that  sum  every  spring, 
summer,  fall,  and  winter,  and  make  it  pay  all  3*0111*  expenses,  except 
Mrs.  Macaulay's  bills,  which  are  to  include  nothing  but  board,  tui- 
tion, and  books. 

"  I  hope  3*011  will  make  it  go  as  far  as  possible,  and  save  a  good 
deal  for  the  poor.  Your  affectionate  father, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"As  to  skates,  and  skating,  Mrs.  Macaulay  knows  best.  You  can 
do  whatever  she  approves." 

The  next  clay  the  Secretary  wrote  as  follows  : 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Pierce  :  I  suppose  that  3*ou  have  before  this  re- 
ceived Mrs.  Sprague's  letter,  saying  that  she  will  be  gratified  to  have 
Mrs.  Howe  repeat  her  parlor  lectures  in  Washington.  I  never  had 
the  pleasure  of  meeting  that  accomplished  lady  but  once,  when  I 
called  upon  her  in  company  with  our  friend  Sumner.  I  can  hardly 
tell  whether  her  personal  graces  and  conversation  or  her  poetiy  have 
impressed  me  most. 

"  It  is  not  probable  that  an3T  vacancy  in  the  office  of  General  Ap- 
praiser, at  Boston,  will  occur  ;  so  that  I  shall  not  have  the  trouble  of 
deciding  the  question  of  preference. 

"  Would  it  not  be  well  to  find  an  occasion  for  the  use  of  the  Mar- 
garet Garner  papers  without  waiting  for  a  repetition  of  Phillips' 
invective?  He  will  not  be  likely,  I  think,  to  repeat  it.  The  poisoned 
shaft  has  entered  the  public  mind,  and  is  doing  the  work  he  designed. 
Perhaps,  also,  it  is  doing  a  precisely  opposite  work,  b3*  reaction,  in 
quarters  where  the  injustice  and  malevolence  of  the  attack  excite 
disgust.  Yours  truty, 

"  Edw.  L.  Pierce,  Esq.,  Boston,  Mass.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  same  day  he  wrote  as  follows  to  Edward  Gilbert,  Esq.,  of  N.  Y.: 

"  The  only  and  the  best  service  I  can  render,  by  those  who  desire 
to  use  my  name  in  the  approaching  canvass,  is  to  devote  m3*self  ex- 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  5G7 

clusivcly  to  the  proper  duties  of  my  department  so  long  as  T  remain 
at  its  head.  I  thank  you  for  your  sympathy.  I  can  not  say  that  I 
relish  the  attacks  made;  but  it  is  natural  that  they  should  he  made 
It  is  impossible  to  reform  and  investigate  without  Btirring  up  slan- 
derers and  revilers,  both  among  those  whose  wrong-doings  are 
exposed  and  unrighteous  profits  taken  away,  and  among  those,  too, 
who  think  they  see  a  good  chance  to  take  advantage  of  clamor  to  the 
the  injury  of  a  public  man  who,  they  fear. stands  too  well  with  people." 

February  1  is  the  date  of  this  charming  letter: 

"My  very  Dear  Friend  :  Your  letter  came  Saturday  night.  It 
is  my  habit  (a  bad  one)  to  read  after  retiring  ;  so  I  took  your  letter 
with  me  to  inspire  my  dreams  ;  and  really  I  had  a  very  curious 
one.  I  dreamed  that  there  was  to  be  a  marriage,  and  that  Katie  and 
I  were  invited  to  witness  it.  We  went  to  the  church,  expecting  to 
find  a  great  crowd.  To  our  surprise,  there  were  few  present.  These 
were  in  the  front  pews,  and  mostly  on  the  off  one  coming  in.  We 
walked  up  the  grand  aisle — up,  and  up — and  it  seemed  very  long — 
till  at  last  we  entered  a  pew  on  the  right  side. of  it.  Then  came  the 
ceremony — or  rather  what  seemed  the  beginning  of  it — for  it  was 
not  finished.  It  was  like  nothing  anybody  ever  heard  of  in  a  bridal 
ceremony ;  and  was  so  strange  and  so  surprising  that  I  suffered — I 
awoke  from  the  effects  of  its  strangeness.  At  any  rate.  I  awoke.  I 
recognized  neither  of  the  parties.  They  were  as  strange  as  the  cere- 
mony ;  but  they  were  young  and  handsome.  Some  day,  when  we 
meet,  I  Avill  tell  you  more  about  it. 

•'  When  we  meet!  When  will  that  be  ?  You  are  the  most  uncon- 
nectable  lady  I  know — partout  et  nulle  part.  You  remind  me  of  the 
address  of  on  friend  to  another,  who  was,  like  yourself,  in  the  habit 
of  going  everywhere  and  staying  nowhere.  They  met  on  the  high- 
way. The  former  said  to  the  latter:  '  Comme  je  suis  heuretix,  mon 
cher  ami,  de  vous  voir  chez  vousV 

"Mrs.  Lindsley  asked  me,  the  other  evening,  'Where  is  Mrs.  East- 
man? My  house  is  evacuated  by  most  of  those  who  have  been  with 
me,  and  I  want  her  to  make  me  a  visit.'  I  replied,  innocently,  'At 
Kenosha,'  And  now  your  letter  comes,  and  I  find  that  I  was  mis- 
leading the  good  lady.  But  I  suppose  her  letter  will  follow  you  to 
Milwaukee;  and  I  really  hope  you  will  accept  her  invitation.     Many 

friends — and  I  most — will   welcome  your  coming,   though. . 

always  I  am  so  tied,  hand  and  foot,  by  official  duties  that  I  get  very, 
very  little  time  for  society. 

"'By  the  way,  our  friend,  Mr.  Ducker,  was  here  the  other  day. 
He  came  in,  and  we  had  a  few  moments'  very  pleasant  chat.  Then 
somebody  came  in  on  business,  and  he  went  out.  I  expected  him 
back,  but  he  did  not  come.  His  visit,  with  his  talk  of  you  and  his 
wife  and  his  pleasant  place,  was  all  very  delightful;  but  the  contrast 
of  my  confinement  and  work  is — well,  no  matter.  We  must  do  our 
work. 

"I  received  no  letter,  I  think,  from  you  from  Cassville;  but  I  prize 
your  letters  too  much  to  notice  the  dates,  and  it  is  possihle  that 
it  did  come  :  and,  in  obedience  to   your  injunctions — which   please 


a 


THE   PJttlVATE   LIFE   AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 


revoke — was  destroyed;  I  had  been  looking  for  a  letter  from  you 
for  a  long  time  before  your  last  came  But  as  I  have  almost  always 
answered  your  letters  immediately  after  receiving  them,  while  you 
have  put  long  intervals  between  receipt  and  reply,  I  thought  it  best 
to  wait  this  time  till  you  should  write.  So  I  waited — but  I  did  not 
forget. 

"No,  indeed,  I  do  not  forget  you;  nor  am  I  likely  to  forget.  I 
think  of  you  constantly;  and,  if  any  feeling  is  left  in  me,  with  the 
sincerest  affection.  We  have  been  friends  a  long  time,  and  I  hope 
shall  be  better  friends,  instead  of  worse.  Howl  wish  you  were  here 
in  our  house — in  this  little  library  room — and  that  we  could  talk,  in- 
stead of  this  writing  by  myself,  while  you  are — where? 

"  Governor  Sprague  and  Katie  went  to  Providence  Thursday  night. 
We  expect  them  to-morrow.  Write  soon,  and  as  affectionately  as 
conscience  will  permit.  Your  friend, 


pei 
Mrs.  C.  S.  Eastman,  Milwaukee. 


S.  P.  CHASE." 


The  same  day,  Hon.  W.  D.  Lindsay  was  addressed  in  a  letter  con- 
taining these  words,  with  others  : 

"  I  have  never  urged  any  personal  claims  of  my  own  on  the  friends 
of  our  common  cause  ;  and  it  is  through  no  procurement  or  agency  of 
mine  that  ray  name  has  been  connected  with  the  Presidency.  Such 
action  as  you  say  is  contemplated  in  Ohio  will  be  received  by  me  with 
perfect  respect  and  acquiescence,  as  a  declaration  that  the  legis 
lative  representatives  of  our  cause  prefer  another  to  myself. 

"  Please  assure  General  Delano  that  no  one  appreciates  his  abilities 
or  his  services  to  the  State  more  highly  than  I  do.  I  thought  at  one 
time  that  he  acted  an  unkindly  part  toward  me;  but  it  was  under 
circumstances  when  men  are  apt  to  misjudge  each  other.  If  I  have 
ever  an  opportunity  to  serve  him,  I  will  prove  to  him  that  any  little 
feeling  I  may  have  had  is  wiped  out,  replaced  by  the  sincerest  respect 
and  esteem." 

Another  letter  of  the  same  date  has  this  curious  tenor : 

<:  Washington,  February  1,  186-4. 

'•  Most  Eeverend  and  very  Dear  Sir:  I  do  not  know  but  I  have 
been  stepping  beyond  my  line;  if  so,  and  you  blame  me,  let  my  true 
regard  for  yourself  and  the  confidence  with  which  you  have  honored 
me  be  my  apology. 

•  Deeply  impressed  with  the  importance  of  having  a  successor  to 
Archbishop  Hughes,  of  clear  intellect  and  earnest  sympathy  with 
the  poor,  the  oppressed,  and  enslaved,  I  ventured,  without  consult- 
ing you,  to  ask  Governor  Dennison,  when  here  some  time  ago,  to 
name  the  subject  to  the  President.  He  did  so,  as  he  informed  me  at 
the  time.  Subsequently,  I  spoke  to  the  President  myself.  He  men- 
tioned that  Governor  Dennison  had  spoken  to  him — seemed  pleased 
with  the  suggestion — and  referred  me  to  Mr.  Seward.  To-day  I  have 
had  a  conversation  with  Mr.  Seward,  who  expresses  himself,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  subject,  as  I  would  wish. 

"Now,  please  let  me  know  if  I  have  erred.     If  not,  and  there  is 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  569 

any  purpose  to  be  done  that  I  can  do,  please  inform  me  frankly  what 

it  is,  if  you  see  tit  to  do. 

"In  any  event,  your  confidence  will  be  sacred  with  me. 

"  Yours  very  truly, 
"Most  Rev.  Archwshop  Purcell.  S.  IV  CHASE." 

Still  another  letter  of  the  same  date  contains  these  paragraphs  : 

"Everything  is  looking  very  well  here,  except  that  our  military 
movements  are  by  no  means  so  energetic  as  they  should  be.  We  can 
not  afford  the  prolongation  of  the  rebellion. 

"I  received  a  letter  from  General  Gilmore  to-day,  in  which  he 
expresses  the  intention  to  clear  out  Florida  forthwith,  so  that  your 
path  to  the  reconstruction  of  a  Free  State,  under  a  Free  Constitution, 
will  be  plain.  1  wish  you  to  write  to  me  a  little  oftener.  I  wish  to 
be  kept  full}-  posted  by  you. 

"  Very  truly  your  friend, 

"Hon.  L.  D.  Stickney,  Fernandina.  Fla.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

That  was  with  our  hero  a  good  day  for  letters !  I  do  not  give  all, 
but  here  is  another  that  must  not  be  omitted: 

"Washington,  D.  C,  February  1,  1SG4. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  have  received  3rour  letter,  and  thank  you  for 
it.  It  is  worthy  of  your  high  character  for  intelligence  and  rec- 
titude. 

I  wish  Mr.  Barney  was  perfect.  I  should  like  to  be  perfect  myself. 
and  have  everybody  else  perfect;  but  in  the  present  state  of  our  race 
I  see  no  instances  of  perfection.  And  certainly  I  shall  not  be  in 
haste  to  condemn  him  I  know  to  be  honest,  or  to  recommend  the 
appointment  of  a  successor,  unless  I  am  sure  that  a  real  improve- 
ment can  be  etfected ;  in  which  case  I  do  not  doubt  Mr.  Barney  will 
resign  his  office,  if  he  can  do  it  honorably. 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"Hon.  E.  Campbell,  Bath,  N.  Y.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  next  day  our  letter-writing  hero  thus  addressed  his  old  friend 
and  partner,  Hon.  Flamen  Ball : 

"My  Dear  Mr.  Ball:     Yours  of  the  25th  is  just  received. 

"I  hope  you  will  find  somebody  to  make  search  for  the  copies 
soon.  Your  suggestion  that  the  search  should  he  extended  into  the 
files  of  the  Philanthropist  is  excellent.  You  have  so  much  to  do 
that  I  am  afraid  Trowbridge  will  get  through  with  his  biography 
before  he  will  hear  from  you. 

"You  ask  for  the  signs  of  the  times.  At  present,  they  seem  to 
indicate  the  renomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  His  personal  popularity 
is  great  and  deserved.  If  to  his  kindliness  of  spirit  and  good  sense 
he  joined  strong  will  and  energetic  action,  there  would  he  little  left 
to  wish  tor  in  him.  As  it  is,  I  think  that  he  will  be  likely  to  close 
his  first  term  with  more  honor  than  he  will  the  second,  should  he  be 
reelected. 


570  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"I  can  not  help  being  gratified  by  the  preference  expressed  for  me 
in  some  quarters;  for  those  who  express  it  are  generally  men  of  great 
weight,  and  high  character,  and  independent  judgment.  I  have 
some  reason  to  think,  too,  that  it  is  felt  to  a  considerable  extent  by 
the  masses  of  the  people.  Sometime  since,  a  number  of  senators, 
representatives,  and  citizens,  organized  a  committee  here  with  the 
purpose  of  bringing  forward  my  name.  They  think  there  will  be  a 
change  in  the  current,  which,  so  far  as  it  is  not  spontaneous,  is  chiefly 
managed  by  the  Blairs. 

"  Whether  the}'  are  right  in  this  judgment  or  not,  time  will  show. 
Of  course,  if  my  name  is  to  be  brought  forward  at  all,  I  shall  be  glad 
to  have  Ohio  decidedly  on  my  side.  Indeed,  if  Ohio  should  express 
a  preference  for  any  other  person  I  would  not  allow  my  name  to  be 
used. 

"I  shall  be  entirely  content  to  retire,  as  soon  as  the  condition  of 
the  finances  will  permit,  to  a  private  station,  and  hope  their  condition 
will  permit  it  before  the  lapse  of  many  months. 

"I  do  not  know  what  prompts  the  articles  in  the  Gazette.  As  soon 
as  I  saw  the  first  one,  I  directed  an  examination  to  be  made  into  the 
law,  and  found  that  it  sanctioned  the  court's  allowances  to  Mr.  Car- 
son. I  think  the  law,  however,  is  wrong,  and  shall  endeavor  to  get 
it  amended  as  soon  as  pi'acticable. 

"Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sprague  are  in  Providence,  and  Miss  Whipple  will 
leave  us  this  week. 

"  Give  my  very  best  regards  to  Mrs.  Ball  and  the  young  ladies,  and 
believe  me,  very  cordially  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE."1 

In  a  letter  of  the  same  date,  to  J.  W.  Hartwell,  Esq.,  of  Cincin- 
nati, was  said : 

"I  thank  you  for  j^our  congratulations.  You  are  entirely  right  as 
to  the  necessity  of  a  great  increase  of  revenue.  We  must  pay  more 
as  we  go,  if  we  desire  to  prevent  our  debt  from  reaching  unmanage- 
able proportions. 

"So  far,  I  think,  I  have  made  few  mistakes.  Indeed,  on  looking 
back  over  the  whole  ground,  with  an  earnest  desire  to  detect  error 
and  correct  it,  I  am  not  able  to  see  where,  if  I  had  to  do  my  work 
all  over  again,  I  could  in  any  matter  do  materially  otherwise  than 

Til'"'  J  J 

1  have. 


1To  George  S.  Hale,  Esq.,  Mr.  Chase  wrote,  the  same  day,  as  follows : 
"Mr  Dear  Sir:      I  thank  you  for  your  kind  note  and  am  sorry  you  did  not 
know  Mr.  Trowbridge.     He  has,  it  is  true,  designs  on  my  life;  but  they  are  not 
felonious. 

"It  grieves  me  to  hear  of  the  ill  health  of  your  honored  mother;  and  am  exceed- 
ingly obliged  to  her  for  her  kindness  in  proposing  to  comply  with  my  request  as 
far  as  she  can,  notwithstanding.  If  she  is  well  enough  to  allow  Mr.  Trowbridge 
who  lives  in  Somerville,  an  interview,  it  may  be  rather  a  pleasure  to  her  to  talk  of 
the  past  days  with  him.  He  is  a  very  pleasant  gentleman,  and  really  a  gentleman. 
"  Yours  very  truly,  S.   P.  CHASE." 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  571 

To  Pliny  Freeman,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  on  the  fourth  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1864,  Mr.  Chase  addressed  a  note,  in  which  was  said  : 

"Much  of  what  you  say  lias  already  been  considered.  No  one 
understands  better  than  yourself  how  impossible  it  is  to  realize  all 
we  think  good  in  theory.  Opinion  in  and  out  of  Congress  must 
necessarily  be  consulted  in  practical  measures. 

"If  I  can  succeed  in  giving  a  permanent,  uniform  currency  to  the 
country,  and  cany  the  nation  financially  through  the  war  without 
failure,  I  shall  be  satisfied,  even  although  obliged  to  forego  much 
that  I  think  desirable  to  the  solidity  and  perfection  of  the  financial 
system." 

Of  the  same  date  is  the  following,  being  the  body  of  a  letter  to 
Dr.  Fuller,  of  Baltimore  : 

"  I  have  received  your  letter  and  read  it  attentively.  The  atrocious 
rebellion  against  the  National  Government  has  brought  great  calami- 
ties upon  the  country,  and  those  to  which  you  refer  are  a  part  of 
them.  It  is  the  part  of  Christians  and  patriots  to  alleviate  them  as 
far  as  practicable.  But  what  can  human  power  do  when  earthquakes 
shake  the  world  ?" 

On  the  6th,  the  Secretary  wrote  to  Mr.  J.  F.  Bailey,  of  New 
York,  a  letter  saying  : 

'•  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  give  Colonel  Porter  an  appointment,  both 
because  of  his  merits  and  because  of  the  interest  Mr.  Godwin  feels 
in  him,  but  I  am  making  no  new  appointments  of  assistant  agents, 
except  in  a  few  instances  where  they  are  called  for  by  the  supervis- 
ing special  agents.  I  shall,  however,  remember  the  application  of 
Colonel  Porter,  and,  if  practicable,  find  some  place  for  him. 

"I  shall  do  this,  though  I  confess  I  have  been  a  good  deal  hurt  by 
the  course  of  the  Evening  Post  under  Mr.  Godwin's  direction.  I  am 
not  aware  that  it  has  uttered  a  kind  word  in  reference  to  me,  or  given 
a  particle  of  support  to  my  endeavors  to  secure  the  means  for  carry- 
ing on  the  war,  for  some  months  past.  My  report  was  not  even 
noticed  in  its  columns,  while  articles  accusing  the  officers  of  the  de- 
partment of  misconduct  have  been  reproduced  with  editorial  sanc- 
tion, when  a  little  inquiry  would  have  shown  how  groundless  were 
the  complaints.  All  this  is  so  different  from  the  approval  with  which 
Mr.  Bryant  formerly  honored  me,  and  which  was  more  precious  to 
me  than  any  official  position,  that  I  can  not  help  being  sensible  of 
the  change." 

Mr.  Thomas  Heaton,  Esq.,  of  Cincinnati,  was,  on  the  8th  of 
February,  thus  addressed  by  letter  : 

"  All  that  I  meant  to  say  concerning  the  Times  was,  that  1  can  not 
possibly  have  anything  to  do  with  purchase  or  control  of  newspapers. 

It  is  not  for  me  to   say  what  others   should  do.     No  '  absolution  '  is 
necessary  where  no  crime  has  been  committed.     If  I  were  Pope,  you 


572  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

should  have  all  the  '  indulgence '  for  the  future  you  could  desire. 
The  Louisville  convention  will  not  take  any  unwise  action  ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  will  give  powerful  aid,  I  think,  to  the  unconditional 
Union  men. 

"  You  must  not  speak  so  irreverently  of  dynasties.  Say  what 
you  please  kindly  of  your  friends,  but  keep  a  bridle  on  the  lips  when 
you  talk  of  those  you  do  not  like  so  well." 

Here  is  a  most  important  letter  from  the  President : 

"Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  February  12,  1864. 
"  Hon.  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  have  felt  considerable  anxiety  concerning  the 
Custom  House  at  New  York.  Mr.  Barney  has  suffered  no  abatement 
of  my  confidence  in  his  honor  and  integrity  ;  and  yet  I  am  con- 
vinced that  he  has  ceased  to  be  master  of  his  position.  A  man  by 
the  name  of  Baily,  whom  I  am  unconscious  of  ever  having  seen,  or, 
even,  having  heard  of,  except  in  this  connection,  expects  to  be,  and 
even  now  assumes  to  be,  collector  de  facto,  while  Mr.  Barney  remains 
nominall}r  so.  This  Mr.  Baily,  as  I  understand,  having  been  sum- 
moned as  a  witness  to  testify  before  a  committee  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  which  purposed  investigating  the  New  York  Cus- 
tom House,  took  occasion  to  call  on  the  chairman  in  advance,  and  to 
endeavor  to  smother  the  investigation,  saying,  among  other  things, 
that,  whatever  might  be  developed,  the  President  would  take  no 
action,  and  the  committee  would  thereby  be  placed  unpleasantly. 
The  public  interest  can  not  fail  to  suffer  in  the  hands  of  this  irre- 
sponsible and  unscrupulous  man.  1  propose  sending  Mr.  Barney 
Minister  to  Portugal,  as  evidenee  of  my  continued  confidence  in  him; 

and  I  further  propose  appointing collector  of  the    customs  at 

New  York.  I  wrote  the  draft  of  this  letter  two  weeks  ago,  but  delayed 
sending  it  for  a  reason  which  I  will  state  when  I  see  you. 

"Yours  truly,  A.LINCOLN." 

If  I  ever  saw  a  copy  of  the  answer  to  this  letter  (supposing  it 
to  have  been  answered  in  writing),  I  do  not  remember  the  fact. 
At  present,  I  can  not  refer  to  the  letter-book  of  that  date. 

"Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  February  13,  1864. 
" Hon.  Secretary  of  Treasury: 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  On  coming  up  from  the  reception,  I  found  your 
note  of  to-day.  I  am  unwell,  even  now,  and  shall  be  worse  this 
afternoon.     If  you  please,  we  will  have  an  interview  Monday. 

"Yours  truly,  A.    LINCOLN." 

No  copy  of  the  note  in  question  is  in  my  possession.  I  do  not 
remember  that  I  ever  saw  any  paper  purporting  to  give  a  copy  of 
that  note. 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  573 

The  next  document  referred  to  reads  as  follows : 

"February  15,  1864 
"Hon.  Secretary  of  Treasury : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  have  just  called  to  sec  you  on  the  matter 
mentioned  Saturday,  and  am  pained  to  learn  you  are  suffering 
too  much  to  be  out.  I  hope  you  will  soon  be  relieved;  meanwhile, 
have  no  uneasiness  as  to  the  thing  to  which  I  am  alluding,  as  I  shall 
do  nothing  in  it  until  I  shall  [have]  fully  conferred  with  you. 

"Tours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN." 

What  was  that  thing?  Was  it  not  the  Barney  matter?  Prob- 
ably it  was. 

The  next  matter  offered  reads  as  follows : 

"  Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  February  20,  1864. 
"  Hon.  Secretary  of  Treasury : 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  Herewith  I  return  the  affidavit  you  handed  me. 
In  glancing  it  over  I  do  not  perceive  anything  necessarily  incon- 
sistent with  the  practice  of  detectives,  and  others,  engaged  in  the 
business  of  '  rascal-catching  ; '  but  a  closer  consideration  might  show 
it.  It  seems  to  me  that  August,  the  month  within  which  the  affiant 
fixes  his  first  interview  with  Hanscomb,  was  really  before  Hanscomb 
left  Boston  and  came  to  New  York. 

"Yours  truly,  A.LINCOLN." 

I  can  not  explain  this  letter  fully.  Therefore  I  shall  leave  it 
without  any  attempt  at  explanation. 

Next,  attention  is  invited  to  an  extremely  interesting  and  im- 
portant document.  February  22,  our  hero,  sick  at  heart,  no  doubt, 
wrote  thus  to  the  President : 

"  Washington,  February  22,  1864. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  It  is  probable  that  you  have  already  seen  a 
letter  printed  in  the  Constitutional  Union,  Saturday  afternoon,  and 
reprinted  in  the  Intelligencer  this  morning,  written  by  Senator  Ponie- 
roy,  as  chairman  of  a  committee  of  my  political  friends. 

"  I  had  no  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  this  letter  before  I  saw 
it  in  the  Union. 

"A  few  weeks  ago  several  gentlemen  called  on  me  and  expressed 
their  desire,  which,  they  said,  was  shared  by  many  earnest  friends 
of  our  common  cause,  that  I  would  allow  my  name  to  be  submitted 
to  the  consideration  of  the  people  in  connection  with  the  approach- 
ing election  of  Chief  Magistrate.  I  replied  that  I  feared  that  any 
such  use  of  my  name  might  impair  my  usefulness  as  Head  of  the 
Treasury  Department,  and  that  I  much  preferred  to  continue  my 
labors  where  1  am,  and  free  from  disturbing  influences,  until  I  could 
honorably  retire  from  them.  We  had  several  interviews.  After  con- 
sultation and  conference  with  others,  they  expressed  their  united 
judgment  that  the  use  of  my  Dame  as  proposed  would  not  affect  my 
usefulness  in  my  present  position  ;  and  that  I  ought  to  consent  to  it 


574  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

I  accepted  their  judgment  as  decisive  ;  but  at  the  same  timo  told 
them,  distinctly,  that  I  could  render  them  no  help,  except  what  might 
come  incidentally  from  the  faithful  discharge  of  public  duties:  for 
these  must  have  my  whole  time.  I  said  also  that  I  desired  them  to 
regard  themselves  as  not  only  entirely  at  liberty,  but  as  requested, 
to  withdraw  m}-  name  from  consideration,  whenever  in  their  judg- 
ment the  public  interest  would  be  promoted  by  so  doing. 

"  The  organization  of  the  committee,  I  presume,  followed  these 
conversations  ;  but  I  was  not  consulted  about  it,  nor  have  I  been 
consulted  as  to  its  action  ;  nor  do  I  even  know  who  compose  it.  I 
have  never  wished  that  my  name  should  have  a  moment's  thought  in 
comparison  with  the  common  cause  of  enfranchisement  and  restora- 
tion, or  be  continued  before  the  public  a  moment  after  the  indication 
of  a  preference,  by  the  friends  of  that  cause,  for  another. 

"  I  have  thought  this  explanation  due  to  you  as  well  as  to  myself. 
If  there  is  anything  in  my  action  or  position  which,  in  your  judg- 
ment, will  prejudice  the  public  interest  under  my  charge,  I  beg  you 
to  say  so.  I  do  not  wish  to  administer  the  Treasury  Department  one 
day  without  your  entire  confidence.  For  yourself  I  cherish  sincere 
respect  and  esteem;  and,  permit  me  to  add,  affection.  Differences 
of  opinion  as  to  administrative  action  have  not  changed  these  senti- 
ments ;  nor  have  they  been  changed  by  assaults  upon  me  by  persons 
who  profess  themselves  the  special  representatives  of  your  views  and 
policy.  You  are  not  responsible  for  acts  not  your  own  ;  nor  will  you 
hold  me  responsible  except  for  what  I  do  or  say  myself. 

"Great  numbers  now  desire  your  reelection.  Should  their  wishes 
be  fulfilled  by  the  suffrages  of  the  people,  I  hope  to  cany  with  me 
into  private  life  the  sentiments  I  now  cherish,  whole  and  unimpaired. 
"With  great  respect,  yours  truly, 

"The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Lincoln  responded : 

"Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  February  23,  1864. 
"Hon.  Secretary  of  Treasury  : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Yours  of  yesterday  in  relation  to  the  paper 
issued  by  Senator  Pomero}-  was  duly  received;  and  I  write  this  note 
merely  to  say  I  will  answer  a  little  more  fully  when  I  can  find  time 
to  do  so.  Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN." 

That  fuller,  eminently  creditable,  and  extremely  characteristic 
answer  ran  as  follows : 

"Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  February  29,  1864. 
"Hon.  Secretary  of  the  Treasury : 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  I  would  have  taken  time  to  answer  yours  of  the 
22d  sooner,  only  that  I  did  not  suppose  anjr  evil  could  result  from 
the  delay,  especial^  as,  by  a  note,  I  promptly  acknowledged  the 
receipt  of  yours,  and  promised  a  fuller  answer.  Now,  on  considera- 
tion, I  find  there  is  really  very  little  to  say.  .  My  knowledge  of  Mr. 
Pomeroy's  letter  having  been  made  public  came  to  me  only  the  day 
you  wrote;  but  I  had,  in  spite  of  myself,  known  of  its  existence  sev- 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  575 

eral  days  before.  I  have  not  yet  read  it.  and  I  think  I  shall  not. 
I  was  not  shocked  or  surprised  by  the  appearance  of  the  letter,  lie- 
cause  I  had  had  knowledge  of  Mr.  Pomeroy's  committee,  and  of 
secret  issues  which,  I  supposed,  came  from  it  ;  and  of  secret  agents 
who,  I  supposed,  were  sent  out  hy  it,  for  several  weeks.  I  have  known 
just  as  little  of  these  things  as  my  friends  have  allowed  me  to  know. 
They  bring  the  documents  to  me,  hut  I  do  not  read  them  ;  they  tell 
me  what  they  think  tit  to  tell  me,  but  I  do  not  inquire  \\>v  more. 

"I  fully  concur  with  you  that  neither  of  us  can  he  justly  held 
responsible  for  what  our  respective  friends  may  do  without  our  insti- 
gation or,  countenance ;  and  I  assure  you,  us  you  have  assured  me, 
that  no  assault  has  been  made  upon  you  by  my  instigation,  or  with 
my  countenance. 

"Whether  you  shall  remain  at  the  head  of  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment is  a  question  which  I  will  not  allow  myself  to  consider  from 
any  stand-point  other  than  my  judgment  of  the  public  service  ;  and, 
in  that  view,  I  do  not  perceive  occasion  for  a  change. 

"Yours  truly,  A.LINCOLN." 

I  own  I  feel  heart-sick  in  reviewing  this  correspondence.  If  I 
had  not  studied  so  carefully  the  early  life,  the  growth,  the  forming 
character,  the  characteristic  conduct  of  our  hero — in  a  word,  the 
tenor  of  his  life,1  and  the  general  expression  of  his  character,  if  I 
may  so  express  myself — I  would  be  tempted  now  to  say:  "This 
man  is  not  the  man  I  fancied;  he  is  not  the  worthy  I  supposed. 
Corwin  and  Johnston  were  not  so  far  out  when  they  told  Lincoln  that 
Chase  was  embodied  perfidy." 

But  let  us  not  lose  our  heads.  Let  us  remember  the  whole  tenor 
of  the  life  we  study.  Let  us  judge  particular  acts  by  the  whole 
tenor  of  that  life  and  not  the  whole  tenor  of  the  life  by  particular 
acts.2 

Would  this  man  have  so  trusted  me,  after  receiving  my  birthday 
letter,a  and  thus  learning  in  what  spirit  I  intended  to  compose  this 
work — would  he  have  put  into  my  trust,  as  we  see  that  he  did,  the 
inmost  secrets  of  his  life — had  he  not  felt  conscious  of  an  ultimate 
title  to  self-respect  and  to  the  respect  of  the  whole  world  '.' 

Chase's  conduct  toward  Lincoln  was  not  right.  Yet  Chase  was 
a  true  worthy,  as  was  Lincoln  also. 

March  4,  the  President  said  to  Mr.  Chase,  in  writing: 

"In  consequence  of  a  call  Mr.  Villard  makes  on  me,  having  a  QOte 
from  you  to  him,  I  am  induced  to  say  I  have  no  wish  for  the  publica- 
tion of  tho   correspondence    between  yourself  and    me   in  relation   to 


introduction.  2Jbid. 

3Anto  Chapter  I.,  and  Post  Chapter  LI. 


576  THE   PRIVATE     LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

the  Pomeroy  circular — in  fact,  rather  prefer  to  avoid  an  unnecessary 
exhibition  ;  yet  you  are  at  liberty,  without  in  the  least  offending  me, 
to  allow  the  publication  if  you  choose. 

"  Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN." 

To  J.  M.  Ganson,  March  7,  the  Secretary  wrote  a  letter  contain- 
ing the  sentences : 

"  I  think  there  is  now  too  much  paper  money.  The  local  banks 
ought  to  retire  circulation,  and  take  their  places  in  a  national  system. 
It  would  then  be  easy,  with  a  proper  system  of  taxation,  and  due 
economy  in  expenditure,  to  resume  specie  payments  within  much 
less  time  than  is  now  commonly  supposed.  In  my  judgment,  specie 
payments  could  be  resumed  with  ease  within  six  months,  and  even 
in  less  time." 

Here  is  another  talk  about  the  Presidency,  in  a  letter  to  Hon.  A. 
G.  Riddle,  then  consul  at  Matanzas : 

"I  am  trying  to  keep  all  Presidential  aspirations  out  of  my  head. 
I  fancy  that  as  President  I  could  take  care  of  the  Treasury  better 
with  the  help  of  a  Secretary  than  I  can  as  Secretary  without  the 
help  of  a  President.  But  our  Ohio  folks  don't  want  me  enough,  if 
they  want  me  at  all,  to  make  it  proper  for  me  to  allow  my  name  to 
be  used. 

"  I  hope  the  time  is  not  distant  when  I  can  honorably  separate 
myself  from  political  affairs  altogether,  leaving  the  new  era  to  the 
new  men  whom  God  may  raise  up  for  it." 

April  10  is  the  date  of  the  following : 

"My  Dear  Mrs.  Magruder  :  I  owe  you  a  thousand  apologies  for 
not  sooner  attending  to  your  request  about  the  pictures  ;  the  omis- 
sion is  really  inexcusable,  but  I  shall  trust  your  goodness  to  pardon 
it,  especially  in  consideration  of  prompt  attention  to  the  request  re- 
newed in  your  letter  by  Mr.  Malet.  You  shall  have  your  pictures  at 
the  earliest  possible  moment  if  I  can  procure  their  release;  and  at 
any  rate,  you  shall  be  very  early  informed  whether  I  succeed  or  no. 

"We  were  much  gratified  by  your  kindness  in  sending  the  photo- 
graphs of  yourself,  the  captain,  and  the  young  ladies.  I  hope  you  re- 
ceived those  of  my  folks  sent  you  in  return. 

"It  is  late,  but  let  me  trust,  not  too  late  to   congratulate  you  and 

Lady  Abinger,  and  especially  Lord  A ,  on  the  recent  acquisition 

made  to  every  one  by  the  marriage  which,  in  taking  and  giving,  will, 
I  trust,  prove  a  benediction. 

"  Tell  the  captain  that  I  think  a  great  deal  of  him,  and  never  miss 
an  opportunity  of  vindicating  him  when  assailed,  which  indeed,  is 
seldomer  than  he  seems  to  think.  By  those,  for  whose  opinion  he 
would  care  most,  his  motives  and  character  are  understood  and  appre- 
ciated as  he  would  have  them.  How  deeply  I  regret  that  anything 
should  separate  him  from  a  service  in  which  he  won  so  much  honor, 
I  need  not  say. 

"How  all  things  have  chauged  since  we  first  met,  and  how  rapidly 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASK.  577 

all  things  are  changing  still!  But  my  faith  in  God's  design!  for  our 
country  forbids  me  to  doubt  that  out  of  all  the  ilia  of  the  preeenl  a 
peaceful  and  happy  and  glorious futuro  is  to  emerge.    May  He  grant  it ! 

"lean  not  Bee  what  possible  obstacle  there  can  be  to  your  visiting 
Washington,  but  I  will  inquire  to-morrow,  when  I  see  Mr,  Stanton, 
about  the  pictures.     To-day  is  Sunday. 

"With  host  regards  to  Captain  Magruder  and  the  ladies,  in  which 

may  I  beg  Lord  A to  take  a  part.     Believe  me. 

"  Sincerely  your  friend, 

"  Mrs.  M.  M.  Magruder.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

April  11,  the  same  pen  addressed  to  Dr.  Nathan  B.  Chase,  sur- 
geon United  States  Volunteers,  at  Bowling  Green,  Kentucky,  the 
following  words  of  consolation  : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Your  letter  conveying  the  intelligence  of  the 
death  of  your  sister,  my  dear  cousin  Mrs.  Leonard,  has  just  reached 
me.  In  her  case  to  die  was  gain  in  the  highest  sense,  and  while  her 
friends  lose  her,  she  gains  new  friends  and  in  a  dearer  companionship. 

"  I  inclose  a  letter  to  Mr.  Mellen.  I  w7rite  no  more  in  any  case  and 
in  few  so  much.  Your  cousin  and  friend,         S.  P.  CHASE." 

April  13,  General  Banks  was  thus  addressed  by  letter : 

"  Dear  General  :  This  letter  will  reach  you,  I  hope,  in  the  midst 
of  decisive  successes.  The  rebellion  must  be  crushed  this  summer,  or 
we  shall  be  plunged  into  the  greatest  financial  difficulties.  The  im- 
mense disbursements,  incident  to  the  preparations  for  the  campaign 
just  begun,  are  well  nigh  overwhelming  in  their  demands. 

"  Our  immediate  anxieties  are  absorbed  by  this  great  necessity ; 
but  there  are  other  matters  almost  as  urgent.  It  is  my  firm  belief 
that  this  war  has  grown  out  of  national  injustice  in  slavery.  It  must 
be  prolonged,  as  it  has  been,  bj'  the  continuance  of  this  injustice. 
You  havebeen  the  honored  instrument  of  making  Louisiana  a  free 
State.  While  I  regret  some  of  the  incidents  in  the  accomplishment 
of  this  work,  I  rejoice  in  the  work  itself.  It  is  good  and  great;  but 
to  make  it  fruitful  as  it  should  be,  more  is  needed.  Your  are  a  Mas- 
sachusetts man,  and  in  Massachusetts  all  men  are  equal  before  the 
law.  Your  actions  must  be  tried  by  Massachusetts  standards.  It 
pained  me  greatly  that  men,  supposed  to  represent  your  ideas  and 
supporting  your  proposed  candidate  for  governor,  thought  fit  to 
stigmatize  the  free  State  men,  who  did  not  see  questions  of  expedi- 
ency and  principle  with  their  lights,  as  negro  equality  men.  Depend 
upon  it,  dear  general,  no  permanent  honor  is  to  come  to  anybody 
from  such  a  spirit.  There  is  a  grand  opportunity  in  Louisiana  t<> 
establish  institutions  on  the  solid  hasis  of  justice  and  wisdom,  bet 
all  who  arc  alike  qualified  have  political  rights  alike.  Let  the  right 
to  vote  be  determined  not  by  nativity  or  complexion,  hut  by  intelli- 
gence, character,  and  patriotism.  Let  all  vote  who  have  proved  their 
devotion  to  their  country  by  service  in  the  field,  and  all  who,  being 
unconvicted  of  crime  or  misdemeanor,  can  read  and  write,  ami,  alter 
the  first  election,  are  found  to  possess  a  complete  knowledge   of  the 


578  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

constitutions  of  the  State  and  the  United  States.  It  is  not  difficult  to 
regulate  suffrage  on  this  basis.  Let  the  Constitutional  Convention 
authorize  an  enrollment  of  the  voters  who  possess  those  qualifica- 
tions, by  providing  commissioners  in  each  parish  to  examine  those 
who  desire  to  exercise  the  elective  franchise  and  for  giving  to  all 
found  qualified  certificates  of  qualification  as  electors.  After  the  first 
General  Assembly  shall  be  elected,  the  legislature  can  be  authorized 
to  provide  for  the  necessary  examinations.  These  are  only  hints  of 
modes  in  which  practical  details  can  be  arranged.  Better  will 
doubtless  suggest  themselves.  The  important  point  is  to  have  suf- 
frage extended  equally  to  all  equally  qualified. 

"If  this  can  be  accomplished  in  Louisiana,  the  example  will  be 
followed  in  all  the  Gulf  States;  and  probably  in  all  the  States  now 
in  rebellion.  And  what  an  honor  to  lead  in  such  a  work  which,  more 
than  anything  that  I  can  think  of,  will  consolidate  Union  and  insure 
against  future  disturbances. 

"  May  this  honor  be  yours  !     It  will  be  if  you  will. 

"Your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

This  interesting  document  bears  date  April  14  : 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  I  send  you  a  copy  of  my  letter  to  the  Committee 
on  Finance,  to  which  I  referred  yesterday,  and  add  another  to  the 
same  committee,  which  was  sent  3-esterday. 

"  The  first  urges  the  exclusion  from  circulation  of  all  credit  cur- 
rency not  sanctioned  by  Congress. 

"  The  second  urges  the  repression  of  gold  speculation. 

"  Both  measures  are  of  great  importance,  the  first  of  the  greatest. 

"If  Congress  will  make  these  measures  laws,  and  add  a  national 
banking  act  which  will  make  the  national  banking  system  safe,  and 
at  the  same  time  acceptable,  and  a  tax  law  which  will  yield,  with 
duties  on  imports,  four  hundred  millions  of  revenue,  or  half,  at  least, 
of  the  expenditure,  there  will  be  no  need  to  fear  financial  disasters, 
unless  we  shall  have  \uiexpected  military  disasters. 

"I  have  taken  the  liberty  heretofore,  and  perhaps  too  pertina- 
ciously, to  urge  all  possible  economy  compatible  with  efficiency;  but 
I  hope  that  the  importance  of  it  will  be  thought  a  sufficient  justifi- 
cation. 

"  I  am  glad  to  understand  that  the  military  work  of  suppressing 
the  rebellion  is  now  to  be  prosecuted  with  system,  and  the  utmost 
vigor.  With  system  and  vigor  and  economy  in  the  conduct  of  the 
war,  and  with  the  financial  measures  I  have  indicated,  we  ma}-  ex- 
pect, through  Divine  favor,  an  early  and  successful  termination  of 
the  struggle,  and  the  restoration  of  peace  with  an  unbroken  Union 
of  Free  States.  Yours  very  truly, 

"The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

At  New  York,  on  the  15th,  the  President  was  thus  again  ad- 
dressed by  letter: 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  Two  topics  seem  to  occupy  exclusively  the  atten- 
tion of  New  York — speculation  and  the  Metropolitan  Fair.  To-day 
the  tidings  from  Paducah  create  a  momentary  diversion,  something 


OF    SALMON    TORTLAXD    CHASE.  579 

in  this  way:     'A   horrible  affair  that  at  Paducah  1'     'Yes;    really, 
'twas  terrible.'    Then  a  pause.     Then  :     '  How  s  gold  to-day  ?' 

"The  sales  which  have  been  made  here  yesterday  and  to-day  seem 
to  have  reduced  the  price;  but  the  redaction  is  only  temporary,  un- 
less most  decisive  measures  for  reducing  the  amount  of  circulation 
and  arresting  the  rapid  increase  of  debt  he  adopted.  These  meas- 
ures can  only  he  put  in  operation  by  Congress,  ami  Congress  will  he 
slow  to  act  with  the  promptitude  absolutely  indispensable,  unless  you 
manifest  a  deep  sense  of  their  importance,  and  make  members  feel 
that  you  regard  their  adoption  as  essential  to  the  success  of  your 
administration. 

'•Thus  tar  every  financial  measure  has  been  crowned  with  success; 
but  I  have  always  warned  gentlemen  in  Congress  and  in  the  admin- 
istration that  debt  could  not  be  increased  indefinitely  by  selling 
bonds  and  issuing  notes;  and  the  time  has  come  when  taxation  and 
retrenchment  must  play  their  parts.  They  ought  to  have  been  called 
into  activity  a  year  ago;  but  it  is  not  yet  too  late.  Without  them  it 
is  my  duty  to  say,  emphatically,  there  is  no  hope  of  continued  finan- 
cial success. 

"Next  to  taxation  and  retrenchment,  a  uniform  national  currency 
is  most  important.  This  can  be  accomplished  only  through  the 
passage  of  theXational  Banking  Law  now  before  Congress ;  or  by  some 
bill  embracing  its  leading  amendments  of  the  act  of  last  year.  In 
my  judgment,  the  banks  organized  under  this  law  should  pay  their 
full  share  of  taxation  ;  but  they  should  he  taxed  under  national  and 
not  under  State  laws.  The  National  Government  will  have  to  pay 
interest  on  debt,  current  expenses,  and,  so  long  as  the  war  lasts,  its 
extraordinary  expenses  (vast  sums)  from  taxes.  Duties  from  imports 
are  the  only  exclusive  resource  of  the  nation,  as  distinguished  from 
the  States.  Why  should  not  the  national  banks  and  their  property 
ami  franchises  be  added?  I  see  no  good  reason;  while  uniform  tax- 
ation by  Congress  would  put  all  the  banks  throughout  the  country 
upon  an  equal  footing,  and  secure  the  unity  and  completeness  of  the 
system.  Some  of  the  New  York  members  have  urged  Bubjection  to 
State  taxes,  and  some  concessions,  I  think  unwisely,  have  been  made 
to  their  wishes.  It  would  be  much  better  could  they  be  prevailed  on 
to  yield  their  wishes  to  the  public  good. 

'•  The  National  Banking  Bill  should  be  followed  by  the  bill  to  tax 
local  bank  circulation,  and  prohibit,  after  some  fixed  period,  its  fur- 
ther issue. 

"These  two  bills  will  give  us  what  we  must  have,  if  success  is 
wanted — a  national  currency. 

•'  If  you  concur  with  me  in  these  judgments,  may  I  not  hope  that 
you  will  send  for  such  members  as  are  disposed,  from  any  cause,  to 
be  lukewarm  or  opposed,  and  urge  them  to  give  their  needful  support 
to  the  bill.  Mr.  Hooper,  in  the  House,  and  Mr.  Sherman,  in  the  Sen- 
ate, will  gladly  furnish  you  ali  the  necessary  information  as  to  the 
views  of  senators  and  representatives. 

'Since  I  have  been  writing  a  gentleman  has  come  in  who  tells  me 
that  gold,  after  declining  to  170  and  171,  was  carried  up  again  on  the 
news  of  the  disaster  at  Paducah,  exaggerated  as  much  as  possible  by 
interested  and  unfriendly  parties,  to  174. 
38 


580  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

"I  hope  to  be  able  to  go  to  Philadelphia  to-morrow,  and  to  return 
to  Washington  Monday  evening  or  Tuesday  morning. 

•'  With  the  greatest  respect  and  regard,  yours  truly, 
"The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Of  quite  different  tenor  is  the  next  offering.  April  19,  Mr. 
Chase,  at  "Washington,  wrote  as  follows: 

':  My  Dear  Friend  :  It  is  true  that  we  do  what  we  most  need 
or  desire  to  do  with  the  time  we  can  command,  but  not  true  that  we 
can  command  time  for  all  we  greatly  desire  to  do.  Certain  it  is  that 
I  greatly  desire  to  minister  to  your  happiness,  and  as  you  assure  me 
that  my  writing  does  contribute  to  it,  I  give  to  you  more  time  than 
anj*  other  friend  I  have  in  this  way.  Still  it  is  little  compared  with 
my  wish  to  give  you  pleasure. 

"  I  wish  you  found  more  comfort  in  Nashville.  I  am  sure  you 
must  find  a  blessed  satisfaction  in  ministering  to  the  wants  of  the 
needy,  and  the  sick,  and  the  wounded.  May  God  breathe  into  your 
own  heart  the  comfort  }*ou  bring  to  others. 

'•Inclosed  with  this  I  send  a  letter  to  Governor  Johnson.  You 
will.  I  fear,  find  little  gratification  from  his  society;  but  there  may 
be  ladies  of  his  family  whom  you  Avill  like.  I  suppose  the  governor, 
like  eveiybody  else  in  these  busy  days,  is  overwhelmed  with  cares, 
and  has  little  time  for  social  enjoyments. 

"Mrs.  Douglas  is,  indeed,  a  charming  woman  ;  but  has  no  posi- 
tion in  the  Treasury  Department,  nor  in  any  other,  so  fir  as  I  know. 
She  once,  long  ago,  I  believe,  did  some  copying;  the  story  that  she 
has  a  clerkship  probably  grew  out  of  thi?.  I  have  not  seen  her  for 
more  than  a  year ;  and  there  is  not  one  employed  in  the  department 
who  to  other  claims  does  not  join  that  of  real  pecuniary  need — need 
sometimes  most  distressing. 

"  I  inclose  a  letter  to  Governor  Johnson  which  may  possibly  be  of 
use — there,  you  may  judge  that  I  am  hurried  by  this  repetition.  And 
now,  leaving  much  undone  that  ought  to  be  done,  I  must  hurry  up  to 
the  Capitol  to  attend  to  some  work  there.  So,  may  heaven  bless  and 
keep  you.  Your  friend, 

-  Miss  Susan  Walker,  Nashville,  Term.1  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  following  is  dated  April  19  : 

"My  Dear  Mr.  Greeley:     Your  letter  was  put  into  my  hands 


'Here  is  the  inclosure  referred  to  in  the  foregoing: 

"Washington,  April  19, 1864. 

"  Dear  Governor  :  Allow  me  to  introduce  to  you  Miss  Susan  Walker,  my 
friend,  and  the  sister  of  my  friend  the  late  Judge  Walker,  of  Cincinnati,  and  Sears 
C.  Walker,  distinguished  for  his  attainments  in  science. 

"  Impelled  by  a  desire  to  relieve  the  suffering  in  our  hospitals,  this  most  estimable 
lady  has  gone  to  Nashville  and  undertaken  the  office  of  a  nurse.  Let  me  beg  you 
to  render  her  any  service,  and  extend  to  her  any  courtesy  in  your  power. 

"  Your  friend, 
'•Hon.  Andrew  Johnson.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  .">H1 

in  Philadelphia,  yesterday  morning.     I  will  try   to  prepare  an  ap- 
peal unless  too  much  badgered.     It  is  hardly  worth   while,  however, 

for  I  can  not  do  the  work  hall' so  well  as  you  have  already  done  it  in 
the  Tribune.    Still  I  will  try  my  hand. 

''The  speculators  got  a  very  had  black  eye  last  week;  but  will 
rally,  of  course.     The  scare  did  Congress  good,  though   many  mem- 

bers  persist  in  saddling  the  national  banks  with  State  taxat  ion.  This, 
if  persisted  in,  is  going  to  he  very  mischievous.  It  will  make  parties 
everywhere'  about  much  or  little  taxation,  and  hurt  our  side.  Let 
these  banks,  and  the  capital  iu  them,  be  reserved  as  exclusive  sub 
jects  of  national  taxation,  and  let  them  be  taxed  by  an  uniform  rule 
all  over  the  country,  as  much  as  they  can  bear.  In  this  May  we  get 
a  fruitful  source  of  revenue,  and  shall  soon  be  able  to  let  off  many 
vexatious  small  taxes.  Besides  national  banks  should,  in  principle, 
be  subject  only  to  national  taxation  just  as  foreign  commerce  is.  Let 
the  States  have  the  real  estate  exclusively,  and  concurrently  private 
personal  propert}-  and  transactions.  Let  the  aSTation  have  exclusively 
foreign  commerce  and  national  banks,  ami  concurrently  private  per- 
sonal property  and  transactions.     Such  a  division  will  work  well. 

"Yours  cordially, 
"Hon.  H.  Greeley.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

April  21  is  the  date  of  the  following  acknowledgment : 

"  My  Dear  Sir:  I  am  glad  to  learn  that  you  propose  to  publish 
your  notes  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Peace  Conference  of  1861.  I 
well  remember  j'our  assiduity  in  taking  those  notes,  and  have  no 
doubt  that  their  publication  will  form  an  important  contribution  to 
history.  The  fidelitj'  with  which  you  reproduced,  a  few  months  since, 
the  only  speech  of  any  length  made  by  me  in  that  body,  surprised 
me.  If  your  whole  report  proves  equally  correct,  it  will  be  as  ac- 
curate as  it  will  be  interesting  and  important. 

<•  Yours  very  truly,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"Hon.  L.  E.  Chittenden,  Register  of  Treasury.  Washington,  D.  C." 

April  26  was  marked  by  the  writing  of  this   letter,  with  many 

others : 

"My  Dear  Mrs.  Bailey:  I  am  sure  Katie  would  not  be  pleased 
if  made  aware  what  use  has  been  made  of  her  name,  so  tar  as  that 
use  has  any  political  import.  Her  own  good  sense  teaches  her,  ami 
it  is  my  earnest  wish,  that  she  should  keep  entirely  aloof  from  every- 
thing connected  with  politics.  Doubtless,  however,  she  would  listen 
with  interest  to  any  proposition  promising  advantage  to  you. 

■  A.8  to  the  X<ir  Era,  I  know  nothing  except  what  you  know,  nor 
so  much  if  you  that  it  supports  any  Presidential  candidate.  T  see 
no  reason  for  not  st'l I i'tilc  your  list  to  any  publisher  wishing  to  buy 
it,  and  willing  to  supply  arrears  to  subscribers  if  the  paper  be  hon- 
estly and  earnestly  anti-slavery ;  nor  do  I  see  any  reason  tor  de- 
clining to  address  a  circular  to  the  subscribers  stating  what  the  ar- 
rangement is.  You  need  not  express  any  preference  for  anybody  or 
opposition  to  anj-body,  or  even  commit  yourself  to  any  recommenda- 
tion of  the  paper  to  be  applied  beyond  simple  advice  to  read,  and  if 


582  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

they  approve  the  paper  to  renew  their  subscription  at  the  expiration 
of  their  current  year. 

"But  of  all  this  you  can  judge  as  well  as  I.  My  own  situation 
here  is  far  from  agreeable,  and  perhaps  I  am  not  exactly  in  the 
best  mood  to  give  good  advice. 

"Katie  has  been  quite  ill,  and  is  still  far  from  well.     The  rest  of 
us  are  in  good  health.     Love  to  the  dear  girls,  and  believe  me, 
"  Most  sincerely  your  friend, 

"Mrs.  M.  L.  Bailey.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

And  this  also  is  an  issue  of  April  26  : 

"Dear  Sir  :  I  shall  direct  Mr.  Cisco  to  send  his  advertisements 
to  the  Railroad  Journal,  and  shall  transmit  the  same  direction  to 
other  agents  of  the  department.  I  appreciate  the  ability  and  spirit 
with  which  it  has  supported  the  financial  measures  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  take  pleasure  in  availing  myself  of  this  opportunity  of 
thanking  you  personally  for  that  support. 

"I  do  not  know  what  the  phrase,  'Mr.  Chase  is  near-sighted  and 
does  not  see  men,'  signifies.  If  it  means  that  I  see  principles  rather 
than  men,  it  is  true;  but  if  it  means  that  I  do  not  appreciate  faithful 
services  rendered  to  the  cause  and  to  the  country,  it  is  not  true.  I 
can  not  gratify  every  person  who  claims  recognition,  and  least  of  all 
those  who  claim  recognition  of  services  personal  to  myself,  for  I 
want  no  services  to  myself,  except  so  far  as,  for  the  time  being,  I 
represent  ideas  or  measures. 

"I  see  that  gold  is  again  going  up.  This  is  not  unexpected.  Mili- 
tary success  is  indispensable  to  its  permanent  decline,  or,  in  the 
absence  of  military  success,  taxation  sufficient  upon  State  bank  issues 
and  State  bank  credits  to  secure  as  an  exclusive  national  currency; 
and  sufficient,  also,  to  defray  so  large  a  proportion  of  current  expend- 
itures as  to  reduce  the  necessity  for  borrowing  to  the  minimum. 

"  Very  truly  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"S.  DeWitt  Bloodgood,  Esq.,  New  York  City." 

May  2  is  the  date  of  this  touching  letter  to  Hon.  Flamen  Ball: 

"My  Dear  Mr.  Ball  :  I  have  this  moment  received  a  note  from 
Webster  Elmes,  written  when  I  was  in  Philadelphia,  announcing  the 
death  of  your  dear  wife.  The  intelligence  was  a  great  and  sad  sur- 
prise to  me ;  and  I  can  well  conceive  the  desolation  and  anguish 
which  the  terrible  calamity  brings  into  your  home.  May  the  Father 
of  mercies  sustain  you  in  this  fearful  bereavement.  M}*  heart's  ten- 
derest  and  most  affectionate  sympathies  are  with  you  and  your  dear 
children.  Your  sincere  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

May  4,  Mr.  Chase,  in  a  letter  to  General  Blunt,  said : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  May  4,  1864. 
"  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  look  after  all  the  acts  of  all  the  agents  of 
the  department;  but  whenever  informed  of  any  delinquency,  I  insti- 
tute proper  investigation,  and,  if  the  delinquency  is  found  actually 
to  exist,   take  proper  measures  with   the  delinquent.     I  try,   also, 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  583 

through  traveling  agents,  to  keep  informed.      Of  course   nothing 

more  than  approximation   to  what    I  desire  is  possible,     lir.  Mellen 
is  instructed  to  inquire  about  Stockton. 

"I  was  surprised  and  sorry  t<>  Irani  that  you  were  not  to  command 
tho  advance  on  Shreveport;  but  were  relieved  from  the  command  of 
the  frontier.  I  only  learned  it  from  the  public  prints;  for  the 
administration  of  each  department  is  almost  as  disconnected  with 
that  of  the  others  as  tin;  government  of  Ohio  from  that  of  Kansas, 
What  you  had  achieved  led  me  to  expect  that  you  would  be  required 
to  achieve  much  more. 

"As  to  Mr.  Gantt  I  hope  you  will  find  yourself  mistaken.  80  far 
as  it  is  possible  to  judge  from  conversation,  he  is  thoroughly  loyal 
and  thoroughly  convinced  that  reconstruction  can  only  take  place  on 
the  basis  of  universal  freedom.  I  fear  that  we  must  be  content  to 
be  deceived  sometimes.  It  seems  impossible  to  guard  absolutely 
against  it. 

"Your  views  of  policy  coincide  with  my  own.  and  had  it  seemed 
to  be  tho  will  of  the  people  that  I  should  take  the  responsibilities  of 
government  I  should  not  have  refused,  though  I  could  not  seek  such 
a  place.  But,  through  the  natural  partialities  of  the  people  for  the 
President,  and  the  systematic  operation  of  the  Postmaster-General, 
and  those  holding  office  under  him,  a  preference  for  the  reelection  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  created,  to  which  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  bow  cheer- 
fully and  unhesitatingly.  It  did  not  cost  me  a  regret  to  do  so.  That, 
since  then,  I  have  been  so  maliciously  pursued  by  the  Blair  family,  is 
what  was  wholly  unexpected.  That  their  slanders  have  the  apparent, 
though  I  am  sure  not  the  real,  indorsement  of  the  President,  is  a 
new  source  of  pain  to  me.  No  good  can,  I  think,  come  of  the  prob- 
able identification  of  the  next  administration  with  the  family.  The 
political  future,  in  consequence  of  it,  has  already  become  clouded 
and  doubtful. 

"  We  are  looking  now  with  the  greatest  solicitude  to  the  operations 
of  Grant,  and  the  co-working  forces  under  him;  and  with  hardly 
less  to  the  operations  on  the  Red  River.  The  defeat  of  Banks  is  an 
unexpected  disaster;  but  will,  we  all  hope,  be  soon  retrieved." 

The  copy  of  this  letter  does  not  show  to  whom  the  original  was 
addressed  : 

''Washington,  D.  C,  May  4.  1864. 
'•  My  Dear  Belle:  The  subscription  for  the  5-20's  is  all  filled  up, 
and  your  only  chance  to  get  United  States  bonds  is  to  subscribe  for 
the  10-40*8  at  five  per  cent,  or  buy  other  bonds  at  premium.  If  you 
choose  to  send  me  your  S2,000  I  will  do  what  seems  most  for  your 
interest.  As  government  interest  is  paid  in  gold,  the  rate,  as  long  as 
gold  keeps  at  present  rates,  on  the  10-40  s  is  equal  to  eight  and  three- 
fourths;  but  if  Congress  gives  me  the  measures  I  want,  and  Uncle 
Abe  will  stop  spending  so  fast,  1  mean  to  bring  gold  and  paper  on 
a  level  by  resumption  of  specie  payments  within  a  year,  then  live 
per  cent,  will  be  five  per  cent,  and  no  more,  but  everything  will  be 
cheaper.     It   is   a  shame   that  our  expenditures   are    so  enormous. 


584 


THE  PRIVATE  EIFE   AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 


That  is   more  in   our  way  than  anything   else;  and  I  can   not   tell 
what  the  upshot  will  be. 

"  Mv  hopes,  under  God,  are  almost  wholly  in  Grant  and  his  soldiers. 
May  our  Heavenly  Father  give  them  success  and  bring  peace!  My 
heart  sinks  when  I  think  of  the  waste  of  life  and  treasure,  and  the 
prospect  of  greater  waste. 

"  Katie  is  quite  well  again.  Nettie  is  happy  in  New  York.  Please 
tell  me  more  about  your  own  dear  self  and  3rour  dear  children,  and 
all  about  your  gettings  on. 

"  You  are  right.     I  do  love  you,  dearty,  dear  Belle. 

"Your  affectionate  uncle,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  Do  you  know  that  when  Alice  was  here  at  Kate's  wedding  she 
took  the  palm  of  admiration  from  everybody.  She  is  as  sweet  as 
she  can  be." 

To  Mr.  Jay  Cooke,  the  same  pen,  under  date  May  5,  wrote  as 
follows : 

"My  Dear  Mr.  Cooke  :  I  hope  my  wrathiness  was  not  excessive. 
Indeed,  it  was  vexation  in  thinking  that  all  my  labors  to  serve  our 
country  had  found  recompense,  so  far  as  Mr.  Lincoln's  special  friends 
were  concerned,  and  with  his  apparent  (but,  as  I  hope  and  believe, 
merely  apparent)  indorsement,  only  in  outrageous  calumny.  I  sel- 
dom consult  personal  considerations  in  my  public  conduct,  and  so 
suppressed  my  inclination  to  resign  my  office  and  denounce  the  con- 
spiracy, of  which  the  Blairs  are  the  most  visible  embodiments.  After 
returning  from  Baltimore  I  conferred  with  Governor  Brough  and 
other  friends,  who  were  in  earnest  in  advising  against  resignation; 
and  I  yielded  to  their  judgment,  which,  indeed,  coincided  with  my 
own,  though  exceedingly  conjtrary  to  my  impulses.  Immediately 
afterward  I  was  obliged  to  visit  Philadelphia  and  was  absent  from 
Wednesday  morning  until  Saturday  night.  On  Monday  I  learned 
that  the  Ohio  delegation  had  taken  the  matter  up,  and  that  one  of 
them  had  called  on  the  President,  who  disavowed  in  the  most  explicit 
terms  all  connection  with,  or  responsibility  for,  Blair's  assault,  and 
expressed  his  decided  disapproval  of  it.  As  this  was  merel}7  verbal, 
however,  the  delegation  determined  to  call  on  the  President  in  a 
body,  and  make  and  obtain  a  distinct  statement  in  writing — on  their 
part,  of  their  advice,  my  action,  and  their  convictions  as  what  was 
due  from  the  President  to  me,  to  Ohio,  and  to  the  country — and  on 
his  part,  such  reply  as  he  should  see  fit  to  give. 

Thus  the  matter  now  stands.  It  seems  now  only  simple  justice  to 
me,  that  every  friend  who  believes  I  have  done  my  dut}7,  should,  by 
voice,  pen,  and  press,  utter  the  sentiments  which  this  outrageous 
attack  must  kindle  in  honest  minds  of  indignation  against  the  un- 
worthy men  who  have  set  on  foot  and  propagated  these  vile  calum- 
nies." 

This  is  one  of  the  most  precious  letters  of  the  month  : 

"  Washington,  D.  O,  May  5,  1864. 
"  My  Darling  Nettie:     It  is  a  shame  that  I  should  be  so  poor  cor 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  585 

respondent;  but  then  remember  how  many  more  words  I  pal  on  a 
paper  than  you  do,  and  how  little  time  I  have  for  anything  but  bard 
office  work. 

"All  ynw  letters  give  greal  pleasure.  Yon  are  certainly  the  genius 
of  the  family  for  this  sort  of  composition.  Every  one  of  your  letters 
is  quoted  and  commended  in  a  way  that  must  not  excite  your  vanity. 
But,  really,  it  is  quite  delightful  to  read  your  free  and  easy  talk — 
just  what  letters  should  contain  to  be  interesting. 

''Katie  is  almost  herself  again  after  her  illness,  which  frightened 
me  not  a  little.  Her  husband  was  all  devotion,  and  to  be  so  petted 
it  was  almost  worth  while  to  be  sick.  We  have  just  been  riding  out 
under  the  hills  which  skirt  the  city  on  the  north,  across  Rock  Creek 
into  Georgetown,  and  hack  through  that  old  town. 

"When  I  had  written  thus  far,  the  gentlemen  I  was  waiting  for,  at 
my  room  in  the  department,  came  in,  and  I  went  to  work  with  them, 
and  have  had  two  hours  or  so  of  pretty  busy  writing  and  reading. 
It  is  now  ten  o'clock  and  I  am  pretty  tired.  So  I  shall  not  write 
much  more  to-night. 

"I  wish  I  were  out  of  official  harness.  It  certainly  grows  more 
irksome.  I  have  toiled  hard  and  patiently,  and  it  is  painful  to  find 
my  labors  made  the  occasion  of  calumny  and  reviling.  I  am  thank- 
ful, however,  that  no  calumny  or  reviling  can  destroy  any  good  I 
have  accomplished.  So,  dear  child,  do  good  for  the  sake  of  doing  it, 
not  for  reward  or  applause.  Your  heavenly  Father  will  see  and 
bless  you. 

"Your  affectionate  father, 

"  Miss  Nettie  Chase.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

At  last,  the  true  philosophy  respecting  failure  and  success  begins 
to  make  itself  comprehended  by  our  hero,  long  in  error  on  that 
subject,  and  perhaps  never  quite  convinced  of  the  whole  truth  re- 
ferred to. 

In  a  letter  of  the  same  date  to  Hon.  Ed.  Haight,  our  disap- 
pointed financier  and  presidential  aspirant  said  : 

"I  presume  some  of  the  newspapers  arc  just  now  specially  busy 
with  my  name  and  fame.  I  have  very  little  time  to  read  ;  but  am 
not  in  the  least  concerned  about  misrepresentations,  and  have  passed 
through  more  than  one  storm  of  calumny,  doing  my  duty,  and,  God 
helping,  can  pass  through  this." 

How  our  Minister  of  Finance  could,  in  the  midst  of  great  con- 
cern about  great  things,  attend  to  little  matters,  may  seem  fairly 
indicated  by  this  extract  from  a  letter,  dated  May  6,  and  addressed 
— I  must  disclose  it — to  a  lady  : 

"I  have  the  least  possible  time  for  correspondence,  and  you  must 
not  attribute  my  silence  to  want  of  interest  in  you.  I  feel  all  you 
can  reasonably  ask,  though  I  can  not  show  it  by  much  writing. 


586  THE    PEIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

"  Please  do  not  set  me  down  as  it  fault-finder,  if  I  say  I  wish  you 
would  pay  more  attention  to  your  composition  and  spelling.  One 
so  intelligent  as  you  are  ought  to  take  all  possible  pains  to  be  cor- 
rect. Just  to  show  you  what  I  mean,  I  do  by  you  what  I  sometimes 
do  by  Nettie,  mark  all  the  places  where  there  are  mistakes  in  gram- 
mar or  spelling  and  send  your  letter  back  to  you.  Take  a  diction- 
ary, a  grammar,  and  some  book  on  English  composition,  and  deter- 
mine that  you  will  correct  the  mistakes,  and  make  no  more  in  future 
letters."1 

The  same  day  was  written  this  letter  to  Colonel  R.  C.  Parsons  : 

"  My  Dear  Parsons  :  I  have  seldom  felt  greater  pleasure  than  on 
receiving  this  morning  your  note  of  the  4th.  That  you  are  in  a  fair 
way  of  recovery  is  an  exceeding  delight,  and  that  you  realize  to 
whom  you  are  indebted  for  your  restoration  and  your  obligations  to 
Him  for  His  goodness  is,  also,  a  satisfaction  I  can  hardly  express. 
The  older  I  grow  the  more  I  feel  how  trivial  are  all  things  compared 
with  God's  favor,  oftenest  shown  by  severest  trials. 

"  You  must  now  be  especially  careful  of  your  health,  and  do  what- 
ever is  needful  to  perfect  recovery. 

"  I  do  not  know  that  I  can  do  anj^thing  towards  insuring  you  an 
opportunity  to  visit  Europe  without  expense  to  you  ;  but  I  will  try 
what  can  be  done.  Whatever  I  can  properly  do  myself  in  the  way 
of  leave  of  absence,  will  be  done  of  course. 

"  It  has  occurred  to  me  that  you  would  find  the  climate  of  Cali- 
fornia beneficial  to  you,  and  I  have  thought  of  recalling  Brown  and 
making  him  collector  and  sending  you  as  special  agent  in  his  place. 
The  compensation  would  be  nine  dollars  a  day  and  ten  cents  a  mile 
travel.  What  would  you  think  of  this  ?  The  present  collector  is  a 
most  efficient  officer  and  would,  until  your  health  is  fully  equal  to 
them,  relieve  you  of  your. heaviest  duties. 

"  Should  you  dislike  this  arrangement,  how  would  it  suit  to  take  a 
voyage  to  California,  either  by  the  Isthmus  or  the  Cape,  and  return? 
This  could  be  easily  arranged  either  by  sending  you  in  charge  of  the 


iHere  is  a  letter  of  like  indication,  dated  May  7,  and  addressed  to  Major  Dwight 
Bannister: 

"  My  Dear  Major:  The  most  important  thing  first,  Schuckers  and  I  both  ap- 
prove of  your  intended  marriage.  Give  my  warmest  regards  to  the  bride,  and  tell 
her  that  if  she  makes  you  as  good  a  wife  as  you  will  be  to  her  a  good  husband,  I 
am  sure  the  moon  will  shine  on  no  happier  pair. 

"  I  trust  the  warehouse  business  altogether  to  you,  and  shall  be  satisfied  with 
whatever  you  do.  I  prefer  a  sale  even  at  $8,000,  or  a  permanent  lease  at  not  less 
than  $700.     Either  will  suit ;  and  if  anything  better  can  be  done,  so  much  the  better. 

"  I  shall  continue  trying  to  provide  for  the  enormous  disbursements  for  a  time . 
how  long  I  can  not  say.  It  seems  as  if  there  were  no  limit  to  expense.  Contrary 
to  all  rules,  the  spigot  in  Uncle  Abe's  barrel  is  made  twice  as  big  as  the  bung- 
hole.  He  may  have  been  a  good  flat-boatman  and  rail-splitter,  but  he  certainly 
never  learned  the  true  science  of  coopering. 

"  Very  truly  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE." 


OF    SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  587 

next  remittance  by  Panama,  or  on    board  a  new  revenue   steamer 
which  I  am  about  to  send  round  Cape  Horn. 

"  I  talk  to  you  as  if  I  was  certain  of  remaining  where  I  am  for 
months  to  come;  but  this  depends.  My  first  impulse  on  hearing  of 
Blair's  outrageous  speech  and  its  apparent — though  I  am  sun-  not  in- 
tended— indorsement  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  was  to  resign  at  once  and  re- 
turn to  Ohio,  and  appeal  to  the  people  who  have  always  sustained 
me.  But  several  of  our  delegation,  and  especially  Governor  Brongh, 
dissuaded  me,  and  I  surrendered  impulse  to  what  they  thought,  and 
probably  correctly,  to  be  duty.  But  the  indorsement  must  be  disa- 
vowed by  an  act  as  public  as  that  which  made  it  apparently  such. 
The  delegation  will  ask  this  as  due  to  the  State,  and  I  presume  it 
will  be  cheerfully  conceded  by  Mr.  Lincoln. 

"This  done,  I  shall  have  no  personal  ground  of  complaint ;  though 
nothing  can  change  the  character  of  the  Blair-Lincoln  transaction  so 
far  as  the  public  is  concerned.  Yours  faithfully, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

To  Hon.  Delano  T.  Smith,  May  9,  the  Secretary  said  in  a  letter: 

"  I  trust  that  the  slaughter  at  Fort  Pillow  will  not  be  permitted  to 
go  unpunished.  In  my  judgment,  the  highest  officers  in  the  rebel 
service,  now  prisoners  in  our  hands,  should  be  made  to  pay  the  pen- 
alty for  this  outrage. 

"  It  would  do  something  toward  the  prevention  of  them  if  the 
President  would  revoke  his  Amnesty  Proclamation,  and  insist  upon 
putting  colored  soldiers  upon  the  same  footing  with  all  the  rest." 

Here  is  a  letter  which  may  be  sharply  criticised : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  May  9,  1864. 

"  Dear  Governor  :  Accept  my  warmest  gratitude  for  your  letter. 
My  chief  concern  in  the  attacks  made  on  me  springs  from  the  convic- 
tion that  the  influence  of  the  men  who  make  them  must  necessarily 
divide  the  friends  of  the  Union  and  Freedom,  unless  the  President 
shall  cast  it  off,  of  which  I  have  little  hope.  I  am  willing  to  be  my- 
self its  victim  ;  but  grieve  to  think  our  countiy  may  be  also. 

"  Most  sincerely,  your  friend, 

"  His  Excellency  W.  A.  Buckingham.  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"P.  S.  How  strikingly  the  economy  and  prudence  shown  b}-  the 
narration  of  your  excellent  message  contrasts  with  the  extravagance 
and  recklessness  which  mark  the  disbursement  of  national  treasure.'' 

To  Mr.  John  J.  Cisco,  in  a  letter  dated  the  same  day,  Mr.  Chase 
said,  among  other  things  : 

"  The  news  from  the  Mississippi  and  Eed  River  is  deplorable;  but 
I  hope  that  the  worst  has  already  happened,  and  that  no  further  dis- 
aster need  be  looked  for  in  that  quarter. 

"So  far  as  they  have  been  heard  from,  the  movements  on  this  side 
of  the  Mississippi,  especially  those  under  the  direction  of  Grant,  of 
Mead's  and  Burnside's  armies,  and  under  the  direction   of  Butler 


588  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

south  of  the  James  River,  and  under  the  direction  of  Sherman  from 
Chattanooga,  have  been  successful  ;  and  we  are  looking  for  the  best 
results.  Of  course  there  may  be  reverses  in  some  quarters;  but  the 
general  success  seems  to  be  reasonably  sure." 

To  his  clear  friend,  Miss  Susan  Walker,  Mr.  Chase,  on  the  10th, 
wrote  as  follows : 

"  My  Dear  Friend  :  Your  kind  note  from  Nashville  must  be  an- 
swered, if  only  by  a  word. 

"  Why  did  you  not  tell  me  that  you  were  going  there  with  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Bartholow?  I  do  not  know  that  if  you  had  it  would  have  made 
any  difference  ;  but  it  would  at  any  rate  have  done  no  harm  to  inform 
me,  and  possibly  some  word  from  me  to  the  Secretary  of  War  might 
have  been  useful  to  the  doctor.  I  say  possibly,  for  there  seems  so 
much  that  is  merely  impulsive  in  the  action  of  the  War  Department 
that  nothing  can  be  anticipated  with  certainty  concerning  it. 

"Please  write  me  when  you  are  coming  to  Washington.  I  wish  to 
be  here  when  you  come,  and  I  have  been  meditating  an  absence  for 
a  few  days. 

"  I  use  as  much  philosophy  as  I  can  in  relation  to  the  Blairs;  and 
really  want  to  act  in  relation  to  them  upon  Christian  principles. 
But  I  can  not  well  command  my  equanimity  when  I  reflect  upon  the 
unprovoked  character  of  their  assaults;  the  damage  I  see  being  done 
to  our  cause  and  country ;  and  the  apparent  indifference  to  it  all  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  who,  though  he  disclaims  all  sympathy  with  them  in 
their  speech  and  action,  does  nothing  to  arrest  either. 

"  But  I  must  not  dwell  on  this,  especially  at  this  moment,  when  the 
news  from  the  field  encourages  us  to  hope  for  so  much.  God  grant 
the  hope  may  be  realized. 

"  Sincerely  your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

To  Mr.  William  Warder,  of  Springfield,  Ohio,  Mr.  Chase  said, 
in  a  letter  dated  May  12 : 

"  I  can  not  agree  with  you  that  the  country  would  suffer  greatly,  if 
at  all,  from  my  leaving  the  Cabinet.  Inasmuch,  however,  as  those 
whose  opinions  I  am  bound  to  respect  agree  in  requiring  me  to 
remain  at  my  post,  I  shall  do  so,  for  the  present,  at  least.  My  future 
will  be  governed  by  circumstances;  but  will,  I  trust,  never  be  such  as 
to  cost  me  the  esteem  of  my  friends." 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  chase.  589 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

THE    "FERRY   BOY   AND    THE    FINANCIER" — TOWARD    THE    RESIGNATION. 

AY  12,  Mr.  Trowbridge  was  addressed  as  follows: 


M 


••  My  Dear  Mr.  Trowbridge  :  I  have  read  The  Ferry  Boy.  You 
have  certainly  thrown  a  great  deal  of  attraction  about  what  I  re- 
member as  very  dry  facts.  Indeed,  from  information  or  fancy,  you 
have  collected  some  facts  which  are  quite  out  of  my  recollection. 
One  of  these  is  the  account  of  an  adventure  on  the  river  when  I  lost 
my  way  in  the  woods  going  from  Cleveland  to  Worthington. 

•■  I  hope  for  the  sake  of  the  publishers  that  the  book  will  meet 
with  a  great  sale,  and  I  wish  I  knew  how  to  help  them;  but  I  have 
no  faculty  in  circulating  anything  about  myself,  unless  it  be  'Green- 
backs.' Should  the  book  reach  a  second  edition.  I  think  you  can 
make  essential  improvements  in  it.  Meanwhile,  I  shall  be  well  con- 
tent if  the  people  give  me  credit  for  being  half  what  I  am  represented 
to  be. 

'•  Of  late,  indeed,  it  seems  as  if  I  was  in  danger  of  losing  my  char- 
acter as  well  as  my  labor,  while  doing  my  best  to  serve  the  country. 
Be  it  so  ;  I  can  stand  it  if  the  country  can. 

"  Very  truly  3-ours, 

"J.  F.  Trowbridge,  Esq.,  Somerville,  Mass.  *       S.  P.  CHASE." 

Why,  that  is  well !     That  is  the  right  tone,  in  sooth  ! 
And,  writing   the  same  day,  to  Mr.  A.  J.  Flonunerfelt,  of  Phila- 
delphia, the  same  pen  well  said  : 

"Accept  my  thanks  for  the  very  kind  sentiments  you  express 
toward  me.  My  only  ambition  is  to  be  of  service  to  the  country, 
leaving  the  contest  ior  the  highest  place  to  which  you  refer,  to  those 
who  care  more  about  it." 

Did  our  hero  care  as  much  as  he  should  have  done  about  the  fine 
arts?  I  think  not.  But  here  is  a  letter  of  good  indication,  as  far 
as  it  goes : 

"Washington,  D.  C.  May  12,  1SG4. 

"Sir:  I  inclose  a  letter  from  Sidney  Brooks.  Ksq.,  of  Newport, 
B.  I.,  in  which  he  informs  me  of  the  arrival  at  New  fork  of  Powers' 
statue  of  'America,'    and  expressing  a  wish   that   the  Government 


590  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

may  purchase  it.  The  purchase  of  this  statue  was  strongly  recom- 
mended to  Congress  some  years  ago  by  Mr.  Everett,  and  other  gen- 
tlemen who  had  seen  it,  and  were  competent  to  judge  of  its  merits. 
I  formed  at  that  time  the  opinion  that  it  should  become  the  property 
of  the  Government,  and  now  respectfully  recommend  the  subject  to 
your  consideration.  Very  truly  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"Hon.  Jno.  H.  Rice,  Chairman  Committee  on  Public  Buildings,  Mouse 
of  Representatives^ 

The  next  piece  of  evidence  I  offer  reads  as  follows : 

"Washington,  D.  C,  May  13,  1864. 

"Dear  Sir:  I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  9th  instant,  and 
thank  you  for  it.  Friendly  suggestion  or  criticism  is  never  unwel- 
come to  me. 

"I  think  I  see  the  financial  condition  very  clearly,  and  there  are 
few  things  to  which  my  attention  is  called  by  friends  or  opponents, 
which  have  not  alread}-  been  subjects  of  anxious  reflection.  I 
think  there  is  no  real  difficulty  in  carrying  our  finances  safely  and 
triumphantly  through  this  war,  except  that  which  has  embarrassed 
and  retarded  the  war  itself.  Congress  is  unwilling  to  take  the  deci- 
sive steps  which  are  indispensable  to  the  highest  degree  of  public 
credit;  and  the  Executive  does  not,  I  fear,  sufficiently  realize  the 
importance  of  an  energetic  and  comprehensive  policy  in  all  depart- 
ments of  administration.  It  is  the  part  of  Congress,  by  adequate 
taxation,  to  provide  for  so  large  a  portion  of  current  expenditure  as 
to  reduce  the  amounts  to  be  borrowed  within  limits  which  leave  no 
doubt  as  to  the  ability  of  the  country  to  provide  both  for  principal 
and  interest.  It  is  its  duty  also  to  set  apart  such  funds  for  the  pay- 
ment of  interest  and  for  the  reduction  of  principal,  as  will  be  seen 
and  confessed  b}'  all  impartial  minds  to  be  sufficient  for  the  object; 
and  it  is  its  further  duty  to  limit  expenditures  to  objects  of  the  most 
urgent  importance,  and  restrict  them  by  the  most  rigid  economy 
compatible  with  efficiency. 

"  Congress  shrinks  from  adequate  taxation;  it  shrinks  from  the 
necessary  appropriation  of  specie  funds;  it  takes  but  little  oversight 
either  of  the  character  or  of  the  amount  of  expenditure.  Here  are 
our  greatest  difficulties.  They  may  prove  insuperable.  We  can  not 
borrow  at  moderate  rates  of  interest  under  legislation  which  does 
not  inspire  confidence,  and  we  can  not  borrow  at  extravagant  rates 
without  incurring  annual  charges  beyond  the  possibility  of  payment. 

"Let  Congress  give  me  the  measure  I  require,  and  let  the  President 
give  me  the  support  of  economical  and  efficient  administration,  civil 
and  military,  and  I  will  undertake  to  resume  specie  payments  at  a 
Aveek's  notice,  and  to  maintain  them,  and  yet  borrow  at  five  per 
cent,  all  the  money  which  will  be  required  to  carry  on  the  war  for 
two  years  longer. 

"  What  I  can  do  under  other  circumstances,  is  not  so  clear.  I  can 
only,  so  long  as  I  remain  at  the  head  of  the  Treasury  Department, 
do  all  in  my  power.  Yours  very  truly  and  respectfully, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"Jno.  C.  Hamilton,  Esq ,  No.  17  W.  20th  St.,  N.  Y." 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  501 

The  same  day  the  same  pen  worked  off  this  letter: 

"My  Dear  Friend:    I  was  greatly  gratified  by  your  letter,  just 

received  ;  not  by  the  preference  expressed  for  me  for  the  Presidency, 
fori  am  pretty  well  cured  of  whatever  aspirations  t *< > i •  that  office  I 
have  been  tempted,  by  the  mention  made  of  my  name  in  connection 
with  it,  to  indulge,  but  by  the  fact  that  I  am  remembered  with  so 
much  interest  by  my  old  class-mate  and  friend. 

''Have  you  seen  the  hook  which  L,rives  a  juvenile  biography  of  me 
under  the  name  of  the  Ferry  Boy  and  Financier,  lately  published  by 
Walker,  Wise  &  Co.,  of  Boston?  The  facts  are  mostly  true,  but  the 
writer  has  indulged  his  fancy  in  dressing  them  up. 

"My  friend,  Mr.  Schuckers,  has  undertaken  to  gather  materials  for 
a  fuller  and  more  thorough  biography,  and  I  have  advised  him  to 
write  to  you  for  reminiscences.     I  hope  you  will  give  him  all  you  can. 

"I  shall  be  glad  to  have  you  write  me  whenever  you  can.  Please 
tell  me  in  your  next  all  you  know  about  our  class-mates.  Can't  we 
have  a  meeting  at  Hanover  this  year?  Your  friend, 

"  Eev.  James  W.  Ward.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

In  a  letter  to  Hon.  Benj.  F.  Flanders,  May  1G,  Mr.  Chase  said, 
among  other  things: 

"  If  I  say  nothing  about  political  matters  it  is  not  because  I  do  not 
feel  a  profound  interest  [in]  them.  The  situation  seems  to  me  criti- 
cal, but  I  do  not  know  that  it  will  do  any  to  speculate. 

'•The  military  aspect,  except  on  the  Bed  Biver,  is  excellent.  We 
hope  for  the  best  results  within  a  few  days.  It  is  a  mistake  if  any 
one  thinks  the  enemy  has  been  routed,  or  thrown  into  disorder.  He 
has  been  terribly  handled,  but  his  actual  loss  does  not  exceed  our 
own.  He  has  been  forced  back  for  some  miles,  and  now  makes  a 
stand  with  as  much  determination  as  at  first.  Some  think  that  only 
a  rear-guard  makes  the  stand  to  cover  the  retreat  of  the  main  force, 
or  its  transfer  to  another  theater  of  operations.  A  little  time  will 
show  what  the  facts  are." 

To  Captain  Jacob  Heaton,  the  same  clay,  our  hero  wrote  : 

"  My  Dear  Friend  :     I   inclose  the  leave   of  absence  you  desire. 
Don't  trouble  yourself  about    the   Blairs.      Dogs    will    hark    at    the 
moon,  but  I  have  never  heard  that  the  moon  stopped  on  that  account. 
"  Very  truly  yours,  S.  P.  CHASM.  ' 

Many  other  letters  were  worked  off  the  same  day,  among  them 
this  : 

'•  My  Dear  Major:  I  have  presented  your  matter  to  the  Set ire- 
tary,  and  shall  be  disappointed  if  you  are  not  made  at  least  brigadier 
by  brevet,  that  you  may  lead  the  colored  cavalry. 

•  Your  friend, 

41  Major  Ben.  C.  Ludlow,  Fortress  Monroe.1  S.  P.  CHASE." 


'This  also  is  a  letter  of  the  date  May  16: 

"Dear  Sir:      I  have   just  read  that  sentence  in  youT  reply  to   Mr.  Hooper   in 


592  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

The  next  day  one  was  addressed,  as  follows,  to  Messrs.  F.  "W. 
Smith  and  T.  S.  Pycott,  of  Boston  : 

"  Gentlemen  :  It  is  hardly  possible  for  me  to  avail  myself  of  your 
invitation  to  attend  the  Convention  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  at  Boston,  during  the  first  week  in  June.  I  should  be 
very  glad  to  do  so.     The  objects  of  the  Association  are  of  the  utmost 


which  you  refer  to  what  you  call  the  failure  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
acknowledge,  in  his  Report  of  1861,  the  services  rendered  by  the  banks  of  New  York, 
Boston,  and  Philadelphia,  in  that  dark  hour  of  our  country's  history. 

"  I  have  examined  that  Report  and  find  in  it  a  full  and  particular  statement  of  all 
that  was  done  by  the  banks  at  that  time.  That  statement  seemed  to  me  the  best 
acknowledgment  I  could  make. 

'•Having  found  this  statement  in  the  Report  of  1861  it  occurred  to  me  that  there 
might  be  something  in  the  Report  of  1862  which  had  given  unintentional  offence.  I 
turned,  therefore,  to  that  Report,  and  found  no  general  statement  of  services,  indeed, 
but  what,  in  that  Report,  seemed  more  proper :  a  brief  but  earnest  and  grateful  acknow- 
ledgment of  their  services.  'The  promptitude  and  zeal  with  which  many  of  the  exist- 
ing institutions  came  to  the  financial  support  of  the  government  in  the  dark  days  which 
followed  the  outbreak  of  the  [rebellion]  is  not  forgotten.  They  ventured  largely  and 
boldly  and  patriotically  on  the  side  of  the  Union,  and  the  Constitutional  Supremacy  of 
the  Nation  over  States  and  citizens.  It  does  not  at  all  detract  from  the  merit  of  the  act 
that  the  losses  which  they  feared,  but  unhesitatingly  risked,  were  transmuted  into 
unexpected  gains.  It  is  a  solid  recommendation  of  the  suggested  (the  national 
banking  system)  that  it  offered  the  opportunity  to  them,  and  kindest  invitations  to 
reorganize,  continue  their  business  under  the  proposed  act,  with  little  loss  and  much 
advantage,  participate  in  maintaining  the  new  and  uniform  national  currency.' 

"You  will  see,  I  think,  that  in  both  Reports  I  did  not  fail  to  do  full  justice  to  the 
action  of  the  banks.  I  felt  profoundly  the  necessity  of  a  national  currency,  issued 
upon  uniform  security,  and  by  institutions  organized  under  national  law;  and  I 
was  bound  by  this  judgment  to  maintain  the  national  banking  system,  and  claim 
the  currency  of  the  country,  so  far  as  not  composed  of  United  States  notes,  for  these 
institutions.  But  I  felt  no  sentiment  of  hostility  toward  the  State  institutions  or 
for  their  officers.  On  the  contrary,  I  could  hardly  make  you  understand,  if  I  should 
try,  the  depth  of  my  regret  that  you  and  others,  to  whom  I  looked  for  help  and 
counsel,  arrayed  yourselves  in  opposition  to  my  views.  It  did  seem  to  me  that 
another  ami  better  path,  more  useful  to  the  banks,  was  open,  following  which  their 
officers  would  have  won  deserved  honors. 

"  But  I  do  not  complain  that  they  choose  another  road  ;  nor  am  I  conscious  of  hav- 
ing even  uttered  unkind  words  of  them  because  they  chose  it.  I  felt  sure  at  the 
beginning  that  there  must  be  a  national  currency;  and  that  to  secure  it  there  must 
be  a  national  banking  system.  I  feel  sure  of  it.  now.  So  believing,  I  am  willing 
to  trust  the  invincible  logic  of  events. 

"I  stopped  at  your  sixth  page  and  wrote  this.  I  shall  read  the  rest,  and  expect 
to  find  much  that  I  think  just  and  sound,  with  somewhat  to  which  I  can  not  yield 
my  assent.  I  hope  to  find  nothing  which  will  impair  the  sentiments  of  sincere 
respect  and  esteem  with  which  I  am  Yours  truly,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

I  know  not  to  whom  the  foregoing  letter  was  addressed. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  593 

importance,  ami  their  work,  especially  that  wrought   through   tho 
Christian  Commission,  can  not  fail  to  excite  the  warmest  sympathies 

of  all  patriotic  and  Christian  men.     God  greatly  blesses  it,  and  the 

benediction  of  tens  of  thousands   of  the   defenders   of  the    country 
follow  it.  Yours  very  truly,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

To  Captain  L.  L.  Weld,  May  18,  our  hero  said,  by  letter: 

'•I  am  glad  to  read  your  letter  and  its  commendation  of  General 
Birney.  I  have  sent  it  to  Secretary  Stanton,  with  a  note  expressing 
my  hope  that  General  Birney  may  command  in  Florida,  unless  some 
sufficient  military  reason  prevents.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  Secre- 
tary will  consider  the  matter  justly  and  kindly;  but  it  is  a  mistake 
to  attribute  to  me  any  influence  with  him,  or  anybody  else  connected 
with  the  conduct  Of  the  war." 

This  letter  will  repay  perusal : 

"Washington,  May  19,  1864. 

'•  My  Dear  Governor  :  Few  things  in  my  public  experience  have 
given  me  so  much  satisfaction  as  your  manifestations  of  sympathy 
and  friendship,  when  I  conferred  with  }-ou  as  to  the  course  I  ought  to 
take  on  the  occasion  of  Blair's  malignant  assault,  apparently  indorsed 
by  the  President.  I  have  followed  your  counsel  then  given,  though 
at  a  great  cost  of  personal  feeling,  because  I  was  sure  it  was  the 
counsel  of  a  patriot  and  a  friend.  I  shall  never  forget  your  expres- 
sions of  personal  interest,  so  manifestly  prompted  by  the  heart.  I 
felt  them  through  and  through.  If  I  ever  have  an  opportunity  to 
show  the  gratitude  I  feel,  you  shall  see  how  real  it  is. 

"The  terrible  rains  have  arrested  the  progress  of  Grant,  and  have 
given  the  rebels  an  opportunity  to  mass  a  large  force  against  Butler, 
and  force  him  back  to  his  intrenchments.  In  one  point  of  view  this 
seems  well  enough  ;  for  the  more  Butler  has  against  him  the  fewer 
there  will  be  to  dispute  the  advance  of  Grant.  To-day  the  skies  look 
as  if  we  should  have  some  days  of  clear  weather.  My  anxiety  is  very 
great  ;  but  departmental  administration  allows  me  no  voice  in 
military  matters — not  even  in  those  which  most  nearly  concern  the 
Treasury — and  I  can  therefoi*e  onl}r  wait  and  pray  and  hope. 

"It  has  become  quite  apparent  now  that  the  importunity  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  special  friends  for  an  early  convention,  in  order  to  make 
his  nomination  sure,  was  a  mistake  both  for  him  and  for  the  country. 
The  Convention  will  not  be  regarded  as  an  Union  Convention,  but 
simply  as  a  Blair-Lincoln  Convention,  by  a  great  body  of  citizens 
whose  support  is  essential  to  success.  Few  except  those  already 
committed  to  Mr.  Lincoln  will  consider  themselves  bound  by  a  pre- 
determined nomination.  Very  man}',  who  may  ultimately  vote  for 
Mr.  Lincoln,  will  wait  the  course  of  events,  hoping  that  some  popu- 
lar movement  for  Grant,  or  some  other  successful  general,  will  offer 
a  better  hope  of  saving  the  country.  Others,  and  the  number  seems 
to  be  increasing,  will  not  support  his  nomination  in  any  event  ; 
believing  that  our  ill-success,  thus  far,  in  the  suppression  of  tho 
rebellion  is  due  mainly  to  his  course  of  action  and  inaction  ;  and 
that  no  change  can  be  for  the  worse. 


594  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"But  these  are  speculations  merely  from  my  stand-point.  You 
see  the  field  more  clearly,  because  through  less  mist,  and  can  cast 
the  horoscope  better  than  I.  May  God  direct  all  aright.  '  My 
hearts  desire  and  prayer  to  Him  for  (America)  is  that  (she)  may  be 
saved.' 

"  I  went  out  yesterday  to  see  our  troops — the  hundred-days  men  ; 
but,  not  having  taken  sufficient  care  to  inform  mj-self  of  localities, 
failed  to  find  any  of  them.     I  shall  go  again  to-morrow. 

••  The  Treasury  investigation  will,  I  think,  show  that  the  depart- 
ment has  kept  up  with  the  demands  of  the  times,  and  fully  vindicate 
my  plan  of  executing  a  large  part  of  the  work  of  preparing  bonds 
and  notes  in  the  Treasury  building.  The  improvements  (machinery) 
made  by  the  much  abused  Mr.  Clark  have  alone  made  the  mechanical 
execution  of  the  immense  work  possible.     Faithfully  yours, 

"  His  Excellency  John  Brough,  etc.1  S.  P.  CHASE." 

May  23  the  Secretary  wrote  as  follows : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  May  23,  1864. 
"My  Dear  Colonel:  All  right  as  to  the  note.  The  people  are 
crazy,  or  I  am.  I  don't  see  the  recent  military  successes.  Most 
earnestly  do  I  pray  that  we  may  see  thetn  hereafter.  All,  under  God, 
depends  on  Grind.  So  far  he  has  achieved  very  little,  and  that  little 
has  cost  beyond  computation.  Still,  my  hope  is  in  hi?n.  He  seems  the 
ablest  and  most  persistent  man  tee  have.  Sherman  has  done  well,  and 
apparently  more  than  Grant.  I  think  he  has  good  opportunities,  if 
Mr.  Lincoln  will  only  let  the  black  loyalists  have  a  fair  chance — that 
is,  let  them  come  into  the  army  on  a  perfectly  equal  footing  as  to 
pay,  chances  of  promotion,  and  right  to  vote  on  the  soil  which  they 
help  recover  from  rebellion,  with  white  loyalists.  Such  a  policy, 
honestly  adopted,  and  manfully  carried  out,  will  save  us.  Nothing 
short  of  it.  in  my  opinion,  will.  Without  such  a  policy  Sherman 
must  grow  weaker  and  weaker  as  he  advances;  and  Savannah,  if  he 
ever  reaches  it,  may  be  his  Moscow." 

Who  was  the  "  dear  colonel  "  to  whom  that  was  written  ?  It 
was,  alas!  none  other  than  "Colonel"  Alfred  P.  Stone,  of  Ohio! 
And  the  letter  thus  went  on  : 

"  I  have  not  written  a  word  to  Ohio,  I  believe,  on  the  villauous, 
malignant,   and   lying  assault  of  the  Blairs — for  the   Congressional 


1  May  21.  Mr.  Chase  wrote  as  follows: 

"Sir  :  Son  are  right  in  thinking  I  take  a  profound  interest  in  the  success  of 
your  project  for  uniting  Europe  and  America  by  an  overland  telegraphic  commu- 
nication, and  I  would  willingly  subscribe  twenty-five  or  thirty  thousand  to  the 
stock,  if  I  had  that  amount  of  money  at  my  command.  I  could  appropriate  $5,000 
to  such  a  subscription,  and  will  willingly  do  so.  Please  let  me  know  in  what  in- 
stallments subscriptions  are  to  be  paid. 

"  Yerv  trulv  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"0.  H.  Palmer,  Esq..  W.  A.  Telegraph  Office,  Rochester,  X.  Y." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  595 

general  was  only  the  mouthpiece  of  the  trio — and  its  apparent  in- 
dorsement by  Mr.  Lincoln.  I  did  not  want  to  say  anything  by  way 
of  appeal,  in  my  personal  behalf,  against  an  indorsement  of  Mr. 
Lincoln,  while  the  great  outrage,  not  on  me  only,  but  on  the  con- 
stitution, implied  in  sending  back  Blair  to  the  army  in  the  way.  and 
under  the  circumstances,  he  was  sent  back,  remains  on  the  record  un- 
redressed. I  would  not  write  this  were  it  possible  for  the  letter  to 
reach  you  in  time  to  affect  the  action  of  the  convention.  If  the  facts 
don't  speak  to  the  people,  I  have  no  desire  to  speak  to  them  at 
present.'' 

Under  date,  May  25,  we  have  this  letter  : 

My  Dear  Sir  :  I  have  read  Dr.  Ayres'  letter  with  surprise  and 
regret.  I  do  not  know  to  whom  he  alludes  as  a  man  likely  to  be 
chosen  delegate  to  the  Baltimore  Convention  being  my  own  selection. 
Since  my  letter  to  Senator  Hall,  or  rather  through  him  to  my  friends 
in  Ohio,  and  elsewhere,  was  written,  I  have  neither  asked,  nor 
sought  nor  expected  to  be  nominated  for  President.  I  would  not 
take  the  nomination  of  the  Baltimore  Convention  if  it  were  tendered 
to  me.  The  delegates  have  been  almost  all  elected  under  pledges, 
express,  or  implied,  that  they  will  vote  for  the  renomination  of  Mr. 
Lincoln.  The  nomination  of  any  other  man  would  be  justly  re- 
garded as  a  fraud  upon  the  people  ;  and  I  value  conscious  integrity 
of  purpose  far  more  than  office,  even  the  highest.  I  have  had  noth- 
ing to  do  with  the  selection  of  delegates  to  Baltimore — not  one  is  a 
selection  of  mine  in  any  sense;  but  if  there  were  such  a  man  I 
should  say  to  him,  'Represent  honestly  the  wishes  of  the  people 
who  sent  .you;  avoid  especially  the  very  appearance  of  manage- 
ment to  substitute  any  man  for  the  man  whom  they  prefer.' 

"If  the  Baltimore  Convention  is  itself  a  mistake  the  error  can  not 
be  rectified  by  any  attempt  to  thwart,  through  its  members,  the  ex- 
pectations of  their  constituents.  Yours  very  truly, 

"Hon.  L.  D.  Stickney.  S.  P.  CHASE.'' 

Of  the  same  date  is  the  following  : 

"  My  Darling  Nettie  .  Your  description  of  your  night's  alarm 
is  capital,  and  gives  me  a  good  laugh  in  the  midst  of  my  perplexi- 
ties and  troubles.  But  I  must  tell  30U  that  you  are  allowing  your 
handwriting  to  degenerate,  and  that  you  are  too  careless  about  your 
'  my'self"  and  'howevers,'  putting  them  in,  as  it  were  to  fill  up;  and 
that,  though  paper  is  dear,  1  prefer  on  the  whole  to  have  you  write  on 
untorn  sheets. 

"  Sister  received  some  days  ago  your  pictorial,  poetical  success, 
which  ought  to  have  been  entitled  'The  Neglected  Young  Lady. 
It  was  very  funny. 

'•And  now  what  else  shall  I  tell?  In  the  first  place  we  are  all 
pretty  well — very  well  for  us.  In  the  next  place  we  take  our  meals 
— but  nonsense. 

"Dear  Bishop  Mcllvaine  has  been  with  us  and  at  the  army.  He 
gives  most  interesting  accounts  of  the  wonderful  work  the  Christian 
Commission  is  doing.  There  was  never  anything  like  the  self-denial, 
39 


59G  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

the  activity,  the  usefulness  of  these  men.  They  seem  to  have  the 
very  spirit  of  Christ — a  sort  of  divinity  in  manhood.  He  left  us 
day  before  yesterday,  and  thinks  of  going  to  Europe  in  July.  Sister 
would  like  to  go  too,  if  the  governor  would  or  I  could  go. 

"  Have  you  seen  the  'Ferry  Boy'  yet?  There  is  a  good  deal  of 
truth  in  it,  but  some  embellishments. 

"  And  here  I  must  stop,  for  I  have  ever  so  much  work  to  do  be- 
fore I  can  go  home  to  dine. 

"Your  affectionate  father.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

"I  inclose  a  picture.  I  don't  know  whether  you  had  one  of 
these." 

May  27  furnishes  this  letter : 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  A  letter  has  been  shown  me  in  which  you  are 
reported  as  blaming  me  for  sending  General  Garfield  secretly  to  Mr. 
Stanton  to  ask  him  to  use  his  official  patronage  to  promote  my  nom- 
ination for  the  Presidency.  It  is  also  stated  that  a  report  that  I  did 
send  the  general  to  the  Secretary  for  that  purpose  is  quite  current  in 
Cincinnati. 

"It  humbles  me  to  see  l  such  a report ;  but  if  it  can  obtain  cre- 
dence with  such  gentlemen  as  yourself  may  it  not  be  a  dut}7  to  do  so. 

"  There  is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it.  Neither  secretly  nor  openly  ; 
neither  through  General  Garfield  or  any  other  person ;  neither 
directly  nor  indirectly,  did  I  ever  suggest  to  Mr.  Stanton  or  any 
Head  of  Department,  or  to  any  other  officer  of  the  Government  a 
wish  for  the  use  of  official  patronage  in  my  behalf. 

"  Why  I  should  be  thus  incessantly  pursued  with  calumny  I  do  not 
understand.  lam  in  nobody's  way,  unless,  perhaps,  in  the  way  of 
some  who  would  like  to  make  money  out  of  the  distresses  of  the 
country.  There  were  some  citizens  who  wished  that  I  might  be 
President,  and  they  were  men  of  whose  preference  any  man  might 
be  proud  ;  but  when  I  saw  that  use  of  my  name  was  likely  to  create 
strife  and  divisions  injurious  to  our  common  cause,  and  that  some 
even  in  high  places  were  willing  that  the  finances  of  the  country,  on 
which  everything  depends,  should  be  embarrassed  and  damaged,  if 
by  that  means  I  might  be  damaged,  I  gladly  availed  myself  of  the 
action  of  the  Union  members  of  the  Ohio  Legislature  to  ask  that  my 
name  no  longer  be  considered  in  connection  with  the  nomination.  I 
thought  I  was  acting  an  honest  and  patriotic  part.  Since  writing  the 
letter  taking  m}*  name  out  of  the  list  of  candidates  for  the  nomina- 
tion. I  have  neither  sought,  nor  asked,  nor  expected  it.  I  have  been 
working  hard  to  raise  the  means  to  pay  and  clothe  and  feed  the 
soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  to  defray  the  costs  of 
their  great  movements.  My  only  ambition  has  been  to  contribute 
what  I  could  in  my  place  to  the  safety  of  the  Eepublic  and  to  pro- 
mote tin'  interests  of  the  whole  people,  and  especially  of  the  labor- 
ing masses,  by  the  permanent  establishment  of  a  sound  and  uni- 
form national  currency. 


1  So  in  my  copy.     Probably,  the  word  was  notice. ' 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND   <  RASE.  597 

'•I  have  not  after  all  escaped  obloquy;  but  T  can  bear  it  so  long  as 
my  conscience  testifies  that  I  have  done  nothing  to  deserve  it. 
"  Yours  very  trulv, 
"  Hon.  Aaron  F.  Perry,  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

May  30  yields  the  following  letter : 

"  Dear  Sir:  I  have  read  the  letter  of  Lord  Lyons  which  you  I'd 
with  me.  It  is  extremely  difficult  to  find  the  just  mean  between 
too  much  restriction  ami  none  at  all.  It  is  impossible  to  satisfy  either 
those  who  would  stop  all  commerce  lest  rebels  may  be  supplied,  or 
those  who  would  abolish  all  restrictions  whether  rebels  be  supplied 
or  not.  Mr.  Barney  is  required  to  refuse  clearances  whenever  he  has 
Satisfactory  reasons  to  believe  that  goods,  destined  cither  for  a  foreign 
or  domestic  port,  or  intended  for  places  under  the  control  of  the  in- 
surgents: and  he  is  required,  whenever  he  believes  it  necessary,  to  re- 
quire a  bond  upon  each  clearance  in  a  penalty  equal  to  the  value  of  the 
cargo,  with  sureties  to  his  satisfaction,  that  the  cargo  shall  be  de- 
livered at  the  clearance  destination,  and  that  no  part  shall  be  used 
for  aid  or  comfort  to  insurgents. 

"You  know  how  much  complaint  has  been  made  against  him  for 
alleged  taking  of  insufficient  bonds  on  shipments  to  Nassau;  and  I 
may  add  that  he  has  been  vehemently  censured  by  officials  in  high 
position  for  not  requiring,  in  all  cases,  bonds  with  real  estate  security. 
I  am  informed,  indeed,  that  his  alleged  remissness  has  been  made  the 
subject  of  investigation  by  a  military  commission  organized  in  New 
York. 

"Now,  on  the  other  hand,  come  the  representations  of  LordL3'on,i 
against  the  stringency  and  necessary  severity  of  his  action.  I  will, 
if  you  think  it  best,  send  him  the  paragraphs  of  Lord  Lyons'  letter, 
relating  to  the  security  required  ;  or  if  you  will  send  me  full  copies 
of  his  dispatches.  I  will  send  them  to  Mr.  Barney  with  instructions 
to  report  further  upon  the  general  subject.  You  need  no  assurance 
that  no  exaction  whatever  is  made  from  foreign  merchants  trading 
to  British  ports  which  is  not  made  from  American  citizens  trading  to 
any  port  foreign  or  domestic  from  which  supplies  can  be  sent  to 
rebels.  Very  truly  yours, 

"  Hon.  Wm.  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  the  State.       S.  P.  CHASE." 

This  letter  is  also  dated  May  30: 

■•  My  Dear  Sir  :  What  }*ou  said  about  the  Albany  Evening  Journal 
the  other  day  induces  me  to  send  you  its  most  prominent  article  of 
May  24,  which  has  been  inclosed  to  me. 

"So  far  as  its  allegations  concern  me  personalty  they  are  utterly 
without  warrant.  In  the  sense  intended  by  the  words.  I  have  never 
been  a  Presidential  aspirant.  Since  my  letter  to  Senator  Hall,  or, 
rather,  through  him  to  my  friends  in  Ohio,  1  have  avoided  all  thought 
and  talk  about 'the  Presidential  nomination,  and  have  certainly 
neither  asked  nor  sought  nor  expected   it  myself. 

"  The  patronage  of  this  department  is  not  and  never  has  been  used 
with  reference  to  that  nomination.  All  I  ask  for  in  any  officer  is 
capacity,  fidelity  to  trust,  and   devotion  to   Union  and   Liberty.     It 


598  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 

there  are  sinecure  officers  in  the  New  York  Custom  House,  secretly 
at  work  to  prevent  the  fair  expression  of  the  manifest  preference 
of  the  Union  men  of  the  country,  1  do  not  know  it.  Every  man  has 
a  righl  to  he  in  a  minority  if  he  chooses,  and  often  must  be,  or  sac- 
rifice his  honest  convictions  ;  but  no  man  lias  a  right  to  be  a  sinecure 
office-holder  or  to  engage  in  secret  work  to  thwart  the  will  of  a 
majority  of  the  political  organization  to  which  he  belongs;  and  no 
such  man  will  hold  office  in  this  department,  or  under  it,  with  my 
consent. 

"Mr.  Surveyor  Andrews,  as  you  are  aware,  is  not  [an]  appointee 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  I  know  nothing  of  his  political 
action  at  Syracuse  or  elsewhere,  except  from  the  public  prints. 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"Hon.  Wm.  H.  Seward.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  same  clay  yields  the  following: 

"My  Dear  Sir  :  I  was  surprised  to  see  in  the  Evening  Post  a 
statement  calculated  to  create  the  impression  that  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  is  still  issuing  legal  tender  notes.  The  truth  is  that 
during  this  month  the  legal  tender  issues  have  been  reduced  nearly 
half  a  million  of  dollars,  and  the  five  per  cent,  treasury  notes  nearly 
fourteen  millions.  I  have  been  doing  my  utmost  to  prevent  inflation. 
The  banks,  without  any  plea  of  necessit}',  are  increasing  their  issues, 
to  the  infinite  danger  of  the  country.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
does  not  increase  the  circulation  issues  of  the  Government  by  a  single 
dollar,  except  under  the  pressure  of  the  most  imperious  necessity. 
The  banks  of  the  city  of  New  York,  by  certified  checks,  turn  their 
accumulated  deposits  into  currency,  and  thus  give  a  greater  impulse 
to  inflation  than  any  single  cause.  Why  not  look  at  the  matter  just 
as  it  is,  and  claim  for  the  countiy  the  exclusive  use  of  the  circula- 
tion, and  urge  that  the  banks  be  compelled  to  withdraw  their  circu- 
lation, the  pressure  of  which  is  now  so  mischievous. 
"  Very  truly  your  friend, 

"  W.  C.  Bryant,  Esq.,  New  York.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Of  the  same  date  is  the  letter  furnishing  the  rule  of  judgment 
given  in  the  Introduction.     It  reads  at  length  as  follows: 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  Mr.  Pierce  has  been  kind  enough  to  send  me  an 
article  written  by  him,  and  published  in  the  Anti-Slavery  Standard, 
concerning  my  action  in  the  Garner  case. 

"I  am  apt  to  neglect  the  work  of  self-vindication.  It  seems,  in 
general,  best  to  work  and  let  the  works  speak  for  the  worker.  It  is 
a  gratifying  consciousness  that  I  have  never  omitted  known  duties 
toward  the  enslaved  and  the  oppressed ;  and  that  I  have  ever  pre- 
tei  red  generous  appreciation  of  the  labors  of  others  in  the  cause 
of  Human  Enfranchisement  to  unjust,  or  even  unnecessary,  criticisms. 
It  seems  to  me  better  and  wiser  to  judge  particular  acts  by  the  gen- 
eral tenor  of  life,  than  the  general  tenor  of  life  by  particular  acts. 
When  anything  is  imputed"  to  me,  therefore,  inconsistent  with  my 
uniform  course,  I  have  thought  it  best  to  let  the  imputation  pass 
unnoticed. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  590 

"Since  the  ease  of  the  Garners  has  been  brought  before  the  public 
by  Mr.  Phillips,  I  have  had  many  applications  for  the  fact-:  and 
thought  it  best  to  depart  from  my  general  rule,  quite  a>  much  for 
tho  sake  of  the  cause,  always  hurt  in  my  judgment  by  unjust  asper- 
sions upon  its  supporters,  as  for  my  own.  I,  therefore,  furnished  to 
Mr.  Pierce  the  statements  and  documents  from  which  he  lias  drawn 
a  large  part  of  his  article;  and  he  has  had,  I  understand,  the  benefit  of 
letters  from  some  of  the  counsel  who  appeared  for  fugitives  before  the 
different  courts.    It  is.  I  think,  as  nearly  accurate  as  such  papers  can  be. 

"I  inclose  ten  dollars;  please  send  me  receipt  for  subscription  to 
the  Standard  as  long  as  the  money  will  pay  for.  God  grant  that 
long  before  the  subscription  runs  out  every  vestige  of  slavery  may 
have  disappeared  from  North  America  ;  even  that  last  trace  of  it, 
injustice  to  man  because  he  is  black.         Yours  truly, 

"  Oliver  Johnson,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

May  30  also  yields  this  little  letter : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Mr.  Walker's  letter  has  affected  me  profoundly. 
What  a  noble  and  patriotic  spirit  breathes  through  every  line  !  The 
approbation  of  such  a  man,  how  it  outweighs  the  censure  of  thou- 
sands of  narrower  views  and  lower  sentiments.  God  grant  that  he 
may  return  in  renovated  health,  and  long  be  spared  to  serve  the 
country  he  is  now  laboring  to  save.  Most  sincerely  yours, 

"Hon.  F.  P.  Stanton.  "  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  next  day,  the  same  active  pen  said,  in  a  little  note  to  Mr. 

Wm.  H.  Aspinwall : 

"  If  Congress  would  only  give  me  the  measures  I  need,  the  finances 
could  be  put  on  the  soundest  footing  in  six  weeks.  Small  politics 
are  in  the  way. 

The  eventful  month  of  June  must  now  receive  attention.  On  the 
second  day  of  it,  the  Secretary  wrote  as  follows: 

"Mr  Dear  Madam:  I  have  two  letters  from  your  honored  and 
lamented  husband,  which  I  greatly  prize  as  autographic  mementoes 
of  one  whom  the  heavens  have  gained  too  soon. 

"  Of  the  first,  I  send  you  a  copy.  The  other  relates  to  matters 
which  involve  some  unpleasant  personal  controversy,  which,  it  seems 
to  me,  it  would  be  well  not  to  revive.  The  great  esteem  in  which  I 
hold  the  parties,  makes  me  unwilling  even  to  seem  to  be  an  agent  in 
reviving  it,  by  directing  a  copy  of  the  letter  to  be  made. 

"With  the  greatest  respect  and  esteem,         Yours  truly, 

"  Mrs.  Julia  M.  Kino.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Of  the  same  date  is  a  little  note  to  Hon.  S.  Hooper,  saying: 

"I  inclose  a  telegram  from  Mr.  Cisco,  who  is  very  anxious  to  have 
the  Gold  Bill  pass  immediately. 

"Its  passage  will  probably  check  the  advance  and  give  a  little 
time  for  further  measures. 


000  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"If  you  can  put  a  sufficient  tax  on  State  Bank  issues,  to  arrest 
their  increase  and  insure  their  gradual  reduction,  the  way  to  safety 
will  be  open." 

To  Bishop  Mcllvaine,  the  next  day,  was  written  : 

"My  Dear  Bishop:  Your  note  is  just  received.  I  am  glad  every- 
thing is  arranged  to  your  satisfaction  concerning  your  visit  to 
Europe.  May  God  make  it  very  useful.  My  daughter  has  aban- 
doned the  idea  of  going  unless  her  husband  or  I  can  go  with  her. 

"  I  allow  myself  no  thought  concerning  the  Presidency  ;  and  have 
put  the  subject  out  of  my  mind  ever  since  I  wrote  the  letter  to  Sen- 
ator Hall,  as  far  as  possible.  It  would  alarm  more  than  gratify  me 
if  I  thought  there  was  any  prospect  of  such  eventualities  as   Mr. 

A and  your  brother  suggest.      If  I  can   only  succeed  in  saving 

the  finances  I  shall  be  happy  and  most  thankful. 

"It  is  a  great  comfort  to  see  }rour  address  copied  so  widely,  and  so 
general  a  concurrence  in  its  views.  If  the  President  would  only 
throw  the  full  weight  of  his  influence  into  the  scale  of  justice  to  the 
blacks,  and  especially  the  black  loyalists  of  the  South,  I  can  not  but 
think  that  God's  blessing  would  follow. 

"  Your  friend  most  truly,1  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Next  we  have: 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  June  6,  1864. 

"  Mr  Dear  Sir  :  A  letter  from  the  chairman  of  the  Loan  Com- 
mittee* of  the  Associated  Banks  makes  it  important  for  me  to  go  to 
New  York  to-day,  at  7:30  p.  M. 

"Before  going  I  shall  be  glad  to  have  a  short  conversation  with 
you  about  business  before  Congress.  Will  you  have  time  for  it,  and 
will  it  be  most  convenient  for  you  at  your  office  or  here? 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  The  President  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  President  answered  in  penciling,  indorsed  on  the  original  of 
the  foregoing : 

"  I  will  try  to  call  at  vour  office  at  3  p.  M.,  to  day,  June  6,  1864. 
"Hon.  Sec.  op  Treasury.  A.  LINCOLN." 


1  Of  the  same  date  is  the  following: 

"My  Dear  Sir:  You  will  find  inclosed  with  this  note  my  reply  to  your  invita- 
tion  to  the  mass  meeting  to-morrow. 

''Allow  me  to  avail  myself  of  this  occasion  for  expressing  to  you  my  warmest 
thanks  for  your  generous  defense  of  my  action  in  relation  to  the  Fifty  Per  Cent. 
Increase  Act,  when  lately  assailed  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  It  recalled  most 
agreeable  memories  of  former  days. 

'•  I  hope  you  will  not  think  the  closing  sentence  of  my  reply  ill-timed  or  too 
radical.  The  danger  of  injustice,  as  well  as  its  wickedness,  weighs  heavily  on  my 
heart ;  and  I  see  no  excuse  for  not  giving  utterance  to  something  of  what  I  feel. 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"Hon.  F.  A.  Conkling.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  G01 

Of  the  interview  thus  proposed,  we  have  the  following  account : 

"The  President  called  about  3  o'clock,  and  introduced  the  subject 

of  the  New  York  Custom  House  by  saying  substantially  what  fol- 
lows : 

"  'You  no  doubt  have  supposed  that  Mr.  Dennison  has  talked  to  me 

about  the  Xew  York  Custom  House.  I  know  no  reason  to  doubl  what 
he  said,  except  that  I  have  always  thought  that  he  was  rat  her  inclined 
to  set  himself  up  as  a  great  rascal  catcher.  But  still  I  should  not  have 
thought  so  much  of  what  he  said  but  for  the  statement  made  to 
me  by  Mr.  Hulburd,  for  whom  I  sent,  after  hearing  the  statement  of 
Mr.  Dennison.  Mr.  Hulburd  said  that  Mr.  Bailey  called  on  him,  and 
represented  that  I  did  not  desire  that  any  investigation  should  be 
made  in  the  Custom  House  matters  in  New  York,  and  also  stated,  as 
a  reason  why  no  such  investigation  should  be  made,  that  I  would  not 
act,  whatever  the  committee  might  discover.  This  statement,  and 
that  of  Mr.  Dennison,  made  me  believe  that  Mr.  Bailey  was  exercis- 
ing pretty  much  the  whole  control  over  Custom  House  matters  ;  and 
what  confirmed  me  in  this  impression  was  the  fact  that  Mr.  Barney, 
when  here  some  time  ago,  said  nothing  about  Mr,  Bailey,  although 
he  spoke  quite  fully  of  all  his  Custom  House  troubles.  He  said: 
"About  two  weeks  before  my  letter  to  you  I  had  made  up  my  mind 
to  write  what  I  did,  and  concluded  to  send  it  after  what  Mr.  Hulburd 
said." 

"  '  I  left  the  question  of  Mr.  Barney's  successor  open,  because  I  had 
received  letters  and  other  communications  from  pretty  much  all  the 
Union  men  in  the  Xew  York  Legislature,  and  in  the  various  commit- 
tees, recommending  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Wakeman,  and  was  not 
certain  that  it  was  best  to  appoint  him.  I  thought  of  another  person, 
and  not  that  T  had  any  objection  to  Mr.  Wakeman,  but  that  it  might 
not  be  pleasant  to  }*ou  to  have  him  appointed,  because  of  the  old 
controversy  about  him  when  he  was  named  for  surveyor.  A  good 
deal  more  was  said,  and  what  was  actually  said  was  in  different 
language  from  what  has  just  been  used;  but  the  substance  is  pre- 
served. 

"I  answered  substantially  as  follows:  'Since  Mr.  Barney  was 
appointed  collector,  I  have  sometimes  doubted  his  efficiency  as  an 
officer,  but  I  have  talked  with  him  on  the  management  of  the  Custom 
House.  I  have  found  him  intelligent  and  thoroughly  earnest  in  his 
wishes  to  administer  it  correctly.  Some  of  those,  at  whose  instance 
he  was  originally  appointed — Mr.  Opdyke,  for  example,  and  Mr. 
Orton — -were  dissatisfied  with  Mr.  Barmy  while  Mr.  Palmer  was  his 
confidential  clerk,  and  frequently  urged  me  to  recommend  his 
removal  to  you.  I  never  felt  myself  warranted  in  doing  so,  for  I 
was  satisfied  as  to  his  honesty  and  general  capacity,  and  did  not 
think  a  change  would  be  likely  to  be  an  improvement.  To  show 
you  how  I  felt  in  regard  to  the  matter,  I  will  read  you  what  I  wrote 
to  Mr.  Orton  some  short  time  since — about  the  time  when  Palmer's 
complicity  wTish  the  Nassau  frauds  was  discovered — in  answer  to  a 
letter  full  of  strong  feeling  against  Mr.  Barney,  and  of  a  desire  for 
his  removal.'  I  then  read  the  extracts  of  the  letter  which  follows: 
( )      I  then  went  on    to  say,  since  Mr.  Palmer's 


G02  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

removal  there  has  been  a  great  deal  of  clamor,  but  it  has  not  shaken 
my  confidence  in  Mr.  Barney,  and  I  still  believe  that  nothing  would 
be  gained  by  a  change.     So  much  for  Mr.  Barney. 

'■Mr.  Bailey  was  a  clerk  in  the  office,  appointed  soon  after  I  came 
into  the  department,  and  employed  under  the  solicitor.  He  showed 
himself  to  be  a  man  of  talent,  and  acquired  the  entire  confidence  of 
the  solicitor  and  my  own.  Under  the  act  of  Congress  passed  about 
a  year  ago,  three  agents  were  appointed,  one,  Mr.  Bailey,  to  resido 
in  New  York,  and  another,  Mr.  Gibbs.  to  go  to  Europe,  and  third, 
Mr.  Briggs,  for  whom  you  wished  to  have  me  provide  a  place.  Mr. 
Bailey  was  to  watch  over  the  interests  of  the  department  in  New 
York  connected  with  the  revenue;  Mr.  Gibbs  over  the  same  interests 
in  Europe,  while  Mr.  Briggs  was  employed  in  the  Internal  Revenue 
Bureau,  under  the  direction  of  Commissioner  Lewis.  Mr.  Bailey 
performed  very  acceptably,  and  when  the  solicitor  went  to  that  city 
to  investigate  alleged  frauds  upon  revenue,  Mr.  Bailey  assisted  him. 
These  investigations  have  been  going  on  for  a  long  time,  principally 
under  the  direction  of  the  solicitor,  who  spent  much  time  in  New 
York,  indeed,  more  than  I  thought  the  interests  of  the  department 
could  well  permit.  Within  the  last  few  months,  the  solicitor's  duties 
requiring  his  presence  here,  Mr.  Bailey  has  conducted  the  investiga- 
tions in  New  York,  and  his  action  has  received  the  approval  of  both 
myself  and  the  solicitor.  Up  to  the  time  of  Palmer's  arrest,  Mr. 
Barney  had  but  comparatively  little  to  do  with  Mr.  Bailey,  but  after 
that  time,  relied  upon  him  very  much  for  advice  and  support;  and 
perhaps  some  occasion  has  been  given  for  the  idea  that  he  exercises 
an  undue  control  over  the  management  of  the  Custom  House,  by  his 
occupation  of  the  room  reserved  for  the  President  or  Secretary  when 
they  visit  New  York,  and  for  the  reception  of  committees  of  mer- 
chants and  others  by  the  collector. 

-'This  room  was  occupied  by  the  solicitor  when  conducting  his 
investigations,  and  Mr.  Bailey  took  it  when  similarly  employed.  I 
have  directed  a  change  to  be  made  in  this  respect,  and  I  have  con- 
versed, too,  with  Mr.  Barney  in  relation  to  Mr.  Bailey,  and  find  that, 
while  he  has  much  confidence  in  him,  he  does  not,  in  the  administration 
of  the  Custom  House,  guide  himself  by  his  judgment,  or  any  other 
judgment,  indeed,  than  his  own.  I  think  that  Mr.  Bailey  can  not 
have  used  the  expression  attributed  to  him.  Indeed,  Mr.  Hooper 
assures  me  that  Mr.  Hubburd  informed  him  that  Mr.  Bailey  conveyed 
no  such  idea  to  his  mind,  as,  that  you  desire  that  the  investigations 
should  not  proceed.  I  think  Mr.  Bailey  is  not  the  fool  to  have  made 
such  a  siii^-esiion.  As  to  the  other  expression  ascribed  to  him,  that 
you  would  not  act,  whatever  the  report  of  the  Committee,  might  be,  I 
can  say  nothing,  except  that  it  does  not  seem  to  me  likely  that  he 
used  it. 

"You  remember  that  I  was  averse  to  the  original  appointment  of 
Mr.  Dennison.  After  a  time,  however,  I  changed  my  opinion  about 
him.  He  seemed  to  he  very  active  and  energetic  in  the  performance 
of  his  duties,  and  if  I  sometimes  thought  him  too  eager  I  regarded 
it  as  a  good  fault,  for  I  had  no  objections  to  his  being  something  of 
a  Rascal-Catcher  in  the  position  he  filled  In  fact,  thecontingent  re- 
wards given  by  law  to  revenue  officers  are  given  in  order  to  induce 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  603 

them  to  bo  vigilant  in  rascal-catching.  Of  late,  however,  I  have 
seen  some  reason  to  change  my  judgment.  Within  the  last  two  or 
three  da}-s  an  affidavit  has  been  taken  in  New  York,  and  has  been 
sent  here,  the  statements  of  which  impeach  him  very  seriously.  It 
was  sent  by  Major  Halpine,  formerly  of  General  Halleck's,  then  ol 
General  Hunter's,  and  now  of  General  Dix's  staff,  and  was  taken  as 
part  of  an  investigation  proceeding  under  the  direction  of  General 
Dix.  I  then  handed  the  affidavit  to  the  President.  I  then  went  on 
to  say,  in  my  judgment  the  public  interests  do  not  require  any 
change  in  the  Collectorship  of  New  York.  If  there  should  be  a 
change,  however,  I  think  Mr.  Barney's  successor  should  be  a  man 
who  will  command  the  general  confidence  of  the  business  com- 
munity and  of  the  public  ;  a  man  whose  position  and  character  are 
so  high  that  there  could  be  no  question  as  to  the  motives  of  his  selec- 
tion. Such  a  man,  I  think,  is  Mr.  Aspinwall,  Mr.  Curtis  Noyes,  or 
Governor  Dickinson.  The  President  said,  Mr.  Noyes  is  a  very  able 
gentleman;  and,  as  I  have  said,  I  am  not  anxious  to  appoint  Mr. 
Wakeman.  "What  would  you  think  of  Preston  King?  To  this  I  re- 
plied, I  should  not  think  at  all  well  of  his  appointment.  He  is  doubt- 
less a  man  of  integrity,  but  entirely  unfamiliar  with  the  duties  of 
the  post,  and  would  not,  I  think,  be  regarded  qualified  in  any  respect 
except  integrity  by  the  New  York  mercantile  community.  Here  the 
conversation  dropped  ;  the  President,  as  he  left  the  room,  said,  I  will 
think  further  of  the  matter,  and  do  nothing  until  I  have  talked  fully 
about  it.  I  said,  I  think  you  had  better  see  Mr.  Bailey,  and  you  can 
then  judge  better  of  whether  he  is  likely  to  have  said  what  is  as- 
cribed to  him.  He  said,  '  Very  well,  I  will  see  him.'  I  said,  he  will 
be  here  in  a  day  or  two,  and  I  will  send  him  to  you." 

To  Horace  Greeley,  on  the  16th,  Mr.  Chase  wrote 

'•My  Dear  Sir:  Thanks  for  hooks  — ditto  for  promise  as  to 
notice  of  R.  J.  W.    Mean  to  find  time  to  read  former. 

''Was  in  New  York  during  most  of  the  daylight  of  Tuesday, 
Wednesday,  and  Thursday;  but  so  absolutely  the  prey  of  the  money 
folk,  that  t  had  only  time  for  one  glance  at  my  daughter.  So  did 
not  see  you;  though  I  wanted  to,  badly. 

"I  mean  to  go  in  for  a  foreign  loan  now,  though  it  galls  me.  If 
Congress  would  have  given  a  good  tax  law,  last  December,  and  we 
could  have  managed  to  get  along  without  the  great  bounties,  it  would 
not  have  been  necessary.  But  the  price  of  gold  must  and  shall 
come  down,  or  I'll  quit  and  let  somebody  else  try.  Oh  !  if  Congress 
would  only  see  and  act! 

"  Your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  loth  furnishes  this  suggestive  little  note: 

"  Dear  Hale  :  I  can  give  the  lady  you  recommend  a  place  if  she 
is  a  really  good  accountant  and  writer. 

"  There  are  places  for  two  such,  and  at  present  no  places  for  any 
others  I  am  sorry  to  say.  Your  friend, 

"  Hon.  John  P.  Hale.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Conversing  with  Chief  Justice  Chase,  on  the  subject  of  the  rela- 


604  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

tion  he,  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  had  borne  to  the  introduction 
of  woman's  work  into  the  Treasury  Department,  I  heard  from  him 
the  modest  statement,  that  he  could  not  possibly  see  how  that  matter 
was  of  any  special  credit  to  him. 

On  the  same  day,  the  President  wrote  to  Mr.  Chase  as  follows  : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  The  Governor  of  Iowa  and  some  of  the  M.  C's 
have  [given  me]  a  little  embarrassment  about  the  removal  of  a  Mr. 
Atkinson,  in  your  department,  and  the  appointment  to  the  place  of  a 
Mr.  Sill,  I  think.  They  claim  a  promise,  which  I  know  I  never 
made,  except  upon  the  condition  that  you  desired  the  removal  of 
Atkinson.  Please  help  me  a  little.  If  you  will  write  me  a  note  that 
you  do  not  wish  Atkinson  removed,  that  will  end  the  matter.  On 
the  contrary,  if  you  do  wish  him  removed,  or  even  are  indifferent 
about  it,  say  so  to  me,  accompanying  your  note  with  a  nomination 
for  Sill.  Yours  truly, 

"A.  LINCOLN." 

Under  date  June  28,  a  register  contains  this  entry: 

"  The  auditor,  Mr.  Atkinson,  resigned  to-day..  Mr.  Sill,  of  Iowa, 
is  to  take  his  place.  Mr.  Atkinson  has  been  an  excellent  officer,  but 
has  been  much  distrusted  by  our  friends  on  account  of  his  politics. 
I  advised  him  to  resign,  therefore,  proposing  to  use  his  services  in 
another  place  where  the  same  hostility  is  not  manifest.  His  health, 
too,  requires  a  change.     Hence  his  resignation." 

June  16,  Mr.  Chase  wrote  as  follows  to  Mrs.  C.  L.  Jones : 

'•  My  Dear  Charlotte  :  You  don't  know  how  impossible  it  is  for 
me  to  keep  the  track  of  our  dear  brothers  Ben  and  Israel.  They  are 
soldiers,  and  must  take  their  share  of  trials  and  dangers  bravely,  and 
we  must  hope  the  best  while  praying  for  them  and  our  country. 

li  I  want  Nettie  to  go  West  and  see  you  all,  but  some  how  the  time 
never  comes.     Let  us  hope  it  may. 

"  Love  to  your  dear  ones.  Yours  affectionately, 

"S.  P.  CHASE." 

On  the  same  day,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Thomas  Heaton,  of  Cincin- 
nati, said  our  hero  : 

"  I  have  your  letter  making  some  financial  suggestions.  I  wish 
you  were  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Perhaps  you  would  find  that 
some  tilings  which  look  very  feasible  and  very  expedient  in  Cincin- 
nati are  wholly  impracticable  in  Washington,  and  that — but  I  have 
not  time  for  such  things." 

The  same  day  we  have  a  letter  to  Colonel  Bannister,  saying: 

"Whatever  people  may  think,  it  is  a  real  relief  to  me  to  be  free  from  the 
annoyance  of  a  canvass,  with  a  personal  interest  in  the  result. 

"  Yesterday  I  went  to  Fort  Pichardson,  over  the  Long  Bridge,  to 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  G05 

see  our  noble  boys  in  Blake's  regiment.  It  did  me  good  to  be  with 
them,  and  yet  my  heart  ached  to  think  what  it  cost  the  country  to 
send  such  young  men  to  war — even  the  outside  of  war.  They  Beemed 
very  glad  to  sec  me.  Wo  are  all  looking  for  news  from  Grant.  May 
God  give  him  victory."  ' 

Next  day  yields  this  note : 

"  Dear  Sir:  Yours  of  the  12th  is  just  received.  I  wish  Congress 
had  the  courage  to  adopt  your  patriotic  suggestion  ;  and  will  refer 
your  letter  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Military  Affairs. 

"Yours  very  truly, 

"  Dr.  J.  H.  Pulte,2  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

And  now  we  begin  to  see  the  clear  beginning  of  the  end  of  our 
hero's  life  as  financier.     This  note  is  dated  June  20 : 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  Will  you  accept  the  office  of  Assistant  Treasurer? 
There  it  is — right  out. 

"Governor  Morgan  and  I  have  talked  this  matter  over,  and  have 
concluded  that  the  appointment  is  one  fit  to  be  made;  and  will  both 
be  gratified  if  }*ou  think  it  is  one  fit  to  accept. 

"  Your  friend 

"  Denning  Duer,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Here  is  another  letter  to  the  President : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  June  20,  1864. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  inclose  a  letter  sent  to  Mr.  Fessenden  to-day. 
You  will  appreciate  the  importance  of  the  statements  it  makes.  I 
do  not  know  that  you  can  do  anything  to  induce  the  Committee  to 
report  adequate  taxes ;  but  am  sure  you  will  if  you  can.  Mr.  Fess- 
enden and  Mr.  Howe  are  the  Union  members  of  the  Conference  Com- 
mittee on  the  part  of  the  Senate,  and  Mr.  Hooper  and  Mr.  Morrill  on 
the  part  of  the  House.  The  whisky  tax  should  be  at  least  two  dol- 
lars per  gallon,  and  go  into  effect  at  once.     Yours  truly, 

"  The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


xOf  the  same  date  is  the  following  : 

"My  Dear  Judge:  I  shall  willingly  receive  any  suggestions  from  you.  Your 
steady  support  of  the  principles  I  have  ever  advocated,  and  support  of  me  in  my 
maintenance  of  them,  entitles  you  to  my  best  wishes,  and,  were  I  in  your  district, 
as  a  private  citizen,  you  would  have  my  support  for  nomination,  without,  however, 
any  question  of  the  merits  of  your  competitors.  In  my  position  here,  however,  I  can 
not  take  part  in  political  contests  in  Ohio  among  the  friends  of  our  common  cause; 
nor  can  any  officer  of  this  department  properly  do  so  otherwise  than  as  individual 
citizens.  The  President  would  never  sanction  any  use  of  patronage  to  defeat  one 
friend  of  the  cause  in  a  fair  contest  with  another.  Truly  yours, 

"Hon.  Wm.  Lawrence.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

"Your  letter  for  Crooke  is  just  received.  I  believe  I  received  his  application  as 
brigadier,  and  shall  cheerfully  do  the  little  I  can  to  have  him  appointed  major-gen- 
eral.    He  deserves  it." 

2  Dr.  Pulte  is  the  homeopathic  doctor  mentioned  in  another  chapter,  post. 


GOG  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

To  F.  Kuhne,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  June  21,  the  Secretary  wrote 
as  follows: 

"  Dear  Sir  :  On  receiving  your  telegram  I  felt  much  disposed  to 
go  to  New  York  to-night;  but  the  great  importance  of  the  matters 
pending  in  Congress,  and  the  absolute  necessity  of  giving  them  per- 
sonal attention,  makes  it  impossible  for  me  to  do  so  without  more 
loss  than  gain. 

"  There  is  not  the  slightest  reason  for  any  rise  in  the  price  of  gold, 
cither  in  the  financial  or  military  situation.  The  currency  is  much 
less  than  it  has  been  at  any  time  for  three  months,  and  Grant  is,  I 
think,  surely  moving  toward  the  final  defeat  of  the  rebellion  concen- 
trated at  Richmond.  It  is  a  great  work  ;  but  it  is  in  the  hands  of  an 
able  leader  and  brave  troops,  and,  with  God's  blessing,  will  be  accom- 
plished.    There  is  every  reason  for  hope  and  none  for  despair. 

"I  have  written  to  Mr.  Cisco,  and  also  to  Mr.  Cooke,  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  have  authorized  them  to  take  whatever  measures  in  their 
judgment  are  best  calculated  for  the  public  interest.  I  shall  be  pre- 
pared to  enter  actively  upon  the  subject  of  a  foreign  loan  as  soon  as 
the  bill  shall  have  passed." 

Of  the  same  date  is  the  following  letter  to  Jay  Cooke,  Esq.: 

"  The  Treasurer  and  Assistant-Treasurer  are  authorized  to  receive 
subscriptions  for  1881  bonds  at  six  per  cent,  premium.  They  can 
supply  purchasers  for  resale  at  J-. 

"Your  suggestion,  through  Mr.  Moorhead,  to  offer  the  untaken 
balance  of  loan,  say  $35,000,000,  to  competition,  not  admitting  any 
offer  of  less  than  5-^  premium,  and  giving  preference  to  successful 
subscribers  to  old  loan,  is  a  good  one  in  itself;  but  it  is  difficult  to 
see  how  it  can  be  practically  and  acceptably  carried  out.  I  would 
offer  the  balance  in  some  such  way,  were  I  sure  of  takers  before- 
hand ;  but  it  would  hurt  all  to  offer  and  fail. 

"The  rise  in  gold  is  alarming.  There  is  nothing  in  the  financial 
or  military  condition  to  warrant  it.  As  you  go  to  New  York  to- 
morrow, you  may  consider  yourself  authorized  to  take  such  measure, 
in  concert  with  Mr.  Cisco,  as  will  arrest  it.  If  a  foreign  loan  can  be 
negotiated  through  the  agency  of  Messrs.  Kuhne  and  Marx,  you 
may  arrange  all  the  preliminary  details,  to  be  submitted  to  me.  I 
will  do  anything  that  is  just  and  right  to  supply  all  the  foreign 
exchange  needed. 

"  I  can  not  well  leave  "Washington  till  the  Loan  Bill  shall  have 
passed.  This  maybe  to-morrow.  After  its  passage,  I  shall  not  lose 
a  moment.     Meantime  let  us  hope  for  good  tidings  from  Eichmond. 

"  I  am  sure  that  all  is  going  on  well  at  Richmond,  though  time  is 
needed.     Grant,  God  willing,  will  win."1 


1  In  a  letter  of  the  22d,  to  Mr.  Thomas  Heatom,  is  the  paragraph: 
"Reports  reach  me  that  our  young  friend,  Mullett,  has  been  indulging  in  pretty 
free  political  talk.     If  you  know  this  to  be  so  you  may  tell  him  /  have  heard  it,  and 
that  you  think  he  should  resign.     There  is  difficulty  between  him  and  Mr.  Rogers 
and  I  don't  want  to  have  any  question  between  them  added  to  my  cares." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  GOT 


J 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

THE    SECRETARY'S    RESIGNATION — CHASE    AND    LINCOLN. 

UNE  2-i  affords  this  record  of  most  anxious  thought: 


"  Another  anxious  day.  What  will  be  the  result  of  the  summer 
campaign?  Can  we  keep  Grant  and  Sherman  so  furnished  with  men 
and  means  that  they  can  inflict  decisive  blows  on  the  rebellion? 

"My  part  is  to  supply,  if  possible,  the  means;  and  where  am  I  to 
find  them?  The  currency  is  depreciated  less — though  much — by 
surcharge  than  b}'  the  distrust  which  seems  to  be  gradually  pervad- 
ing the  public  mind,  especially  the  mind  of  that  class  whose  conclu- 
sions— half  instinctive,  half  reasoned — determine  the  degree  of  con- 
fidence in  governments  and  institutions. 

"  Under  these  circumstances,  to  increase  the  circulation  will  merely 
aggravate  our  greatest  financial  evil — that  of  disordered  commerce 
and  prices  unnaturally  high  It  should  be  diminished  rather  than 
increased.     Can  this  be  done?   Not  without  large  taxes  or  large  loans. 

"A  committee  from  New  York,  introduced  by  Senator  Morgan, 
called  this  morning  to  urge  modification  or  repeal  of  the  Gold  Act. 
Their  arguments  should,  I  said,  be  addressed  to  Congress  rather  than 
to  me;  but  I  was  glad  to  hear  their  views.  Some,  especially  Mr. 
James  Brown,  of  Brown  Brothers  &  Co.,  Mr.  Hoffman,  of  Co  legate  & 
Hoffman.  Mr.  Ward,  of  Ward,  Campbell  &  Co.,  argued  for  repeal ;  if 
repeal  impossible,  for  modification.  Their  arguments  were  substan- 
tially these :  (1.)  Absolute  freedom  of  trade  secures  lowest  prices. 
True,  in  certain  conditions  of  market,  individuals  or  combinations 
may  monopolize  whole  supply  and  exact  their  own  prices  from  those 
who  must  have  the  article  monopolized,  as  gold,  for  example,  but 
this  evil  less  than  restrictive  regulation.  (2.)  Convenience  to  mer- 
chants of  public  sales  over  those  of  gold-gambling  rooms  as  giving  a 
standard  of  price.  The  complaints  of  practical  inconvenience  were 
principally  of  the  supposed  necessity-  to  pay  notes  in  hand  for  gold 
bought,  when  check  would  be  much  more  convenient;  and  of  the 
supposed  prohibition  against  buying  exchange  for  gold.  I  could  not 
see  that  license  to  gambling  was  essential  to  freedom  of  trade;  and 
said  that  under  the  act,  as  1  understood  it,  there  could  be  no  objec- 
tion to  public  sales;  or  to  the  use  of  checks  on  actual  deposits,  and 
paid  during  the  day,  to  direct  purchasers  of  exchange  for  gold.  One 
gentleman  suggested  that  Congress  should  expressly  authorize  loans 
of  gold  to  be  repaid  in  gold;  and  sales,  not  of  exchange  only,  but 
of  all  merchandize,  for  gold.  1  saw  no  objections  to  loans  of 
gold  for  gold ;  but  sales  such  as  proposed  would  repeal  the    legal 


G08  THE   PEIVATE    LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

tender  law.  The  conversation  was  good-tempered  on  both  sides,  and 
to  me  instructive. 

ft  The  Internal  Revenue  Bill  remains  with  the  Committee  of  Confer- 
ence, but  it  is  expected  that  they  will  report  to-morrow.  It  is  appre- 
hended that  the  bill  will  not  impose  taxes  enough  to  bring  the  resi- 
due of  expenses  within  the  reach  of  loans.  Mr.  Orton  came  to-night 
from  New  York  at  my  request;  and  will  devote  himself  to  careful 
examination  of  the  bill  and  amendments,  and  estimate  the  probable 
revenue  as  nearly  as  possible. 

"  Spent  some  time  with  Mr.  Taylor,  who,  by  my  direction,  has 
been  engaged  in  preparing  a  bill,  or  measure,  to  authorize  the  sale 
of  gold  and  silver  lands.  I  can  not  but  think  that  fee  simple  titles 
in  mines  will  tend  powerfully  to  their  most  productive  working. 
He  has  conferred  with  Senator  Conness,  Commissioner  Edwards,  and 
others,  and  has  finally  prepared  a  bill,  which  seems  to  me  adequate. 
I  directed  him  to  put  it  into  the  form  of  a  section  to  be  added,  by 
way  of  amendment,  to  a  bill  authorizing  the  sales  of  lands  embracing 
coal  mines,  which  has  passed  the  Senate  and  is  in  the  House. 
This  was  done,  and  I  prepared  letters  to  Mr.  Julian,  Chairman  of 
the  Public  Lands  Committee,  and  Senator  Conness;  and  instructed 
Mr.  Taylor  to  confer  with  Senator  C and  the  California  delega- 
tion, and,  if  they  approved  the  amendment,  to  Mr.  Julian,  and  try  to 
have  the  bill  adopted.  If  the  measure  succeeds  it  will  work  quite  a 
revolution.1 

June  25,  1864,  Secretary  Cnase  wrote  as  follows  : 

Dear  Sir:  Since  receiving  your  letter  of  the  10th  of  June,  I 
have  been  endeavoring  to  find  some  successor  of  Mr.  Cisco,  equal  to 
the  place,  and  possessed  of  the  entire  confidence  of  the  public.  As 
yet  I  have  been  unsuccessful,  and,  in  conversation  with  Senator 
Morgan  on  the  subject,  he  agreed  to  write  you,  urging  your  recon- 
sideration of  your  declension.  I  have  also  written  to  Mr.  Cisco  ex- 
pressing my  sentiments.  Let  me  urge  you  to  reconsider  your  con- 
clusion, and  let  your  country,  in  this  exigency,  have  the  benefit  of 
your  services.  Very  truly  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  John  A.  Stewart,  Esq.,  U.  S.  Trust  Co.,  48  Wall  St.,  N.  Y."2 


laNote"  (by  Mr.  Chase). — "The  amendment  was  approved  and  came  very  near 
success.  It  is  possible,  had  not  the  necessity  of  my  resignation  arisen,  I  might 
have  carried  it  through.  It  will  probably  engage  the  attention  of  Congress  at  the 
next  session,  and  become  a  law.' 

20f  the  same  date  is  the  following : 

'•  My  Dear  Sir:  I  have  inclosed  to  Mr.  Stevens,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  Ways  and  Means,  the  bill  of  which  I  spoke  to  you  last  evening.  Under  it,  if 
passed,  an  effectual  check  can  be  put  upon  fraudulent  speculation  ;  the  care  of 
abandoned  plantations,  and  of  the  freedmen,  can  be  well  provided  for,  and  large 
amounts  of  money  can  be  secured  to  the  Government  without  any  charge  whatever 
to  the  Treasury. 

"In  the  present  condition  of  our  finances,  such  a  bill  becomes  more  than  ever 
important.  If  it  had  been  in  force  during  the  past  year,  a  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  could  have  been  saved  to  the  Treasury ;  at  least  fifty  millions  of  exchange 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  GOO 

Sunday,  June  26,  the  diary  of  Secretary  Chase  received  this  ad- 
dition : 

"This  day  was  given  to  what  seemed  necessary  labor.  It  was  ex- 
tremely important  to  know  whether  a  gentleman,  invited  to  accept 
the  Assistant- Treaeurship,  at  New  York,  would  consent  to  do  so,  and 
to  set  in  motion  the  advertising  for  the  new  loan,  and  to  prepare  for 
an  appeal  to  Congress  to  make  up  the  deficiencies  in  taxes.  The  day 
was  therefore  mainly  devoted  to  these  objects.  Dr.  Elder  came  in 
and  dined  with  me;  no  one  at  home  besides  myself. 

Dr.  Elder,  the  biographer  of  Dr.  Kane,  was  a  great  favorite 
with  Mr.  Chase. 

The  next  day  Mr.  Chase  called  on  Senator  Morgan  to  consult 
about  Assistant-Treasurer  at  New  York,  and  told  him  that  he  had 
concluded  to  recommend  Mr.  Field.  The  Senator  thought  the 
Secretary  had  better  name  Mr.  Gregory  or  Mr.  Blatchford.  Mr. 
Chase  replied  that  either  gentleman  would  be  entirely  acceptable  to 
him  personally,  but  he  thought  the  public  interests  would,  on  the 
whole,  be  best  consulted  by  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Field.  Mr. 
Morgan  said  that  Mr.  Jones,  of  Brooklyn,  Chairman  of  the  Union 
Committee,  had  brought  a  list  of  clerks  and  officers  under  Mr.  Cisco, 
and  that  there  was  but  some  half  dozen  Union  men  among  them, 
all  the  rest  being  Democrats. 

Having  so  stated,  the  diary  proceeds  as  follows  : 

"  I  replied  that  I  thought  the  statement  erroneous,  and  that  on 
fair  inquiry,  it  would  be  found  that  of  the  persons  called  Democrats 
the  largest  proportion  are  of  the  same  class  with  Andrew  Johnson." 

How  queerly  that  reads  now,  after  all  that  has  since  happened, 
including,  prominently,  the  impeachment  of  that  same  Andrew 
Johnson  in  a  court  in  which  Chase  presided! 

But  the  diary  proceeds  to  say : 

"At  the  department;  Mr.  Freeman  Clarke  called,  and  I  talked  the 
matter  over  with  him.  He  seemed  to  prefer  Mr.  Field.  I  told  him 
if  he  would  take  it.  I  would  send  his  name  to  the  President  at  once. 
He  said  his  health  would  not  allow  him  to  do  so,  and  if  it  would  he 
could  not  do  so  on  other  grounds.  I  asked  him  to  confer  with  the 
Senators  and  report,  telling  him  I  must  decide  to-day.  Having 
waited  to  hear  from  him  till  about  four,  and  having  meantime  con- 
ferred fully  with  Mr.  Field,  whom  I  found  even  a  more  decided  sup- 


in  Europe  could  have  been  provided,  and  severe  military  disasters  would  have  been 
averted.  "Yours  truly, 

"Ho.v.  R.  E.  Fenton,  H.  R.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


610  THE   PRIVATE  LIFE  and  public  services 

porter  of  the  administration  than  Johnson  was  at  the  time  of  his 
nomination,  I  went  to  the  Capitol  to  see  him.  He  was  neither  in 
the  Eouse  oor  Senate,  and  I  then  sent  to  the  department,  thinking 
that,  in  the  meantime,  he  might  have  gone  thither.  The  messenger 
returned,  reporting  that  he  had  not  been  there,  and  I  at  once  sent  Mr. 
Field's  name  to  the  President,  about  half  past  four. 

"In  the  course  of  the  morning,  Mr.  Orton,  whom  I  had  summoned 
from  New  York  to  examine  the  Internal  Revenue  Bill,  and  ascertain 
what  revenue  might  be  expected,  and  to  give  me  also  his  judgment 
as  to  the  sources  "from  which  the  deficiency,  if  any,  might  be  caused, 
made  his  report.  He  estimated  the  net  product  at  2  7-10  mills  for 
the  next  fiscal  year,  and  submitted  a  paper,  showing  how  the  de- 
ficiency of  eighty  millions  could  be  made  up.  I  directed  him  to 
have  a  hill  prepared  for  the  taxes  suggested  by  him.  I  have  repeat- 
edly argued  to  Committee  and  the  President  that  we  can  not  well 
sustain  the  existing  somewhat  reduced  rate  of  expenditure  without  a 
revenue  from  taxes  and  duties  of  8400.000,000.  In  a  recent  letter  upon 
the  assumption,  admitted  to  be  improbable,  that  expenditures  might 
be  reduced  to  8750,000,000,  I  forced  the  amount  with  which  we  might 
get  along,  at  one-half  or  8375,000,000.  I  mean  to  send  the  bill  for 
the  additional  taxes  to  Congress  and  the  President,  and  insist  on  it. 

"These  are  the  most  important  matters  of  the  day.  Talk  about 
trade  regulations,  various  applications  for  permits  and  positions, 
revision  of  Sprague's  proposed  remarks  about  Blair's  charge  against 
him  of  cotton  speculations,  correspondence  and  conversation  about 
Gold  Bill,  occupied  most  of  the  day. 

"One  thing  merits  record.  Having  received  a  telegram  from  Mr. 
Barney  about  6  p.  M.,  inquiring  when  the  operation  of  the  joint  i*eso- 
lution,  increasing  duties  for  sixty  days  would  cease,  and  having  sat- 
isfied myself  that,  on  the  construction  already  given,  that  it  took 
effect  on  the  day  of  its  approval,  it  would  cease  to-da}T  at  midnight, 
I  conferred  with  Mr.  Hooper,  who  happened  to  be  with  me,  and 
having  ascertained  that  Congress  had  taken  no  step  to  extend  its 
operation,  except  to  put  such  a  provision  in  the  tariff  bill,  not  }*et 
passed,  requested  him  to  introduce  a  joint  resolution  to  extend  the 
time  till  the  first  of  July.  He  drew  one  immediately,  and  promised. 
The  result  was  the  introduction  of  this  joint  resolution — its  passage 
through  the  House  and  Senate — its  approval  by  the  Senate,1  and  its 
communication  by  telegraph  to  all  the  collectors  before  midnight."2 


2The  following  letters  are  of  interest  in  this  connection : 

"Washington,  D.  C,  June  26,  1864. 

"My  Dbab  Sir:  Senator  Morgan  promised  me  yesterday  or  the  day  before,  that 
he  would  write  to  Mr.  Stewart,  urging  him  to  accept  the  post  as  Assistant-Treasurer 
so  soon  to  he  vacated  by  you.  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  has  done  so.  Please  see  him 
immediately,  and  second  Senator  Morgan's  endeavor.  I  should  feel  safe  with  him, 
and  know  not  with  whom  else  I  should  feel  safe,  or  at  least  so  safe.  Let  me  know 
the  result  by  telegraph  to-morrow,  that  1  may  be   able  to  act  definitely  on  Monday. 

"I  see  the  Evening  Post  admits  articles  of  the  worst  sort  against  my  acts.  It  may 
be  wise   and   right  to  do  so,  but  I  can  not  see  it.      Much  of  the  representation  is 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    I  BASE.  till 

Next,  this  letter  from  the  President  demands  attention  : 

"  Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  June  28,  1864. 
uE6n  Secretary  of  the  Treasury: 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Yours,  inclosing  a  blank  nomination  for  Maun  - 
sell  B.  Field,  to  be  A-Ssistant-Treasnrer  at  New  York,  waa  received 
yesterday.  I  ran  not,  without  much  embarrassment,  make  this  ap- 
pointment, principally  because  of  Senator  Morgan's  very  firm  oppo- 
sition to  it.  Senator  Harris  has  not  yet  spoken  to  me  on  the  subject, 
though  I  understand  he  is  not  averse  to  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Field  ;  nor  yet  to  any  one  of  the  three  named  by  Senator  Morgan, 
rather  preferring  of  them,  however.  Mr.  Hillhouse.  Governor  Mor- 
gan tells  me  he  has  mentioned  the  three  names  to  you,  to-wit :  E. 
M.  Blatchford,  Dudley  S.  Gregory,  and  Thomas  Hi  11  house.  It  will 
really  oblige  me  if*  you  -will  make  choice  among  those  three,  or  any 
other  man  that  Senators  Morgan  and  Harris  will  be  satisfied  with, 
and  send  me  a  nomination  for  him. 

"  Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN." 

Here  is  a  telegram  of  special  interest  to  us  at  present: 

"Washington,  D.  C,  June  28,  1864. 

"Let  me  urge  you,  respectfully  but  earnestly,  to  withdraw  your 
resignation,  and  give  the  country  the  benefit  of  your  Bervices  at  least 
one  quarter  longer.  Let  nothing  except  the  absolute  requirements 
of  your  health  prevent  your  consent.  S.  P.  CHASE. 

-■John  J.  Cisco,  Esq.,  Assistant-Treasurer,  New  York. 

••  To  be  delivered  at  office  or  residence  immediately.-' 


hearsay  and  false,  and  the  inferences  are   no  better  than  the  premises.      But  it   is 
vain  to  expect  justice.  Yours  truly, 

"John  J.  Cisco  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE.-' 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  June  26,  1864. 

"  Mi  Dear  Sir  :  I  inclose  a  couple  of  slips,  one  from  an  editorial  of  the  Evening 
Post,  and  the  other  from  an  article  admitted  into  its  columns,  with  some  notes  on 
the  last. 

"For  good-tempered,  practical  criticism  I  am  always  grateful,  and  even  from  ill- 
tempered  I  try  to  draw  lessons.  Such  articles  as  that  of  the  "Loyal  Private  Banker'' 
belong  to  neither  class.  Made  up  of  false  and  distorted  statements  of  facts,  and 
gross  imputations  of  dishonest  and  dishonorable  motives,  they  derive  their  only 
claim  to  consideration  from  admission  into  such  papers  as  the  Evening  Poet. 

"I  think  that  under  the  circumstances  I  ought  to  know  the  name  of  the  writer- 
I  especially  desire  it,  that  I  may  not  impute  his  calumnies,  even  in  thought  to  the 
wrong  person.     If  you  do  not  dissent  from  this  view,  will  you  give  it  to  me? 

"There  is  One  who  knows  with  what  fidelity  I  have  endeavored  to  serve  this 
country ;  with  what  anxiety  to  know  and  to  do  what  is  best  for  the  people,  and  with 
what  absolute  disregard  of  personal  and  private  considerations.  With  Him  I  dare 
trust  my  cause.  Yours  very  truly, 

'•  Wm.  C.  Bryant,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

40 


612  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

The  same  clay,  the  diary  reports  as  follows  : 

"How  beautiful  and  excellent  is  the  order  and  progress  which  St: 
Paul  enjoins  and  illustrates  in  his  letter  to  the  Ephesians!  Oh!  if 
the  world  could  but  learn  that  lesson,  how  anxieties  and  perplexities 
would  lighten  and  pass  away  with  the  clashes  and  jars  and  wars 
which  bring  them.  May  God,  in  His  infinite  mercy,  send  us  peace, 
with  Union  and  freedom. 

"  This  morning  I  read  part  of  Paul  to  the  Ephesians,  and,  as  usual, 
endeavored  to  seek  God  in  prayer.  Oh,  for  more  faith  and  clearer 
Bight  !  How  stable  is  the  City  of  God!  How  disordered  is  the  City 
of  .Man  ! 

"At  the  department  received  a  note  from  the  President,  saying 
that  Senator  Morgan  strongly  opposed  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Field 
in  place  of  Mr.  Cisco.  Replied,  asking  an  interview,  but  received  no 
answer.  He  may  not  wish  one  ;  or,  what  is  more  probable,  allows 
himself  to  forget  the  request.  He  asks  the  nomination  of  R.  S. 
Blatchford  or  Dudley  S.  Gregory,  neither  of  whom,  I  fear,  is  the 
proper  man  to  take  charge  of  the  office  at  this  critical  juncture, 
though  either  would  be  entirely  acceptable  to  me  personally.  I  fear 
Senator  Morgan  desires  to  make  a  political  engine  of  the  office,  and 
loses  sight,  in  this  desire,  of  the  necessities  of  the  service. 

"Received  a  note  from  Senator  Morrill,  informing  me  that  the 
Trade  Bill  has  passed  the  Senate,  and  from  Mr.  Hooper  that  the 
Loan  Bill  passed  the  House  by  concurrence  in  all  the  Senate  amend- 
ments. He  had  vainly  endeavored  to  procure  a  modification  of  one, 
so  as  to  let  the  Government  pay  for  stock  used  in  engraving  its  notes, 
instead  of  allowing  the  same  stock  to  be  used  in  preparation  of  other 
circulation,  and  exclude  the  use  of  green  pigment  from  all  notes  and 
bonds,  letting  Government  remunerate  any  patentee.  Congress  pre- 
ferred to  risk  the  evils  to  the  national  note  circulation. 

"Went  to  House,  and  talked  with  Mr.  Hooper  and  Mr.  Washburne 
about  Trade  Bill,  and  urged  importance  of  it.  I  do  this  reluctantly, 
because  of  the  labor  it  will  impose  on  me,  and  because  of  the  odium 
which  its  interference  with  private  speculations  and  naval  enterprise 
will  be  sure  to  excite  against  me.  I  wish  we  could  have  good  com- 
missioners to  manage,  these  things,  and  also  loans.  But  the  Presi- 
dent would  almost  certainly  put  in  men  from  political  considerations, 
and,  after  all,  the  responsibility  would  still  be  on  me. 

"  Returning  to  department,  conferred  with  Mr.  Orton  and  Acting- 
Commissioner  Rollins  (Int.  Rev.)  about  Supplementary  Tax  Bill. 
Both  agreed  that  the  revenue  for  fiscal  year,  commencing  next  Friday, 
would  not  exceed  two  hundred  and  twenty  or  two  hundred  and 
twenty-five  millions;  whereas  three  hundred  millions  at  least  is 
necessary.  In  accordance  with  my  instructions  they  had  prepared  a 
new  hill,  which,  with  their  statements  and  a  letter  of  my  own,  I  pro- 
pose to  send  to  Congress  to-morrow — another  great  and  painful 
responsibility! 

"Telegraphed  Mr.  Cisco,  urging  him  to  withdraw  resignation,  and 
serve  at  least  another  quarter,  and  wrote  to  President  what  I  had 
done,  and  why  I  could  not  honestly,  in  duty  to  him  or  to  the  country, 
recommend  at  this  time  either  of  the  names  he  had  suggested. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND     CHASE.  613 

"In  the  evening  went  up  to  the  Capitol.  The  Senate  was  holding 
an  evening  session,  and  Garrett  Davis  was  making  a  rambling,  vio- 
lent speech  for  slavery,  abusing  the  President,  against  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau  Bill,  then  under  consideration.  Talked  to  some  of  the 
Senators;  found  that  the  House  was  not  in  session,  and  so  came 
home." 

Here  are  two  documents  of  cognate  interest : 

[Private.] 

"Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  D.  C,  June  28,  1864. 
"  Hon.  Secretary  of  Treasury  : 

•My  I>earSir:  When  I  received  your  note  this  forenoon,  sug- 
gesting a  conversation — a  verbal  conversation — in  relation  to  the 
appointment  of  a  successor  to  Mr.  Cisco,  I  hesitated,  because  the  dif- 
ficulty does  not,  in  the  main  part,  lie  within  the  range  of  a  conversa- 
tion between  you  and  me.  As  the  proverb  goes,  no  man  knows  so 
well  where  the  shoe  pinches  as  he  who  wears  it.  I  do  not  think  Mr. 
Field  a  very  proper  man  for  the  place  ;  but  I  would  trust  your  judg- 
ment, and  forego  this,  were  the  greater  difficulty  out  of  the  way. 
Much  as  I  personally  like  Mr.  Barney,  it  has  been  a  great  burden  to 
me  to  retain  him  in  his  place,  when  nearly  all  our  friends  in  New- 
York  were,  directly  or  indirectly,  urging  his  removal.  Then  the  ap- 
pointment of  Hogeboom  to  be  General  Appraiser,  brought  me  to, 
and  has  ever  since  kept  me,  at,  the  verge  of  open  revolt.  Now, 
the  appointment  of  Mr.  Field  would  precipitate  in  it,  unless  Senator 
Morgan,  and  those  feeling  as  he  does,  could  be  brought  to  concur  in 
it.  Strained  as  I  already  am  at  this  point,  I  do  not  think  I  can  make 
this  appointment  in  the  direction  of  still  greater  strain. 

"  The  testimonials  of  Mr.  Field,  with  your  accompanjdng  notes, 
were  duly  received,  and  I  am  now  waiting  to  see  your  answer  from 
Mr.  Cisco.  Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN." 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  June  29,  1864. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  I  have  received  }'our  note  and  have  read  it  with 
great  attention.  I  was  not  aware  of  the  extent  of  the  embarrasment 
to  which  3"ou  refer.  In  recommendations  for  office  I  have  sincerely 
sought  to  get  the  best  men  for  the  places  to  be  filled  without  refer- 
ence to  any  other  classification  than  supporters  and  opponents  of 
your  administration.  Of  the  latter  I  have  recommended  none ; 
among  the  former  I  have  desired  to  know  no  distinction  except 
degrees  of  fitness. 

"  The  withdrawal  of  Mr.  Cisco's  resignation,  which  I  inclose,  relieves 
the  present  difficulty  ;  but  I  can  not  help  feeling  that  my  position 
here  is  not  altogether  agreeable  to  you  ;  and  it  is  certainly  too  full  of 
embarrassment  and  difficulty  and  painful  responsibility,  to  allow  in 
me  the  least  desire  to  retain  it. 

"  I  think  it  my  duty,  therefore,  to  inclose  to  you  my  resignation. 
I  shall  regard  it  as  a  real  relief  if  you  think  proper  to  accept  it,  and 
will  most  cheerfully  render  to  my  successor  any  aid  he  may  find  use- 
ful in  entering  upon  his  duties. 

"With  the  greatest  respect,  yours  truly, 

"  The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


614  THE    PRIVATE     LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

I  next  invite  attention  to  a  capitally  interesting  document: 

"Washington,  D.  O,  June  29,  1864. 
"  Sir  :     I  respectfully  resign  the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
-which  I  have  the  honor  to  hold  under  your  appointment. 
"  With  greatest  respect, 
"  The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  letter  of  the  President,  accepting  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Chase, 
is  dated  June  30,  and  it  reads  as  follows  : 

"  Hon.  Salmon  P.  Chase: 

li  My  Dear  Sir:  Your  resignation  of  the  office  of  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  sent  me  yesterday,  is  accepted.  Of  all  I  have  said 
in  commendation  of  your  ability  and  fidelity  I  have  nothing  to 
unsay;  and  yet  you  and  I  have  reached  a  point  of  mutual  embarrass- 
ment in  our  official  relations  which  it  seems  can  not  be  overcome  or 
longer  sustained  consistently  with  the  public  service. 
"Your  obedient  servant, 

"A.  LINCOLN."1 


'Now,  I  must  again  invite  attention  to  that  book  of  Mr.  Field,  entitled  Memories 
of  Many  Men  and  of  Some  Women.     It  begins,  page  296,  a  chapter  in  this  fashion  : 

"  A  correct  version  of  the  circumstances  which  induced  and  accompanied  Mr. 
Chase's  withdrawal  from  Mr.  Lincoln's  Cabinet  has  never,  to  my  knowledge,  been 
given  to  the  public.  About  the  first  of  June,  1864,  Mr.  Cisco  tendered  to  the  Presi- 
dent, through  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  his  peremptory  resignation  of  the  office 
of  Assistant  Treasurer  of  the  United  States  at  New  York,  to  take  effect  immediately 
after  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year,  viz.,  on  the  1st  of  July.  Efforts  were  unsuccess- 
fully made  to  induce  him  to  withdraw  it,  and  it  then  became  necessary  to  find 
somebody  to  take  his  place.  A  furious  competition  for  the  office  immediately  sprang 
up.  Mr.  Chase,  after  a  few  days,  went  to  New  York,  where  he  remained  sometime. 
He  offered  the  position  to  three  leading  bankers,  but  they  declined  it.  He  then  re- 
turned to  Washington,  and  remained  inactive  upon  the  subject  until  very  late  in  the 
mouth.  One  morning  he  sent  for  me,  and  told  me  that  he  had  some  time  before 
decided  to  nominate  me  to  the  President;  but  that,  equally  to  his  surprise  and  regret, 
a  gentleman  of  high  position  and  great  influence  had  called  upon  him  and  objected 
to  the  nomination..  However,  he  had  ordered  his  carriage  and  intended  to  go 
directly  lo  the  Senate,  and  canvass  that  body  on  the  subject;  and,  if  he  found  that 
I  would  be  confirmed,  he  would  send  my  name  to  the  President  that  very  afternoon. 
In  conclusion  he  desired  me  to  call  at  his  house."     Page  296. 

The  narrative  of  Mr.  Field  ambles  forward  in  this  fashion  : 

"Accordingly,  at  the  appointed  time,  I  went  there.  Mr.  Chase  told  me  that  he 
had  spent  two  hours  upon  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  and  that  he  thought  I  would  be 
unanimously  confirmed;  that  even  the  gentleman  who  opposed  me  would  not,  he 
believed,  carry  his  opposition  so  far  as  to  vote  against  my  confirmation.  I  thus 
knew  that  the  gentleman  to  whom  he  had  referred  in  the  morning  was  a  senator, 
and  I  fancied  that  he  must  be  a  senator  from  New  York.     As  I  was  acquainted  with 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  Olo 

According  to  Mr.  Maunsell  B.  Field  himself,  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  a 
conversation  with  him  in  1864,  gave  a  very  characteristic  account  of 
his  reasons  for  not  making  Mr.  Field  the  Right  Arm  of  our  hero. 
I  confess,  I  turned  with  something  quite  like  eagerness  to  the  pages 
in  Memories  of  Many  Men  and  of  Some  Women  in  which  that  con- 
versation is  reported  by  our  "Cabinet  Smasher."1 

Mr.  Field's  account  of  what  Lincoln  said  to  him  about  thai  mat- 
ter is,  in  the  first  place,  mere  hearsay.  J  low  all  hearsay  is  to  be 
regarded  who  has  yet  to  learn?  Moreover,  we  have  already  sen 
that  Mr.  Field  is  evidently  not  a  person  fondly  in  love  with  accu- 
racy. Xextly,  Mr.  Field  is  clearly  interested  in  the  statement  here 
in  question. 


the  favorable  disposition  of  one  of  them  toward  me,  I  had  no  difficult}'  in  conclud- 
ing in  my  own  mind  who  it  was  that  was  hostile  to  my  nomination.  Mr.  Chase  had 
already  sent  my  name  to  the  President,  and  he  desired  me  to  leave  for  New  York 
that  very  evening,  so  as  to  arrange  for  my  official  bonds,  and  be  prepared  to  assume 
the  duties  of  the  office  on  the  1st  of  July.  I  objected  to  this  under  the  circum. 
stances  ;  but  I  promised  the  Secretary  that  I  would  take  my  departure  immediately 
after  Mr.  Lincoln  should  nominate  me  to  the  Senate." 

Then  we  have  a  statement  as  to  the  recommendation  of  our  author,  signed  by 
every  Union  member  of  the  Lower  House  from  the  State  of  New  York,  and  indorsed 
by  the  friendly  senator. 

Mr.  Field,  however,  was  not  nominated  to  the  Senate  on  that  day  !  The  next  day, 
he  says,  Mr.  Chase  again  sent  for  him,  and  told  him  about  a  letter  from  Mr.  Lincoln, 
expressing  the  latter's  disinclination  to  nominate  Mr.  Field  on  account  of  the  oppo- 
sition of  one  of  the  New  York  senators,  and  inviting  Mr.  Chase  to  a  conference 
upon  the  subject. 

"Mr.  Chase,  instead  of  calling,"  continues  Mr.  Field,  "replied  by  letter.  For 
several  days  communications  were  passing  between  him  and  the  President.  This 
correspondence,  however,  I  have  never  seen.  Finally,  one  day,  as  I  was  discharg- 
ing my  official  duties  as  usual,  with  the  room  full  of  people,  Mr.  Schuckers  rushed 
in,  and  whispered  in  my  ear, 'We  have  no  longer  a  Secretary ;  Mr.  Chase  has  re- 
signed, and  the  President  has  accepted  his  resignation!'  Thereupon,  I  went 
directly  to  Mr.  Chase,  and  asked  him  if  the  news  which  I  had  just  heard  was  true. 
He  answered  in  the  affirmative.  I  then  requested  his  permission  to  tender  my  own 
resignation  to  the  President." 

How  delicate,  how  sweet,  how  eminently  proper,  that  request  of  Mr.  Field  to  he 
permitted  to  tender  his  own  resignation  to  the  President !  Put  fate  was  not  in  favor 
of  that  tender  tendering  of  a  resignation.     Mr.  Field  subjoins: 

"He  told  me  that  such  action  would  look  factious  and  must  not  be  thought  of." 

.\miable  and  submissive  Mr.  Field  did  not  insist  on  laying  down  his  office.  He 
consented,  no  doubt  sighingly,  to  remain  in  place. 

111  The  afternoon  of  the  day  of  the  acceptance  of  Mr.  Chase's  resignation  I  was 
upon  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Representatives;  members  flocked  around  me,  eager 
for  information,  and  I  was  addressed  by  the  facetious  title  of  'Cabinet  Smasher.'" 
Tage  298. 


616  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

After  all,  however,  I  quite  willingly  give  him  the  benefit  of  this 
statement,  made  by  him  in  the  work  of  which  we  have  already 
more  than  once  admired  the  taking  title : 

•  Mr.  Chase  had  been  out  of  the  department  nearly  two  months, 
when  I  happened  to  be  spending  an  evening  with  Mr.  Seward.  In 
the  course  of  the  conversation,  t  referred  to  the  transaction  which 
had  resulted  in  an  exchange  of  the  Treasury  portfolio,  and  explained 
the  reasons  which  had  induced  Mr.  Lincoln  to  decline  nominating 
me  as  Assistant-Treasurer  at  New  York,  as  I  then  understood  them, 
viz.:  that  he  was  unwilling  to  appoint  to  so  important  an  office  one 
of  Democratic  antecedents  ;  that  he  had  recognized  the  propriety  of 
retaining  Mr.  Cisco,  notwithstanding  his  politics,  on  account  of  his 
eminent  services  before  and  since  the  war;  but  that  he  thought  that, 
if  a  change  was  to  be  made,  the  office  should  be  treated  as  strictly 
partv  property.  Mr.  Seward  assured  me  that  I  took  an  entirely 
erroneous  view  of  the  matter,  and  advised  me  to  seek  a  personal 
explanation  from  the  President.  I  asked  Mr.  Seward  to  have  a  pre- 
liminary talk  with  Lincoln  upon  the  subject,  which  he  kindly  prom- 
ised to  do.  I  may  here  observe  that  Mr.  Chase's  feeling  had  been 
that  the  Assistant-Treasurer  at  New  York  being  his  right  arm,1  he 
ought  not  to  be  interfered  with  in  making  such  a  selection. 

"  A  few  days  later  I  walked  over  to  the  Executive  Mansion  at 
about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  President's  ante-chamber 
was  crowded  with  people  awaiting  an  audience,  but " 

That  little  word,  but,  is  often  full  of  prophecy.  It  is  so  now. 
The  modest  narrative  of  Mr.  Field  goes  on  as  follows : 

"But  as  soon  as  Mr.  Lincoln  received  my  card  he  gave  orders  to 
admit  me.     I  expected  to  be  with    him  ten  minutes,  at  the  utmost, 

hut" 

But  again  !     A  still  liner  but,  at  that ;  for  Mr.  Field  has  forced 
himself  to  narrate  farther  in  this  fashion  : 
"  But  he  detained  me  nearly  two  hours." 

Detain  is  a  good  word.  Detain  me  is  a  good  phrase.  The  narra- 
tive proceeds  as  follows 

"The  interview  was,  altogether,  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
amusing  I  ever  had  in  my  life." 

Yet  Lincoln  had  no  French  !2  He  had  no  French,  and  yet  he  was 
amusing  to  our  traveled  author  !     Mr.  Field  proceeds: 

"  The  President  received  me  with  great  eordialit}^,  and  I  began  to 
repeat  to  him  substantially  what  I  had  said  to  Mr.  Seward.     He  lis- 


»0  modest  Maiuisell!     How  it  must  have  pained  thy  pen  to  write  those  words! 
2Ante,  page  405. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  (517 

tened  to  me  laughingly,  but  impatiently,  shaking  his  head  all  the 
time.  When  I  got  through,  ho  said:  'You  are  altogether  on  the 
wrong  track.  Why,  didn't  I  nominate,  as  Chase's  successor,  Dave 
Tod,  who  has  been  all  his  life  a  Democrat,  and  who  worked  and 
voted  for  Douglas  and  against  me?  No,  sir;  I  will  tell  you  all  about 
it.  The  Republican  party  in  your  State  is  divided  into  two  factions, 
and  I  can't  afford  to  quarrel  with  either  of  them.  By  accident, 
rather  than  by  any  design  of  mine,  the  Radicals  have  got  possession 
of  the  most  important  Federal  offices  in  New  York.  I  care  nothing 
whatever  about  3-our  personal  politics.  You  were  pressed  by  Mr. 
Chase  and  opposed  by  Senator .  Had  I,  under  these  circum- 
stances, consented  to  }Tour  appointment,  it  would  have  been  another 
Radical  triumph,  and  I  couldn't  afford  one.  That  is  all  there  is 
about  it,  so  far  as  you  are  concerned.'" 

It  occurs  to  me  that  Mr.  Maunsell  B.  Field  could  hardly  have 
seemed  to  Abraham  Lincoln  dexterous  enough  to  be  the  Right  Arm 
of  our  hero  as  a  financier. 

But  now  let  us  ascend  to  loftier  contemplations.  Under  date, 
June  30,  a  diary  of  Secretary  Chase  contains  this  language : 

"So  my  official  life  closes.  I  have  laid  broad  foundations.  Noth- 
ing but  wise  legislation,  and  especially  bold,  yet  judicious,  provision 
of  taxes,  with  fair  economy  in  administration,  and  energetic,  yet 
prudent,  military  action  (the  last  of  which  seems  to  be  evidenced 
by  the  position  of  Grant  at  the  head  of  our  armies — oh  !  may  he 
have  troops  and  supplies  enough  !)  seems  necessary  to  insure  com- 
plete success.  The  Insurrectionai-y  District  Trade  Bill  will  give  the 
departments  the  power  to  regulate  trade  more  efficiently  than  here- 
tofore, and  to  take  to  the  use  of  the  Government  the  profits  of  pur- 
chase and  sale  of  the  staples  of  the  rebel  States.  Not  only  can  many 
abuses  be  now  corrected,  but  a  pecuniary  benefit  can  be  derived  to 
the  Government  of  not  less,  I  think,  than  $25, 000,000.  The  Tax 
Bill,  it  is  true,  is  inadequate,  but  Congress  may  give  to  my  successor, 
under  the  alarm  created  hy  the  change,  what  would  not  be  yielded 
to  me;  and,  even  if  taxes  can  not  be  increased,  a  tolerable  showing 
can  be  made.  The  provisions  I  have  secured  with  so  much  difficulty 
in  the  Tax  Bill,  requiring  monthly  returns  of  banks  and  monthly 
collection  of  taxes,  and  high  taxes  on  excess  beyond  existing  circula- 
tion, or  any  circulation  beyond  ninety  per  cent,  of  capital,  will,  I 
think,  certainly  prevent  an  increase  of  bank-note  circulation,  and 
secure  some  slight  reduction.  This,  to  be  sure,  leaves  almost  the 
whole  burden  of  reduction  upon  loans ;  but  something,  at  least,  can 
be  done  in  this  way,  also,  for  the  next  six  months,  when  Congress  will 
have  been  again  in  session  a  month,  and  will  have  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  supply  what  is  now  lacking.  With  these  advantages,  and 
with  all  the  great  work  of  administration  already  inaugurated 
and  blocked  out,  and,  especially,  with  the  still  greater  advan- 
tage of  not  having  the  inside  and  outside  hostility  to  encoun- 
ter, which  I  have  been  obliged  to  meet,  my  successor,  I  think,  can 
get  on  pretty  well.     If  he  tails  anywhere,  without  his  own   fault,  it 


618  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

will  be  on  the  side  of  loans,  or  under  the  pressure  of  military  disas- 
ter What  I  can  do  to  help  him  I  will,  for  the  country's  sake,  most 
gladly." 

Here  is  the  language  of  an  interesting  letter  on  the  same  subject : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  June  30,  1864. 

■  My  Dear  Sir  :  I  felt  myself  bound  yesterday  to  send  my  resig- 
nation to  the  President.  It  would  have  been  grateful  to  me  to  be 
able  to  consult  you ;  but  I  feared  you  might  be  prompted  by  your 
generous  sentiments  to  take  some  step  injurious  to  the  country.  To- 
day  my  resignation  has  been  accepted;  and,  if  you  have  not  been  in- 
formed of  it,  it  is  due  to  you  that  I  should  give  3011  the  information 
as  soon  as  received  by  myself.  Yours  faithfully, 

•Hon.  E.  M.  Stanton.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Under  date  June  30,  Mr.  Chase  made  this  entry  in  his  diary  : 

'Among  those  who  called  during  the  day  was  Mr.  Hooper,  who 
related  a  conversation  with  the  President  some  days  ago,  in  which 
the  President  expressed  regret  that  our  relations  were  not  more  free 
from  embarrassment,  saying  that  when  I  came  to  see  him  he  felt 
awkward,  and  that  I  seemed  constrained.  At  the  same  time  he 
expressed  his  esteem  for  me,  and  said  that  he  had  intended,  in  case 
of  vacancy  in  the  Chief  Justiceship,  to  tender  it  to  me,  and  would 
now.  did  a  vacancy  exist.  This,  he  said,  he  remarked  to  show  his 
real  sentiments  toward  me;  for  he  remembered  that  not  long  after 
we  took  charge  of  the  Administration,  I  had  remarked  one  day  that 
I  preferred  judicial  to  administrative  office,  and  would  rather,  if  I 
could,  be  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States  than  hold  any  other 
position  that  could  be  given  me.  Mr.  Hooper  said  that  he  thought 
this  was  saiil  to  him  in  order  to  be  repeated  to  me,  and  that  he  had 
sought  an  opportunity  of  doing  so.  but  had  not  found  one.  I  said 
that  it  was  quite  possible,  had  any  such  expressions  of  good  will 
reached  me,  I  might,  before  the  present  difficulty  arose,  have  gone 
to  him  and  had  a  fresh  understanding,  which  would  have  prevented 
it;  but  I  did  not  now  see  how  I  could  change  my  position. 

''Indeed,  if  such  were  the  real  feelings  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  he  would 
hardly  have  refused  a  personal  interview  when  I  asked  it,  or  re- 
quired nic  to  consult  local  politicians  in  the  choice  of  an  officer  whose 
character  and  qualifications  were  so  vitally  important  to  the  depart- 
ment.  Besides,  I  did  not  see  how  I  could  carry  on  the  department 
without  more  means  than  Congress  was  likely  to  supply,  and  amid 
the  embarrassments  created  by  factious  hostility  within,  and  both 
factious  and  party  hostility  without  the  department." 

On  going  to  the  department,  June  30,  Mr.  Chase  found  that 
Mr.  Fessenden  had  been  there,  and  left  word  that  he  desired  to 
meet  the  former  at  the  Capitol.  So,  Mr.  Chase,  after  signing  a 
letter  to  the  President,  commending  to  his  attention  the  Secre- 
tary's letter  to  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means,  and  the  state- 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  619 

ments  and  estimates  of  Mr.  Orton,  went  to  the  Capitol.  Mr.  Fes- 
senden had  not  yet  returned  ;  but,  on  the  way,  Mr.  Chase  had 
read  a  letter  from  a  Mr.  Dole,  urging  the  repeal  of  the  Gold  Bill. 
This  letter  had  been  left  by  Mr.  Fessenden  for  perusal  by  Mr. 
Chase.  When  the  former  came  in,  he  and  the  Secretary  talked 
the  subject  over,  and  Mr.  Fessenden  desired  the  views  of  Mr. 
Chase. 

"  I  told  him."  says  the  latter  in  his  diary,  "  that  I  never  expected 
great  benefits  from  such  Legislation;  but  that  I  thought  it  hardly 
wise  to  yield  to  the  clamor  of  the  opponents  of  this  particular  act; 
that  the  rise  of  gold  did  not.  in  my  judgment,  come  from  this  law  as 
a  permanent  cause,  though  doubtless  its  tendency,  in  the  particular 
condition  of  the  market,  was  to  cause  a  rise  ;  and  that,  as  there  were 
no  probabilities  of  sales  in  it,  nothing  but  simple  restrictions  upon 
gambling,  and  restraint  of  operations  to  legitimate  channels,  I 
thought  it  best  to  let  it  alone  at  this  session  ;  but  should  be  entirely 
Satisfied  whatever  the  Committee  and  Congress  might  do. 

"Mr.  Morrill,  of  Vermont,"  continues  Mr.  Chase,  "came  in  during 
our  conversation,  and  spoke  of  the  proposition  I  had  made  to  in- 
crease taxes.  He  was  adverse  to  it.  In  his  opinion,  the  bill  already 
passed  would  yield  some  thirty-one  millions  more  than  Orton's  esti- 
mate. I  replied,  that,  admitting  there  might  be  such  improvement 
or  increase,  still  the  revenue  would  fall  far  short  of  half  the  expendi- 
ture, and  it  would  be  impossible  to  borrow  the  remainder  on  fair 
terms.  On  conversation  with  Mr.  Orton,  afterward,  I  found  that  Mr. 
Morrill  had  omitted  to  take  into  the  account  the  important  circum- 
stance that  the  increase  he  expects  will  not.  even  if  realized,  go  into 
the  next  fiscal  year,  but  into  the  year  following. 

"  While  we  were  talking,  a  messenger  came  in  to  summon  Mr.  Fes- 
senden to  the  Senate.  The  messenger  said  something  privately,  and 
he  [Mr.  Fessenden]  came  back  to  me,  saying,  'Have  you  resigned? 
I  am  called  to  the  Senate,  and  told  that  the  President  has  sent  in  the 
nomination  of  your  successor.'  I  told  him  I  had  tendered  my  resig- 
nation, but  had  not  been  informed  till  now  of  its  acceptance.  He 
expressed  his  surprise  and  disappointment,  and  we  parted,  lie  to  the 
Senate  and  I  to  the  department.  There  I  found  a  letter  from  the 
President,  accepting  my  resignation,  and  putting  the  acceptance  on 
the  ground  of  the  difference  between  us,  indicating  a  degree  of  em- 
barrassment in  our  official  relations  which  could  not  be  continued  or 
sustained  consistently  with  the  public  service.  I  had  found  a  good 
deal  of  embarrassment  from  him;  but  what  he  had  found  from  me  I 
could  not  imagine,  unless  it  has  been  caused  by  my  unwillingness  to 
have  offices  distributed  as  spoils  or  benefits,  with  more  regard  to  the 
claims  of  divisions,  factions,  cliques,  and  individuals,  than  to  fitness 
of  selection.  He  had  never  given  me  the  active  and  earnest  supj)ort  I 
was  entitUd  to  ;  and  even  now  Congress  was  about  to  adjourn  without 
passing  sufficient  tax  bills,  though  making  appropriations  with  lav- 
ish profusion,  and  he  was,  notwithstanding  my  appeals,  taking  no  pains 
to  insure  a  different  result." 


620  THE    PRIVATE    EIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

The  first  day  of  July,  1864,  was  marked,  as  to  Salmon  Portland 
Chase,  by  the  writing  of  this  not  deeply  studied  letter: 

"  Dear  Sir  :  Your  note  came  after  I  had  tendered  my  resigna- 
tion to  the  President ;  and  I  have  not  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
your  article. 

"It  was  my  practice,  while  charged  with  the  conduct  of  the  Treas- 
ury Department,  to  read  all  that  my  time  allowed,  which  came  to 
me  in  the  way  of  information  or  counsel.  Both  were  often  contra- 
dictory, hut  often  useful  suggestions  were  found.  After  all,  however, 
it  was  my  duty  to  form  my  own  plans  and  adhere  to  my  own  con- 
clusions, formed,  as  all  plans  and  conclusions  must  be,  with  reference 
to  the  actual  condition  of  things. 

"If  working  men  can  not  contribute  suggestions  meriting  careful 
consideration,  I  do  not  know  who  can. 

»  Yours  very  truly,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  I.  Y.  Fincher,  Esq.,  Office  Finchefs  Trades  Revieic,  Phila.,  Pa." 

Here  is  a  letter  to  a  workman  of  a  higher  order : 

"Washington,  D.  C.,  July  1,  1864. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Congress  will  adjourn  so  soon,  and  the  members 
will  all  be  so  busy,  that  I  can  not  advise  you  to  bring  your  picture  to 
Washington  now.  I  congratulate  you  on  its  completion,  and  shall 
be  glad  to  take  another  admiring  look  at  it  when  I  come  to  New 
York,  if  by  any  means  I  can  find  the  time. 

"Mrs.  Sprague  is  in  Ehode  Island,  and  my  other  daughter  is  with 
her.  Yours  very  truly, 

"  Wm.  H.  Powell,  Esq.  *S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  same  day  affords  this  entry : 

"This  morning  the  papers  contained  telegrams,  announcing  that 
Governor  Tod  declines  to  take  the  Treasury  Department.  On  receiving 
this  information,  the  President  sent  to  the  Senate  the  name  of  Mr.  Fes- 
senden — a  wise  selection.  He  has  the  confidence  of  the  country, 
and  many  who  have  become  inimical  to  me  will  give  their  confidence 
to  him  and  their  support.  Perhaps  they  will  do  more  than  they 
otherwise  would  to  sustain  him,  in  order  to  show  how  much  better  a 
Secretary  he  is  than  I  was.  If  so,  the  country  will  gain  even  by  hos- 
tility to  me,  transmuted  into  friendship  for  him." 

What  a  strange   selection  was  that  of  David  Tod   to  succeed 
Chase !     The  sagacity  of  Lincoln  was  a  queer  sagacity,  after  all. 
July  1  yields  also  the  following  statement  and  commentary : 

"  Governor  Moorhead  called  and  related  briefly  an  interview  be- 
tween himself  and  Mr.  Williams  and  the  President.  They  had 
attempted  to  induce  him  to  send  for  me  with  a  view  to  my  return  to 
the  department;  but  he  would  not  consent  to  this.  He  thought  we 
could  not  agree,  and  it  was  without  use ;  and  in  this  he  was,  I  think, 
right.      I  can  not  sympathize  with  his  notion,  more  than  once  ex- 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  621 

pressed  to  me  and  others,  that  the  best  policy  is  to  have  no  policy, 
and  he  can  not  sympathize  with  my  desires  for  positive  and  ener- 
getic action.  It  is  best  that  he  try  somebody  else.  They  had  then 
mentioned  to  him  Mr.  Howe,  of  Fittsburg,  as  a  proper  person  for  Sec- 
retary ;  but  found  him  not  inclined  to  this.  The  conversation  pre- 
ceded Tod's  declination,  and  had  reference  to  the  probability  that 
the  Senate  might  not  confirm  the  nomination." 

Under  date  July  1,  appears  also  the  following  set  of  sentences: 

"The  day  was  given  to  writing  letters  and  to  conversation  with 
others  who  called.  In  the  evening  Fessenden  came  in,  immediately 
after  dinner,  or  rather  just  before  finishing  dinner.  Nobody  but 
Senator  Sprague  and  myself  were  at  the  table,  and  he  introduced  the 
subject  of  his  nomination.  He  expressed  an  extreme  aversion  to 
acceptance — fears  of  inability  to  cany  on  the  department,  and 
especially  a  strong  apprehension  that  his  health  would  give  way.  He 
had,  he  said,  begun  to  [write]  a  note  declining,  but  had  been  pre- 
vented from  finishing  it  by  constant  interruptions  and  had  received 
so  many  and  such  urgent  appeals  to  accept,  that  he  was  greatly  em- 
barrassed, and  wanted  my  advice.  I  told  [him]  I  thought  he  ought 
to  accept — that  all  the  great  work  of  the  department  was  now  fairly 
blocked  out  and  in  progress — that  the  organization  was  planned  and 
in  many  parts  complete,  and  in  all  in  a  state  which  admitted  com- 
pletion— that  is,  so  far  as  completeness  could  be  said  of  anything 
needing  constant  supervision,  and  allowing  constant  development 
and  improvement.  His  most  difficult  task  would  be  to  provide 
money.  He  would  now  see,  I  thought,  how  important  sufficient 
taxation  was,  and  that  the  department  ought  to  have  been  helped 
by  some  legislation ;  asked,  but  denied.  But  he  would  have 
advantages  which  I  had  not.  I  had  been  obliged  to  inaugurate  the 
national  hanking  system,  and  to  claim  the  circulation  for  the  whole 

country  through  their ,  and  had  necessarily  encountered  the 

ill-will  of  those  whose  prejudices  or  interests  bound  them  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  old  system  ;  and  I  had  necessarily  also  given  offense  to 
many  whose  counsels  I  had  not  been  able  to  follow,  or  whose  wishes 
I  had  not  been  able  to  gratify.  Those  persons  would  have  no  cause 
of  ill-will  against  him,  and  would  very  probably  come  to  his  support 
with  zeal  increased  by  their  ill-will  to  me.  So  my  damage  would  be 
his  advantage,  especially  with  a  certain  class  of  capitalists  and  bank- 
ers; and  I  thought  nothing  more  probable  than  that  he  would  be  able 
to  obtain  loans  easier  than  I  could.  At  any  rate,  this  would  be  his 
chief,  and,  so  far  as  I  could  see,  the  only  real  difficulty  in  his  admin- 
istration. He  expressed  his  great  apprehension  lest  his  health  might 
give  way,  and  said  that  if  he  took  the  place,  to  which  he  was  much 
urged  in  Congress,  and  by  callers  and  telegrams  from  various  parts 
of  the  country,  he  should  look  to  me  for  counsel  and  all  the  help  I 
could  give.  I  told  him  that  I  thought  he  would  want  very  little  of 
either;  but  that  all  I  could  give  was  at  his  service.  He  referred  to 
the  long-standing  relations  of  confidence  and  friendship  between  us, 
and  said  he  felt  he  had  a  right  to  depend  on  me;  and  I  told  him  that 
I  would  stand  by  him  and  with  him,  and,  whether  he  needed  me  or 


622  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

not,  that  my  friendship  and  affection  would  continue  the  same  as 
ever.  Judge  Spaulding  came  in,  and  we  all  then  rode  to  the  Capitol 
together.  Fessender.  stopped  at  the  Senate  wing,  but  Spaulding  and 
I  rode  a  few  minutes  longer  together,  talking  of  the  resignation,  of 
Tod's  appointment  and  declension,  etc.,  when  I  left  him  also  at  the 
Capitol,  and  returned  home." 

Saturday,  July  2,  our  ex-Secretary  of  the  Treasury  recorded  in 
his  diary  this  paragraph: 

"  The  bill  giving  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  effective  control 
over  trade  in  the  rebel  States,  and  power  to  purchase  their  products 
for  resale  for  the  benefit  of  the  Government,  and  authority  to  lease 
abandoned  property  and  care  for  the  Freedmen,  passed  the  House  to- 
day, having  previously  passed  the  Senate.  How  much  good  I 
expected  to  accomplish  under  this  bill !  Will  my  successor  do  this 
work  ?  I  fear  not.  He  had  not  the  same  heart  for  this  measure  that 
I  had." 

Another  paragraph,  under  date  July  2,  is  worded  thus : 

"I  spent  the  day  in  writing  letters  and  receiving  calls,  not  going 
out  at  all.  My  letter  to  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  ap- 
peared in  the  Intelligencer  and  Chronicle.  I  am  glad  of  it.  It  will 
prove,  at  least,  that  I  desired  no  inflation." 

Sunday,  July  3,  affords  this  entry  : 

"Attended  church  at  Wesley  Chapel,  where  I  heard  an  excellent 
sermon  on  orphanage,  suggested  by  the  death  of  a  }*oung  girl,  mem- 
ber of  the  church,  killed  lately,  with  twenty  others,  by  an  explosion 
of  powder  at  the  arsenal." 

Under  date  July  4,  our  hero  wrote  as  follows  in  his  diary  : 

"  Cries  of  all  kinds,  except  cries  of  pain,  filled  the  air  this  morn- 
ing, with  explosions  of  cannon,  ringing  of  bells,  and  whiz-whiz,  snap- 
snap  of  crackers,  and  awoke  me.  It  is  the  anniversaiy  of  the 
Independence  of  the  United  States  !  How  little  most  of  those  who 
celebrate  it  are  thinking  of  the  difference  between  the  United  States 
which  declared  it  and  the  United  States  which  celebrate  it.  Then, 
thirteen  United  States,  just  resolved  no  longer  to  be  colonies,  and 
battling  for  independence  and  Union  ;  now,  twenty-three  of  the 
United  States  struggling,  with  divided  counsels,  to  compel  to  obedi- 
ence to  the  national  constitution  and  laws  eleven  others,  in  which, 
counting  all  classes  and  colors,  there  is  a  majority  of  loyalists,  but  a 
majority  controlled  by  the  master  class,  and,  so  far  as  the  colored  por- 
tion of  it  is  concerned,  treated  by  the  Government  of  the  Union  as 
inferiors  and  aliens  rather  than  as  equals  in  natural  rights  and  as 
citizens.  What  will  be  the  end?  It  is  hidden  from  me.  The 
twenty-three  are  vastly  stronger  than  the  eleven,  and  must  prevail 
if  they  persevere,  unless  divine  Providence  takes  sides  against  them 
Surely,  if  the  Government  had  been  willing  to  do  justice,  and  had 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  623 

used  its  vast  powers  with   equal  energy  and  wisdom,  the  struggle 
might  have  been  happily  terminated  long  ago." 

This  notion  of  the  ways  of  God  with  man  may  be  well  war- 
ranted ;  but,  for  reasons  elsewhere  submitted  to  the  fair  consideration 
of  my  gentle  reader,  I  can  not  consider  that  the  justice  of  a  cause 
compels  a  miracle  in  its  behalf,  or  that  justice,  wisdom.,  and  energy 
can  alcne  insure  success. 

The  entry  just  quoted  goes  on  in  this  manner  : 

"Congress  adjourned  to-day  without  having  passed  an  additional 
tax  bill,  except  five  per  cent,  on  incomes,  which  may  produce 
twenty-two  millions.  There  must  be  great  reduction  of  expenditure 
or  better  success  in  borrowing  than  I  anticipate,  or  inflation  must 
continue.  The  President  pocketed  the  great  bill,  providing  for  the 
reorganization  of  the  rebel  States  as  loyal  States.  He  did  not  ven- 
ture to  veto,  and  so  put  it  in  his  pocket.  It  was  a  condemnation  of 
his  Amnesty  Proclamation  and  of  his  general  policy  of  reconstruc- 
tion, rejecting  the  idea  of  possible  reconstruction  with  slavery  ;  which 
neither  the  President  nor  his  chief  advisers  have,  in  my  opinion, 
abandoned. 

"Called  at  Mr.  Hooper's  and  found  nobody  in  ;  but  left  a  note,  in- 
viting Governor  Andrew  and  himself  to  come  down  and  dine  with 
me.  Mr.  Sumner  called  and  remained  to  dinner,  with  Mr.  Hooper 
and  Governor  A.  He  said  Governor  Sprague  had  made  a  statement 
of  great  force  and  power  in  relation  to  the  Blair  charges,  which  was 
listened  to  with  breathless  attention.  He  said  also  that  there  was 
intense  indignation  against  the  President  on  account  of  his  pocket- 
ing the  Winter  Davis  or  Keconstruction  Bill.  Governor  Andrew 
hopes  to  have  the  controversy  about  pay  of  negro  troops  enlisted  by 
Massachusetts  settled  on  just  principles.  This  justice  has  been  too 
long  and  too  cruelly  withheld. 

"After  dinner,  many  others  called.  Mr.  Fessenden  came  in  about 
nine.  He  had  already  been  with  me  in  the  morning,  and  had  told 
me  that  he  had  received  a  letter  from  a  certain  individual  (the  same 
who  proclaimed  the  most  indecent  joy  on  my  leaving  the  Cabinet), 
recommending  Governor  Morgan's  special  choice  for  the  successor  of 
Mr.  Cisco.  He  expressed  his  intention  not  to  have  either  of  them  ; 
for  when  it  was  sought  to  make  me  choose  appointments  he  had  told 
me  that  he  should  call  on  the  President,  and  before  acceptance  have 
it  distinctly  understood  that  the  appointment  of  subordinates  in 
his  office,  for  whom  he  was  to  be  responsible,  must  be  made  with 
his  full  consent  and  approval,  if  not  made  directly  on  his  own  nomi- 
nations. He  now  came  in  to  say  that  the  President  had  at  once 
acceded  to  this,  only  requiring  that,  should  he  himself  desire  any 
particular  appointment  made,  his  wishes  in  that  regard  should  be 
fully  considered.  He  said,  too,  that  he  hoped  Mr.  Fessenden  would 
not,  without  a  real  necessity,  remove  any  friends  of  Governor  Chase. 
Had  the  President,  in  reply  to  my  note  tendering  his  [my]  resignation, 
expressed  himself  as  he  did  now  to  Mr.  F n,  I  should  have  cheer- 
fully withdrawn  it.     Why  did   he  not?     lean   see  but  one  reason — 


624  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 

that  I  am  too  earnest,  too  anti-slavery,  and,  say,  too  radical,  to  make 
him  willing  to  have  me  connected  with  the  Administration  ;  just  as 
my  opinion  that  he  is  not  earnest  enough,  not  anti-slavery  enough, 
not  radical  enough,  but  goes  naturally  with  those  hostile  to  me, 
rather  than  with  me,  makes  me  willing  and  glad  to  be  disconnected 
from  it. 

"  We  parted,  I  promising  to  meet  him  at  the  department  in  the 
morning  and  introduce  him  to  his1  and  chief  officei's." 

To  point  out  the  importance  of  the  statement  made  by  Mr.  Lin- 
coln to  Mr.  Hooper  can  not  be  necessary.  I  shall  speak  of  it  here- 
after more  at  large. 

Tuesday,  July  5,  was  for  ex-Secretary  Chase  a  day  of  much  mem- 
orableness.  From  the  record  in  his  diary,  relating  to  its  history,  I 
take  this  extract : 

"Called  on  Fessenden  and  took  him  to  the  department,  and  spent 
some  time  in  explaining  the  state  of  the  finances  and  the  general 
outlines  of  business.  About  half-past  ten  Judge  Wayne  came  in  and 
administered  the  oath  of  office.  Fessenden  read  it  from  the  printed 
form  from  the  State  Department,  very  distinctly,  and  pronounced  the 
adjunction,  'So  help  me  God  !'  with  great  earnestness.  The  conclu- 
sion of  the  oath  struck  me.  'I  will  faithfully  perform  the  duties  of 
the  office  on  which  I  am  about  to  enter.'  There  was  no  such  clause 
as  is  commonly  added,  '  to  the  best  of  my  ability.'  " 

Under  the  same  date  we  have,  also : 

"Several  other  gentlemen  called  about  loans,  with  Fessenden.  The 
problem  to  provide  means  without  farther  inflation  and  with  gradual 
reduction.  Condition,  immediate  demands  in  requisition,  $94, 000, 000. 
Means,  (1.)  proceeds  of  late  loan  received,  5  per  cent,  transfer  legal 
tender;  (2.)  receipts  from  temporary  loans;  also,  most  in  some  legal 
tender;  (3.)  receipts  from  internal  revenue;  (4.)  miscellaneous  re- 
ceipts, sales  of  exchange,  etc. 

"  The  condition  is  by  no  means  so  difficult,  or  rather  by  no  means 
so  apparently  difficult,  as  at  the  close  of  the  session  of  Congress. 
Then  the  unpaid  requisitions  amounted  to  $72, 171, 189.41 ;  and  the 

funds  on  hand  were .     At  the  close  of  the  recent  session,  the 

requisitions  amounted  to .  Then  Congress  had  passed  the  Na- 
tional Banking  Act,  and  had  repealed  the  conversion  clauses  of  the 
Loan  Act;  but  had  provided  no  essential  increase  of  revenue.  But 
with  these  aids,  notwithstanding  a  very  unpromising  military  condi- 
tion, I  succeeded  in  disposing  so  rapidly  of  public  securities,  that 
within  four  months  the  whole  amount  of  unpaid  requisitions  had 
been  discharged,  and  all  demands  were  promptly  met.  The  same 
can  be  done  now,  but  Mr  Fessenden  will  be  obliged  to  paj^  higher 
interest  from  less  value.  The  tax  legislation  is  better  than  then,  far 
better,  though   not  what  it  should  be.     The  power  of  the  depart- 


1  Here  is  a  word  I  can  not  make  out. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  625 

ment  over  the  trade  in  insurrectionary  districts  is  more  complete, 
and  may  be  made  very  productive.  The  military  situation  is  tin- 
better.  All  things  conspire  to  make  financial  success  comparatively 
easy." 

At  eleven,  or  a  little  after,  July  5,  the  Heads  of  the  Bureau  in 
the  Treasury  Department  came  in,  and  the  ex-Secretary  intro- 
duced them  to  the  new  Secretary.  Most  of  them  were,  indeed, 
already  known  to  him,  and  the  meeting  on  both  sides  was  most 
cordial.  After  this  was  over,  Mr.  Chase  left  his  successor,  prom- 
ising to  call  again  the  next  morning,  and  confer  about  the  prac- 
tical business  of  borrowing  money. 

From  the  department  Mr.  Chase  returned  home,  and  used  (he 
remainder  of  the  day  chiefly  in  writing  letters,  and  receiving  visit- 
ors. Mr.  Dtirant  called  and  talked  over  Louisiana  matters.  Gar- 
field, Schenck,  and  Wetmore  rode  with  Mr.  Chase.  "  AH,"  he 
says,  "  were  bitter  against  the  timid  and  almost  pro-slavery  course 
of  the  President.    Strange  story  by  Garfield  about  Colonel  Jaques." 

We  have  yet  this  other  contribution  from  the  diary  under  date 
July  5: 

"  Left  Treasury  Department  and  went  to  see  Secretary  of  War. 
Found  him  concerned  about  raid  to  Marti nsburg  and  Harper's  Ferry  ; 
thinks  Sigel  inefficient,  and  that  Hunter  went  too  far  off.  Hunter, 
however,  yesterday,  at  Parkersburg,  and  will  probabl}-  to-day  reach 
the  vicinity  of  the  rebels.  I  can  not  see  from  the  statements  made 
why  they  may  not  be  cut  off  and  signally  defeated  or  captured.  Told 
Stanton  that  everything  looked  favorable  to  me,  onl}*  I  wished  Grant 
could  have  more  men.  Sherman  at  Marietta,  and  rebels  forced  back 
on  the  Chattahooche ;  Danville  Railroad  broken  up,  and  Grant  hold- 
ing fast,  and  on  the  whole,  gaining.  Hunter  soon  to  drive  the  rebels 
again  from  Shenandoah  Valley,  and  the  glorious  victory  of  the  Kear- 
sarge  in  the  combat  with  the  Alabama,  which  came  out  to  fight 
and  went  to  the  bottom — all  looked  well.  The  last  event,  particu- 
larly, worth  millions  in  the  improvement  of  our  prestige  and  credit 
in  Europe. 

""Walked  home  under  an  intensely  hot  sun.  Soon  after,  Mr.  Wet- 
more  came  in,  and  we  went  to  Freedmen's  Village.  What  a  strik- 
ing result  of  the  war,  and  illustration  as  well  as  result,  it  is!  There 
it  stands;  a  semi-circular  village,  extending  round  a  sort  of  ravine; 
wooden  houses;  about  1,800  people,  mostly  old  and  infirm,  or  women 
and  children,  with  schools,  a  church,  good  order — though  much  sick- 
ness and  poverty — all  refugees  from  slavery,  and  not  one  wishing  to 
return  unless  free  after  the  war. 

" Ashley,  Hosmer,  and  Taylor  called.      H.  is  going  as  chief 

justice  to  Montana.  Taylor,  just  from  north-west  Ohio,  says  opin- 
ions there  much  divided  about  my  resignation,  and  some  in- 
clined to  blame  me. 


626  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

"Eeid  came  in  with  letters  from  Greeley,  who  wishes  me  to  suc- 
ceed Pendleton.  Told  him  I  thought  nothing  gained  unless  we  could 
have  radical  change  of  men  and  policy.  He  goes  to  New  York  soon. 
People   of  course,  think  little  of  anything  in   comparison   with  the 

war." 

That  notion  of  having  Chase  try  to  succeed  Pendleton  was  very 
foolish,  and  its  consequences  were  most  painful,  not  to  say  humili- 
ating. Xo  absurder  notion  ever  emanated  even  from  the  Tribune 
office.  In  the  state  of  the  public  mind  toward  Chase  at  the  time 
when  that  mad  project  was  by  Horace  Greeley,  through  Whitelaw 
Reid,  presented  to  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  the  reasonable  certainty 
was  that  success  was  absolutely  impossible.  From  the  present  con- 
duct of  the  Tribune,  one  would  say  that  that  journal  more  than 
holds  its  own  in  reckless  folly. 

But  we  must  come  back,  hereafter,   to  the  subject  of  that  blun- 
der almost  amounting  to  a  crime. 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  627 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

CHASE    NOT    NOMINATED    FOR   CONGRESS — APPOINTED  CHIEF  JUSTICE. 

WEDNESDAY,  July   6,  1864,  the  late  Secretary   made  this 
record : 

"Senator  Pomeroy  came  to  breakfast;  he  says  there  is  great  dis- 
satisfaction with  Mr.  Lincoln,  which  has  been  much  exasperated  by 
the  pocketing  of  the  reorganization  bill.  Garfield  said  yesterday 
that  when  the  rumor  of  the  intention  of  the  President  to  pocket  the 
bill  came  to  the  House  on  Monday,  Norton,  of  Illinois,  the  special 
friend  of  the  President,  said  it  was  impossible  and  would  be  fatal. 

G told   him  if  he  desired   to  prevent  it,  he  should  go  to  him  at 

his  room  at  the  Capitol  at  once,  and  remonstrate.  Norton  started, 
almost  running,  but  returned  after  a  little.  'Did  you  see  him?' 
'Yes.'  '  Will  he  sign?  '  'No — great  mistake,  but  no  use  trying  to 
prevent  it.'  Pomeroy  says  he  means  to  go  on  a  buffalo  hunt  and  then 
to  Europe.  He  can  not  support  Lincoln,  but  won't  desert  his  prin- 
ciples. I'm  much  of  the  same  sentiments,  though  not  willing  now  to 
decide  what  duty  may  demand  next  fall.  Pomeroy  remarked  that, 
on  the  news  of  my  resignation  reaching  the  Senate,  several  of  the 
Democratic  senators  came  to  him  and  said,  'We'll  go  with  you  now 
for  Chase.'  This  meant  nothing  but  a  vehement  desire  to  overthrow 
the  existing  Administration,  but  might  mean  much  if  the  Demo- 
crats would  only  cut  loose  from  slavery  and  go  for  freedom  and  the 
protection  of  labor  by  a  national  currency.  If  they  would  do  that,  I 
would  cheerfully  go  for  any  ma?i  they  might  nominate. 

How 

"  Coming  events  cast  there  shadows  before," 

as  we  read  those  words !     In  1864  we  see  1868. 

July  11,  Mr.  Chase  wrote  as  follows  to  an  old  friend: 

"My  Dear  Sir:  We  have  not  written  each  other  frequently  of 
late,  but  my  regard  for  you  has  by  no  means  diminished. 

"  Hard  at  work,  I  have  not  had  time  for  correspondence;  but  my 
heart  holds  still  to  my  old  friends. 

"  I  trust  there  is  no  ground  for  the  fear  that  the  country  is  again 
to  be  cursed  with  the  miscellaneous  currency  of  local  corporations  ; 
but  it  is  impossible  to  foresee  what  is  to  come.  It  was  one  of  my 
greatest  desires  to  give  the  people  a  uniform  currency,  made,  in  tlu 
end,  the  equivalent  to  gold  every  where.  My  efforts  were  stoutly  re- 
sisted outside,  and  had  not  earnest  sympathy  inside  of  the  Adminis- 
41 


628  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

tration.  They  were  steadily  prevailing,  however,  when  a  sense  of 
duty  to  myself  and  the  country  also  compelled  me  to  resign.  I  hope 
they  will  not  be  abandoned.  Your  friend, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 
There  was  this  postscript : 

"  I  inclose  cancelled  your  note  for  $272.50,  dated  June  16,  1860.  I 
am  sure  you  would  have  paid  it  long  ago  if  you  could  ;  and,  though 
I  am  not  now  so  well  off  as  I  thought  myself  then,  I  do  not  wish  to 
inconvenience  an  old  friend  by  holding  it  unpaid.  Besides  I  have 
fewer  claims  on  my  care  and  support  than  I  had  then." 

Here  is  another  letter  which  I  think  must  prove  interesting  : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  July  11.  1864. 

"  My  Dear  General  :  Accept  my  thanks  for  your  very  kind  note. 
I  wish  I  could  avail  myself  of  your  invitation  to  pass  a  few  days 
under  your  hospitable  roof;  but  can  not  promise  myself  that  pleasure 
at  present. 

"  My  feelings  upon  going  out  of  office  are  of  a  mixed  sort — regret 
that  1  leave  great  works  half  done — satisfaction  in  relief  from  cares 
and  manifold  annoyances.  Sometimes  one  of  these  feelings  predom- 
inates— sometimes  the  other. 

"  I  should  like  very  much  to  see  you  and  have  a  little  talk  ;  but 
unless  )tou  happen  to  be  in  New  York  about  the  end  of  the  week,  do 
not  see  how  I  can  be  gratified.  It  is  my  expectation  to  be  there,  at 
the  St.  Nicholas,  if  the  rebels  let  us  out. 

"  Communications,  except  by  river,  are  pretty  much  broken  off 
just  now  ;  but  I  think  they  will  soon  be  open  again.  There  has  been 
some  skirmishing  and  some  casualties  on  the  north  side  of  the  city; 
an  assault  was  expected  this  morning.  I  do  not  hear  that  it  has 
taken  place,  and  imagine  that  the  rebels  will  hardly  try  it.  They 
ought  never  get  back  to  Richmond. 

"  Please  give  my  best  regards  to  Mrs.  Cameron  and  the  young 
ladies,  and  believe  me  Yours  sincerely, 

"  General  S.  Cameron.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Hon.  Charles  S.  May  was  the  (Republican)  Lieutenant-Governor 
of  Michigan  when  he  wrote  to  ex-Secretary  Chase  a  letter  in  refer- 
ence to  a  movement  in  behalf  of  Mr.  Chase  for  the  Presidency. 

"  It  was,"  writes  Mr.  May  to  me,1  "  a  time  of  great  discourage- 
ment and  dissatisfaction  with  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration.  The 
almost  treasonable  attitude  of  the  Democratic  National  Conven- 
tion at  Chicago  soon  after  changed  the  whole  current  of  feeling." 

Mr.  Chase  answered  Mr.  May  as  follows : 

"  Crawford,  White  Mountains,  August  31,  1864. 
"  Dear  Sir  :     Your  letter  of  the  9th  did  not  reach  me  until  a  day 


iLetter  dated  September  16,  1873. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  629 

or  two  since.  I  thank  you  heartily  for  your  expressions  of  confi- 
dence and  esteem. 

"My  friends  in  Cincinnati  should  not  have  presented  my  name  in 
competition  with  any  other.  They  knew  well  that  I  did  not  desire  a 
nomination  to  Congress,  and  should  not  feel  bound  to  accept  any  ol  her 
than  one  spontaneously  and  unanimously  tendered.  I  regret  their 
action;  for  it  has  subjected  me  to  some  unneccessary  misapprehension. 

"  It  was  not  without  some  reluctance  that  I  resigned  my  position 
as  head  of  the  Treasury  Department;  but  I  could  not,  consistently 
with  my  sense  of  duty  to  the  country,  or  with  what  I  thought  a 
proper  self-respect,  acquiesce  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  determination  to  make 
the  appointment  of  the  Assistant  Treasurer  of  New  York,  the  officer 
more  intimately  connected  with  the  finances  of  the  Government  than 
any  other  except  myself,  and  most  important  to  my  successful  admin- 
istration of  them,  dependent  on  the  will  of  a  particular  man  and  his 
political  associates.  I  felt  sure  that  if  I  should  acquiesce  I  should 
not  only  be  unfaithful  to  my  trust,  but  I  should  establish  a  precedent 
which  would  be  followed  so  frequently  and  so  constantly  that  the 
successful  administration  of  the  department  would  be  impossible.  I 
felt  sure  that  the  President  would  not  make  this  issue  with  me  if  he 
really  desired  me  to  remain  in  the  department ;  and  I,  therefore,  sent 
him  my  resignation.  By  accepting  it  he  showed  that  I  was  not 
mistaken. 

"  My  conscience  tells  me  that,  under  exceedingl}*  difficult  circum- 
stances, I  served  my  country  with  all  the  ability  and  courage  God 
gave  me,  and  with  an  e}*e  single  to  the  public  good.  This  conscious- 
ness is  my  sufficient  reward. 

"I  am  now  a  private  citizen  and  expect  to  remain  such.  Since  my 
retirement  from  the  department,  I  have  had  no  connection  with  polit- 
ical affairs.  No  one  has  been  authorized  to  use  my  name  in  any 
political  connection,  except  that  I  said  I  should  not  feel  at  liberty  to 
refuse  my  services  to  the  citizens  of  my  Congressional  district,  if 
spontaneously  and  unanimously  demanded.  I  think  now  that  I  erred 
in  saying  this  ;  but  it  seemed  right  at  the  time.  No  such  movement 
as  the  one  you  suggest  seems  to  me  expedient  so  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned. Whether  it  would  be  expedient  or  patriotic  in  reference  to 
some  other  name,  I  am  notable  to  judge.  I  see  only,  as  all  see,  that 
there  is  a  deplorable  lack  of  harmony,  caused  chiefl}*,  in  my  judg- 
ment, by  the  injudicious  course  of  some  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  chief  ad- 
visers, and  his  own  action  on  their  advice  ;  ami  I  most  earnestly  wish 
that  harmony  might  be  restored,  and  the  success  of  our  cause,  now 
in  serious  jeopardy,  assured.  Yours  very  truly, 

"Hon.  Chas  S.May.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Mr.  Chase  wrote  mildly  when  he  said  that  that  movement,  de- 
signed to  make  him  the  congressional  successor  of  Mr.  Pendleton, 
subjected  him  to  some  unnecessary  misapprehension.  It  did  more 
than  that.  It  damaged  him  forever  as  a  Presidential  candidate. 
After  that  he  had  no  Presidential  possibilities  whatever. 

Next  to  the  nomination  of  Horace  Greeley  for  the  Presidency,  it 


630  the  trivate  life  and  public  services 

was  the  most  foolish  thing  ever  attempted  by  politicians  in  the  Cin- 
cinnati valley.  It  was  perfectly  characteristic  of  the  Tribune  office — 
the  most  curious  combination  of  absurdity  and  recklessness  the 
country  has  yet  seen. 

But  so  strong  was  Mr.  Chase,  in  spite  of  that  performance  at  his 
expense  by  Greeley,  Reid  &  Co.,  that  Mr.  Lincoln,  when  the  death 
of  Chief  Justice  Taney  made  a  place  for  Salmon  Portland  Chase, 
made  Chase  Chief  Justice. 

Mr.  Sumner  had  urged  that  appointment.  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
promised  Mr.  Sumner  that  it  should  be  made.  The  great  difficulty 
in  the  way,  as  discerned  by  Mr.  Lincoln,  appeared  to  be  that  Mr. 
Chase  had  the  Presidency  on  the  brain.  Mr.  Sumner  related  to 
me  that  Mr.  Lincoln  once  proposed  to  send  for  Mr.  Chase  and 
frankly  tell  him  that  in  his  (Lincoln's)  judgment  he  (Mr.  Chase) 
would  make  the  best  Chief  Justice  we  ever  had,  if  he  could  only  get 
rid  of  his  Presidential  ambition.  Mr.  Sumner  pointed  out  how 
objectionable  would  be  such  a  course;  that  it  would  expose  the 
President  to  imputation  as  to  his  motives,  and  would  be  offensive 
to  Mr.  Chase,  as  requiring,  in  effect,  a  pledge  from  the  latter  not  to 
be,  thereafter,  a  Presidential  candidate.  Mr.  Lincoln  at  once  saw 
that  what  he  had  so  well  intended  to  do,  in  that  behalf,  would  not  be 
proper.  He  determined,  therefore,  to  take  all  risks,  and  appoint  Chase 
without  any  suggestion  as  to  the  possibility  of  Presidential  candidature. 

This  is  not  the  only  information  for  which  this  volume  is  indebted 
to  the  talks  its  author  had  with  Mr.  Sumner. 

Shortly  after  Chase's  death,  I  called  on  Mr.  Sumner,  as  he  had 
invited  me  to  do,  in  order  that  he  might  impart  to  me,  not  only 
matter  of  fact,  but  matter  of  mere  judgment.  It  was  evidently 
hard  for  the  great  man  from  Massachusetts  to  say  much  of 
Chase.  For  five  words  about  our  hero,  he  gave  me  twenty- 
five  about  himself.  But,  after  all,  I  learned  some  new  things 
about  Chase,  and  among  them  an  anecdote,  which,  I  have  learned, 
Mr.  Sumner  related  to  at  least  one  person  other  than  myself. 

Mr.  Sumner  was  the  first  to  tell  Mr.  Chase  of  his  confirmation 
as  Chief  Justice.  As  he  came  out  of  the  room  in  which  that  infor- 
mation had  been  imparted,  he  met  Mrs.  Sprague,  who,  shaking  her 
right  fore-finger  at  him,  said  : 

And  you,  too,  Mr.  Sumner?      You,  too,  in  this  business  of  shelv- 
ing papa?     But  never  mind  !     I  will  defeat  you  all !  " 

The  life  of  our  hero's  eldest  daughter  has  become,  in  some  degree, 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  G31 

historical.  It  had  become  historical,  indeed,  at  the  time  when,  ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Sumner,  the  fair  fore-finger  of  a  beautiful,  accom- 
plished woman  aided  her  lips  to  give  impressiveness  to  the  words 
just  quoted.  I  have  not  felt  free  to  withhold  the  anecdote  here 
offered. 

Was  Mr.  Sumner  right  in  telling  it  to  me  and  to  at  least  one  other 
person  ?l  He  is  dead ;  but  he  did  not  appear  to  me  a  gentleman  of  the 
finest  type.  He  seemed  to  me  not  single-hearted  and  not  single-faced. 
I  had  four  or  five  conversations  with  him,  three  of  which  I  must  re- 
member while  I  live.  They  did  not  tend  to  make  me  like  him,  and 
they  rather  lowered  than  exalted  my  appreciation  of  his  taste,  his 
learning,  and  his  talents.  Yet,  I  have  no  reason  in  the  world  to 
doubt  the  truth  of  the  anecdote  referred  to ;  and  it  seems  to  me  not 
unimportant. 

So  strangely  has  the  heroine  of  it  been  somehow  led  to  bear  her- 
self toward  the  composition  of  this  work,  and  so  desperate  has  shown 
itself  the  disposition  of  her  minions  to  prevent,  if  possible,  even  the 
publication  of  these  pages,  that  I  can  not  comment  on  that  anecdote 
as,  but  for  the  facts  just  referred  to,  might  seem  proper;  but,  I  tins:, 
I  know  how  to  make  all  due  allowances  for  filial  fondness,  combined 
with  other  feelings,  on  the  part  of  Mrs.  Sprague,  in  1864. 

It  was  on  the  13th  of  December,  1864,  that  Salmon  Portland 
Chase,  "  having  previously,  on  the  same  day,  taken  the  oath  of 
allegiance  in  the  room  of  the  judges,  and  the  oath  of  office  in  open 
court,  at  his  place  upon  the  bench,"  first  took  his  seat  as  Chief 
Justice  of  the  United  States.2  This  interesting  ceremony  took  place 
"  in  presence  of  a  large  number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen." 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  work  to  set  forth  his  opinions  as  a 
Judge.  Of  some  of  those  opinions,  indeed,  some  notice  must  be 
taken  in  these  pages ;  but  to  the  average  reader  a  full  account 
of  them  would  be  very  far  from  inviting.  In  another  chapter  I 
have  given  my  opinion  of  him  as  a  legist,  and  set  forth  my  judg- 
ment  of  his  actions  as   a  Judge.3     At  present,  I  go  forward  with 


*Mr.  Justice  Swayne,  of  the  Supreme  Court,  not  knowing  that  that  anecdote  had 
been  related  to  me  by  Mr.  Sumner  himself,  communicated  it  to  me  as  he  had  heard 
it  from  the  senator. 

2 So  he  designated  his  official  character  in  a  letter  written  under  his  dictation,  and 
by  him  signed,  not  long  before  his  death.  That  letter  was  addressed  to  Benjamin 
Vaughan  Abbott,  Esq. 

s  Post,  Chapter  LIII. 


G32  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

a  narrative  which  I  desire  to  interrupt  as  little  as  possible  by  dis- 
quisition. 
January  2,  1865,  the  President  thus  wrote  to  the  Chief  Justice : 

"Chief  Justice  Chase: 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Without  your  note  of  to-day  I  should  have  felt 
assured  that  some  sufficient  reason  had  detained  you. 

"Allow  me  to  condole  with  you  on  the  sad  bereavement  you  men- 
tion. Yours  truly,  A.  LINCOLN." 

The  note  so  answered  is  not  in  my  possession.  The  bereavement 
mentioned  by  the  President  was  the  loss  of  a  sister.  A  letter  to  Mr. 
Jay  Cooke  will  be  found  referring  to  it: 

January  12,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  to  Mr.  Jay  Cooke  : 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Cooke  :  Accept  my  thanks  for  your  kind  sympa- 
thy in  the  sorrow  which  the  loss  of  my  dear  sister  has  given  me,  and 
receive  mine  in  your  own  for  the  loss  of  your  excellent  father.  When 
such  persons  die,  what  consolation  to  those  who  must  follow  later, 
that  those  who  have  gone  before  have  gone  to  Heaven. 

"  I  rejoice  to  read  the  call  you  sent  me,  and  to  see  the  grand  name 
of  Horace  Binney  at  its  head,  followed  by  that  of  his  son.  It  is  a 
great  step  in  the  right  direction.  If  we  wish  God's  blessing,  we 
must  not  oppress  His  poor. 

"  In  a  day  or  two  I  will  write  you  on  other  matters;  but  may  we 
not  hope  for  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  here?" 


xOn  the  5th  of  the  same  month  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  as  follows  to  General  B 
C.  Ludlow : 

"  I  wish  there  was  no  brevet  to  diminish  my  pleasure  in  thus  addressing  you,  but 
I  hope  the  full  promotion  will  come  in  due  time. 

"  Charlotte   sends  me   your    very  interesting    letter    giving    an   account  of  your 

Christmas  dinner,  and  I  was  delighted  to  read  it.     What  a  letter  that  was 

of —     [Here  are  omissions  in  my  copy  on  account  of  illegibility,  I  suppose.] 

"  As  soon  as  I  came  I  saw  the  Secretary  about  Israel.  He  seemed  disposed  to  do 
all  he  could,  but  has  since  told  me  that  Israel  could  not  be  transferred  consistently 
with  regulations.  I  wish  Israel  would  write  me,  and  tell  me  exactly  his  present 
stating  his  rank  in  his  own  regiment  and  company,  and  everything  which  I  ought 
to  know  to  be  of  service  to  him.     I  can't  do  much,  but  what  I  can  do  will  do  gladly. 

"Can  I  be  of  any  service  to  you?  Give  my  regards  to  General  Barney  and  Mar- 
cellas.     I  am  trying  to  do  something  for  him — Marcel." 

On  the  10th  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  as  follows: 

'•My  Dear  Sir:  The  'General  Theological  and  Religious  Association,'  of  Cin- 
cinnati, are  extremely  desirous  to  procure  a  copy  of  the  Codex  Sinaiticus,  a  few  copies 
of  which  were  printed  at  the  expense  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia  for  distribution  to 
universities  and  public  libraries,  and  I  shall  be  very  glad  if  you  can  aid  them  in 
the  attainment  of  their  wish.     Yours,  very  truly,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  The  Rt.  Hon.  Mr.  de  Stoeckl,  etc.,  etc.,  etc." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  633 

To  Judge  Kelly,  January  22,  he  wrote  : 

"Dear  Judge  :  I  have  not  yet  seen  your  speech.  Please  send  me 
a  copy,  and  a  hundred  more  for  friends  in  Ohio. 

"  The  assault  of  Fields  is  the  hest  commentary  that  could  be  made 
on  your  position.  It  was  prompted  by  the  very  spirit  which,  if  the 
blacks  are  not  secured  in  the  right  of  suffrage,  will  prompt  the  most 
cruel  legislation  against  them,  and  probabl}' produce  a  renewal  of 
bloody  civil  strife. 

"  In  a  letter  received  to-night,  from  a  Southerner  at  New  Orleans — 
not  of  the  Democratic  side  either — are  these  significant  words : 
'Only  some  strong  political  necessity  will  induce  the  legislature  to 
extend  the  right  of  suffrage.  If  such  extension  was  made,  on 
condition  of  the  recognition  of  the  State,  it  would  probably  be 
granted.' 

"Recognition  without  such  condition  would  be,  in  my  judgment, 
equally  wrong  and  impolitic." 

In  a  letter  addressed,  the  same  day,  to  Mr.  George  L.  Denison, 
are  the  words : 

"  I  trust,  and  there  is  some  reason  to  believe,  not  without  good 
grounds,  that  Congress  will  not  recognize  Louisiana  unless  the  right 
of  suffrage  is  extended  to  the  colored  people.  Recognition  without 
this  extension  would  be,  in  my  judgment  and  in  that  of  our  wisest 
and  most  influential  men,  equally  wrong  and  impolitic. 

"  It  was  a  mistake  in  the  friends  of  General  Banks  and  Governor 
Hahn,  that  they  did  not  have  this  right  granted  in  the  Constitution. 
It  would  have  removed  every  obstacle  to  recognition. 

"  The  attack  of  Fields  on  Judge  Kelly  has  damaged  the  cause  of  the 
Louisiana  senators  and  representatives  a  good  deal. 

"  We  are  all  well  and  rejoicing  over  the  fall  of  Fort  Fisher  and  the 
waning  fortunes  of  rebellion."1 


irTo  Jones,  the  sculptor,  on  the  23d,  he  wrote : 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Jones:  Sometime  ago,  I  promised  to  give  the  Otterbein  Uni- 
versity a  copy  of  your  draped  bust  of  me,  but  forgot  the  name  of  the  gentleman  to 
whom  it  was  to  be  sent.  I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  him,  reminding  me  of 
the  promise,  and  I  beg  you  to  have  one  carefully  boxed  and  sent  to  Rev.  H.  A. 
Thompson,  Professor,  etc.,  in  Otterbein  University,  at  Westerville,  Ohio — Wester- 
ville  is  twelve  miles  north  of  Columbus.  Please  see  that  such  directions  are  given 
the  express  company  as  will  make  sure  of  its  reaching  its  destination. 

"Are you  now  selling  copies  of  this  bust?  Occasionally,  inquiries  are  made  of 
me  where  one  can  be  procured.  If  you  are  selling  any,  pleas*  let  me  know  the 
price.  Let  me  know,  also,  the  cost  of  the  one,  including  packing,  sent  to  Westerville 
and  I  will  at  once  remit  it. 

"  I  was  very  sorry,  indeed,  not  to  see  more  of  you  in  Cincinnati.  I  wish  I  could 
afford  to  have  your  bust  put  in  marble.  I  think  it,  next  to  Mr.  E  wing's,  your  greatest 
work. 

"  T.  D.  Jones,  Esq.,  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


634  THE  PEIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SEEVICES 

On  the  23d,  a  letter  to  Hon.  B.  F.  Flanders  said,  with  other 
things : 

"  I  doubt  whether  recent  developments,  will  not  constrain  Congress 
to  refuse  recognition  to  any  State  which  has  been  in  rebellion,  unless 
reconstituted  upon  the  basis  of  equal  rights  for  all  men,  and  equal 
participation  in  suffrage,  as  the  only  reliable  safeguard  to  these 
rights. 

"  If  Louisiana  wishes  her  present  representatives  admitted,  the  leg- 
islature will  probably  find  it  necessaiy  to  exercise  the  power  conferred 
by  the  Constitution,  of  extending  the  right  of  suffrage  to  the  loyal 
colored  citizens  of  the  State." 

Here  is  surely  a  remarkable  letter  : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  January  23,  1865. 

"  Dear  Count  :  I  did  not  reply  to  your  note  at  the  right  time,  but 
I  hope  you  will  excuse  the  omission  in  consideration  of  the  pressure 
of  my  new  duties. 

"  It  gratified  me,  because  it  came  from  one  whom  I  have  long  hon- 
ored as  an  implacable  hater  of  wrong,  as  a  faithful  friend  of  man. 
The  very  intensity  of  your  devotion  to  justice,  has,  I  fear,  sometimes 
made  you  unjust ;  but,  no  matter  ;  the  zeal  for  the  truth  and  the  right 
remain.  I  have  been,  I  think,  a  patient  worker  for  the  same  ends. 
Certainly  I  have  aimed  to  be  ;  thinking,  however,  I  could  do  most 
good  without  assailing  men  who  may  change  from  worse  to  better, 
while  bad  principles  never  amend.  Yours  truly, 

"  Count  Gurowski,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Just  think  of  such  a  letter  to  such  a  man  from  such  a  man  ! 
January  30  we  have  this  letter: 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Barney  :  T  was  very  glad  to  learn  from  your 
letter  that  gentlemen,  of  undoubted  responsibility  and  personal 
worth,  are  about  to  organize  a  savings  bank  with  special  reference  to 
the  freed  men,  and,  I  hope,  the  soldiers.  I  have  not  a  doubt  that  such 
an  institution  could  work  immense  good.  Hundreds  of  thousands,  if 
not  millions,  of  dollars,  now  wasted  through  fraud  or  misfortune  of 
depositories,  could  be  saved  for  the  comfort  and  improvement  of 
families  and  homes.  I  see  no  reason  why  a  national  bank  for  freed- 
mens'  savings  can  not  be  organized,  and  answer  every  purpose  with- 
out further  legislation  by  Congress.  And  through  agencies  already 
established,  especially  those  of  the  Christian  Commission,  the  work- 
ings and  benefits  of  it  could  be  made  widely  known,  in  a  very  short 
time,  to  the  parties  interested.  I  am  sure  the  President  would  feel 
much  interested  in  it,  and  that  the  War  Department,  under  its  able 
and  clear-sighted  head,  would  cheerfully  cooperate." 

In  a  letter,  dated  February  23,  the  Chief  Justice  said  to  Mr. 
James  R.  Gil  more,  of  Boston : 

"  I  rejoice  that  you  had  an  opportunity  of  speaking  to  the  Balti- 
more people  ;  they  are  nearer  right  than  many  farther  north. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE. 


635 


"  I  fear  our  good  President  is  so  anxious  for  the  restoration  of  the 
Union,  that  he  will  not  care  sufficiently  about  the  basis  of  represen- 
tation. In  my  judgment,  there  is  none  sound  except  absolute  justice 
for  all,  and  ample  security  for  justice  in  law  and  suffrage." 

On  the  3d  of  March,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  this  letter : 

"  Dear  Riddle  :  Thanks  for  your  note  informing  me  of  the  de- 
posit in  First  NationalBank  by  Mr.  Ball's  direction,  of  §513.93,  being 
amount  advanced  by  me  for  him  to  Mr.  Wilson.  It  is  welcome,  be- 
cause it  is  wanted. 

"Some  seem  to  think  that  a  man  who  has  handled  millions  must  be 
rich  ;  and  so  I  should  be,  if  I  could  have  retained  for  m}-self  even  one 
per  cent,  of  what  I  saved  to  the  people.  But  I  would  not  exchange 
the  consciousness  of  having  kept  my  hands  free  from  the  touch  of 
one  cent  of  public  treasure  for  all  the  riches  in  the  world. 

"My  wants  are  very  moderate — and  the  chief  use  I  have  for  in- 
come is  to  provide  for  the  wants  of  others.  Demands  of  this  naturo 
are  urgent  enough  to  keep  me  generally  tight. 

"I  see  I  have  used  an  equivocal  word,  but  I  won't  scratch  it  out. 
You  will  not  put  an  intemperate  construction  upon  it. 

"Your  old  brother  colleague  and  sincere  friend, 

"Hon.  A.N.  Riddle.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


636  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


0 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 

ASSASSINATION   OF   LINCOLN — JOHNSON'S    INAUGURATION. 

N  the  day  of  Lincoln's  second  inauguration  as  Chief  Magis- 
trate, the  Chief  Justice  wrote  as  follows  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  : 

"Dear  Madam:  Will  you  oblige  me  by  accepting  the  Bible 
kissed  by  your  husband,  on  taking  to-day,  for  the  second  time,  the 
oath  of  office  a9  President  of  the  United  States? 

"  The  page  touched  by  his  lips  is  marked. 

"I  hope  the  sacred  Book  will  be  to  jtou  an  acceptable  souvenir  of 
a  memorable  day,  and  I  most  sincerely  pray  Him,  by  whose  inspira- 
tion it  was  given,  that  the  beautiful  sunshine,  which,  just  at  the  time 
the  oath  was  taken,  dispersed  the  clouds  that  had  previously  dark- 
ened the  sky,  may  prove  an  auspicious  omen  of  the  dispersion  of  the 
clouds  of  war,  bj'  the  clear  sunshine  of  prosperous  peace,  under  the 
wise  and  just  administration  of  him  who  took  it. 

"  With  great  respect,  yours  truly,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

That  beautiful  sunshine,  that  dispersing  of  the  clouds,  was  after 
all,  perhaps,  not  quite  a  delusive  omen.  But,  as  to  Lincoln,  it  at 
least  did  not  portend  long  life. 

To  the  President,  March  6,  our  hero  wrote  as  follows : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  inclose  the  Circassion  decision.  An  order  or 
proclamation  closing  or  restricting  the  ports  will,  when  military  oc- 
cupation is  permanent,  answer  most  of  the  purposes  of  blockade,  and 
be  subject  to  no  objection.  In  the  case  of  the  Venice,  which  I  men- 
tioned to  you,  the  court  held  that  the  occupation  of  New  Orleans 
must  be  considered  as  permanent  from  the  6th  of  May,  on  which  day 
General  Butler's  proclamation  was  printed  in  the  papers. 

"As  to  Virginia,  I  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting  that  it  may  be 
well  that  any  proclamation  declaring  the  State  no  longer  in  insur- 
rection should  recite  the  fact  of  a  continuous  loyal  State  government, 
and  confine  the  effect  of  the  proclamation  to  the  counties  acknowl- 
edging that  government,  and  regularly  represented  in  the  loyal  leg- 
islature, or  hereafter  acknowledging  it  and  being  so  represented. 

"Except  one  from  West  Virginia,  no  cases  have  been  heard  on 
appeal  from  the  courts  of  either  district  of  Virginia  since  the  re- 
bellion. Yours  most  truly, 

"The  President.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  J.  Schuckers,  dated  April  4,  we  have  the  words  : 

"All  tongues  are  busy  and  all  hearts  filled  with  the  glorious  news 
of  Richmond  and  hopes  of  peace." 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  637 

April  9,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  to  Hon.  R.  S.  Field : 

"Dear  Judge:  You  have  much  obliged  me  by  sending  3-our  ex- 
cellent discourse  on  the  lute  Chief  Justice  Hornblower. 

"  When  a  very  young  member  of  the  bar,  I  was  called  upon  to 
plead  the  cause  of  an  alleged  fugitive  from  slavery,  upon  habeas 
corpus,  before  our  Common  Pleas  Court  in  Cincinnati.  My  examina- 
tion of  the  Constitution  and  the  Ordinance  of  '87  and  the  Articles 
of  Confederation  led  me  to  the  same  conclusion  with  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice ;  and  I  remember  that  I  was  greatly  strengthened  in  it  by  a  par- 
agraph in  a  newspaper,  which  gave  a  very  brief  statement  of  his 
decision  in  the  ease  to  which  you  refer,  made  about  a  year  before 
my  argument.  I  was  much  gratified  on  the  publication  of  his  pam- 
phlet report,  many  years  after,  to  find  that  our  paths  to  one  common 
conclusion  were  nearly  identical. 

"  In  I860  I  was  called  to  Newark  to  address  the  people  in  favor  of 
Lincoln  and  Hamlin,  and  was  his  guest.  My  experience  confirms 
all  3'ou  say  of  his  hospitality  ;  and  my  observation,  all  you  say  of  his 
benignity  of  manners,  his  cheerful  spirits,  his  fervor  in  religion,  and 
his  patriotic  devotion  to  his  country. 

"I  am  glad  to  have  my  impressions,  to  which  I  then  gave  some 
inadequate  expression  in  my  address,  revived  by  your  discourse. 
"  With  great  respect,  and  very  truly  yours."      S.  P.  CHASE." 

April  14,  we  have  these  letters: 

"  My  Dear  Bishop  :  I  send  you  some  seeds  under  Senator  Sum- 
ner's frank.  They  will,  at  worst,  and  probably  at  best,  prove  my 
remembrance,  and  serve  as  a  token  of  my  respect  and  esteem. 

"  Your  letter  about  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  came  just 
before  Congress  adjourned.  There  was  no  possibility  of  securing 
favorable  action.  Most  think  the  recognition  already  sufficient. 
When  in  the  Treasury  Department  I  directed  devices  and  mottoes  to 
be  put  on  the  coinage — the  two-cent  pieces — and  on  our  notes  and 
bonds,  expressive  of  our  dependence  on  God,  and  our  recognition  of 
the  supreme  authority  of  the  Bible.  One,  on  the  coins,  was,  'In 
God  we  trust;  '  you  have  possibly  seen  it.  Another,  on  notes  and 
bonds,  was  the  Bible,  with  the  Constitution  under  it.  There  were 
others,  I  think,  but  these  alone  are  distinct  in  my  recollection. 
"  Faithfully  your  friend, 

"  Rx.  Rev.  C.  P.  McIlvaine.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

'•  I  am  anxious  about  reconstruction,  and  clear  that  there  should  bo 
no  recognition  of  any  State  as  restored  to  full  relations  without 
recognition  on  its  part  of  colored  loyal  men  as  citizens  entitled  to 
vote." 

"My  Dear  Mrs.  Trimble:  The  Commissioner  of  Agriculture 
sent  me  some  seeds  the  other  day.  I  send  a  few  to  you,  more  as  a 
token  of  remembrance  and  sincere  friendship  than  with  any  hope 
that  thej'  will  be  of  any  use  to  you.     Will  you  so  receive  them? 

"  I  was  very  sorry  that  my  new  duties  allowed  me  to  see  so  little  of 
you  when  here  last  winter.  My  time  was  never  so  wholly  absorbed; 
and  yet  it  seemed  to  me  as   if  I  was  doing   nothing.     This  was  the 


i;:W  THE   PEIVATE    LIFE   AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

hardest  part  of  my  condition.  Work  from  morning  to  midnight,  and 
no  result,  except  that  John  Smith  owned  this  parcel  of  land  or  other 
property,  instead  of  Jacob  Eobinson  ;  I  caring  nothing  and  nobody 
caring  much  more  about  the  matter.  Ah!  but  the  great  principles 
settled,  and  the  honorable  post !     Let  me  console  myself. 

"  Please  assure  the  doctor  of  my  warmest  regards.     Somehow  or 
other  I  feel  drawn  toward  him  with  more  than  a  common  affection. 
'•  Most  truly  your  friend, 

"  Mrs.  Dr.  Trimble.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Buchanan  :  To  send  seeds  to  you  is  like  sending 
coals  to  Newcastle,  gold  to  California,  or  water  to  Lake  Erie  ;  but 
what  seems  so  superfluous  will,  I  hope,  be  received  as  a  slight  mark 
of  remembrance  and  desire  to  be  remembered.  I  send  them  by  this 
day's  mail,  under  my  friend  Sumner's  frank. 

""We  are  all  jubilant  here;  but  some  of  the  thoughtful  ones  are 
much  alarmed  about  the  likelihood  of  reconstruction  without  ade- 
quate guarantees  against  future  evils. 

"  I  send  you,  under  Governor  Sprague's  frank,  Senator  Collamer'a 
speech,  showing  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  secure  the  future. 

"  Your  friend, 

"  E.  Buchanan,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

"  My  Dear  Archbishop  :  I  send  you  a  few  seeds  under  my  friend 
Sumner's  frank — more  because  I  want  to  remind  you  of  myself,  and 
of  my  esteem  and  respect  for  }-ou,  than  because  I  suppose  you  can 
have  any  use  for  them.  But  you  may  know  some  good  people  to 
whom  they  will  be  acceptable. 

"  With  best  regards  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Purcell  and  to  Father  Collins, 
believe  me,  Sincerely  and  faithfully  yours, 

"  Most  Eev.  Archbishop  Purcell.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Not  seldom,  in  the  theater,  the  orchestra  performs  a  lively  pre- 
lude to  a  fearful  tragedy. 

How  strange  the  relation  of  the  prelude  to  the  play!  Yet  who- 
ever has  deeply  studied  the  philosophy  of  Shakspeare's  tragedies, 
especially  as  that  philosophy  is  interpreted  by  William  Schlegel,  may 
have  some  comprehension  of  the  manner  in  which  sport  and  earnest 
are  related,  not  only  in  those  tragedies  but  on  the  stage  of  real  life. 

A  diary  or  register  of  Chief  Justice  Chase  contains  this  unaf- 
fected, fearfully  affecting  narrative  : 

"April  14,  Friday — At  home  morning;  afternoon,  rode  out  with 
Nettie,  intending  to  have  1113'self  left  at  President's,  and  talk  with 
him  about  universal  suffrage  in  reorganization;  felt  reluctant  to  call 
lest  m}'  talk  might  annoy  him,  and  do  harm  rather  than  good  ;  home 
a  little  after  dark,  having  postponed  my  intended  call;  retired  to  bed 
about  ten.  Some  time  after,  a  servant  came  up  and  said  a  gentle- 
man, who  said  the  President  had  been  shot,  wished  to  see  me.  I 
directed  that  he  should  be  shown  into  my  room.  He  came  in  (an 
employe  in  the  Treasury  Department),  and  said  he  had  just  come 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  639 

from  the  theater;  the  President  had  hecn  shot  in  his  hox  by  a  man 
who  leaped  from  the  box  upon  the  stage,  and  escaped  by  the  rear. 
He  could  give  no  particulars,  and  I  hoped  he  might  be  mistaken; 
but  soon  after  Mr.  Mellen,  Mr.  Walker,  the  Fifth  Auditor,  and  Mr. 
Plantz  came  in  and  confirmed  what  I  had  been  told,  and  added  that 
Secretary  Seward  had  also  been  assassinated,  and  that  guards  were 
being  placed  around  the  houses  of  all  the  prominent  officials,  under 
the  apprehension  that  the  plot  had  a  wide  range. 

"  My  first  impulse  was  to  rise  immediately  and  go  to  the  President, 
whom  I  could  not  yet  believe  to  have  been  fatally  wounded  ;  but, 
reflecting  that  I  could  not  possibly  be  of  any  service,  and  should 
probably  be  in  the  way  of  them  who  could,  I  resolved  to  wait  for 
morning  and  further  intelligence.  In  a  little  while  the  guard  came — 
for  it  was  supposed  that  I  was  one  of  the  destined  victims — and  their 
heavy  tramp,  tramp  was  heard  under  my  window  all  night.  Mr. 
Mellen  slept  in  the  house.     It  was  a  night  of  horror. 

"April  15.  Up  with  the  light;  a  heavy  rain  was  falling,  and  the 
sky  was  black.  Walked  up  with  Mr.  Mellen  to  Mr.  Seward's,  cross- 
ing the  street  (Ninth  I  believe1)  on  which  is  Ford's  theater,  and 
opposite  the  house  to  which  the  President  had  been  conveyed;  was 
informed  at  that  point  that  the  President  was  already  dead." 

The  death  of  Lincoln  was  so  sudden,  and  the  manner  of  it  was  so 
tragic,  that  to  this  hour  the  memory  of  the  "  night  of  horror,"  char- 
acterized as  we  have  seen  by  the  pen  of  Chase,  interferes  with  every 
attempt  to  do  simple  justice  to  the  relations  of  the  late  Chief  Jus- 
tice with  the  man  who  so  quietly  passed  him  in  the  race  for  the 
Presidential  nomination,  fourteen  years  ago. 

The  rule,  de  mortuis  nil  nisi  bonum,  is  older  than  the  saying  put 
by  Shakspeare  on  the  lips  of  the  shrewd  orator  that  comes 

"  To  bury  Caesar,  not  to  to  praise  him  ;  " 

the  saying,  namely,  that 

"The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them — 
The  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones." 

If  there  was  aught  deserving  to  be  called  evil  in  the  amiable  life 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  it  was  buried  with  his  bones.  The  people 
would  not  suffer  it  to  outlive  him.  Even  to  this  hour,  allow7  me  to 
repeat,  it  is  a  daring  thing  to  make  a  fair  endeavor  to  do  simple 
justice  to  the  sad,  glad,  merry,  melancholy  man,  whom  the  mad 
guilt,  the  guilty  madness,  of  John  Wilkes  Booth  put  to  death  in  a 
play-house. 

Among  the  papers  furnished  by  Chief  Justice  Chase  for  my  bio- 
graphic use,  I  found  one  in  his  own  handwriting  as  follows: 


'It  is  really  Tenth. 


640  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE   AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

"  April  15,  1865. 

"The  administration  of  the  oath. 

"  Early  yesterday  morning  the  Heads  of  Departments  met  and  cer- 
tified to"  the  Vice-President  the  death  of  the  President,  in  the  form 
used  on  the  decease  of  President  Harrison  and  President  Taylor; 
and  fixed  on  ten  o'clock  as  the  hour  for  meeting  him  at  his  lodgings 
and  for  the  administration  of  the  oath  of  office,  which  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice was  requested  to  administer.  Accordingly,  several  members  of 
the  Cabinet,  with  a  number  of  other  gentlemen,  met  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent and  the  Chief  Justice  about  the  hour  appointed.  Among  those 
present  were  Secretary  McCulloch  and  Attorney-General  Speed,  Sen- 
ators Foote  and  Eamsey,  ex-Senator  Hale,  F.  P.  Blair,  Senior, 
and  Judge  Montgomery  Blair.  All  were  manifestly  deeply  im- 
pressed by  the  great  National  bereavement.  Every  countenance  Avas 
sad.  The  Chief  Justice  administered  the  oath  by  repeating  it  word 
byword,  and  the  Vice-President  repeating  it  after  him,  very  distinctly 
and  impressively.  At  its  close  the  Vice-President  kissed  the  Bible. 
The  passage  which  his  lips  pressed  happened  to  be  the  21st  verse  of 
the  11th  chapter  of  Ezekiel :  '  But  as  for  them  whose  heart  walketh 
after  the  heart  of  their  detestable  things  and  their  abominations,  I 
will  recompense  their  way  upon  their  own  heads,  saith  the  Lord  God.' 

"  When  the  Chief  Justice  received  the  Bible  again  from  the  Pres- 
ident, he  said  to  him,  very  earnestly :  'You  are  President.  May 
God  Support,  guide,  and  bless  you,  in  your  arduous  duties! ' 

"  The  other  gentlemen  congratulated  Mr.  Johnson  ;  but  seemed  to 
find  the  usual  phrases  cold  and  unsuited  to  the  occasion.  They 
found  others,  however,  more  cordial  and  less  formal,  to  which  Mr. 
Johnson  responded  substantially  as  follows  : 

" '  Gentlemen  :  I  must  be  permitted  to  say  that  I  have  been  almost 
overwhelmed  by  the  announcement  of  the  sad  event  which  has  so 
recently  occurred  ;  I  feel  incompetent  to  perform  duties  so  important 
and  responsible  as  those  which  have -so  unexpectedly  been  thrown 
upon  me.  As  to  an  indication  of  any  policy  which  may  be  pursued 
by  me  in  the  administration  of  the  Government,  I  have  to  say  that 
that  must  be  left  for  development,  as  the  administration  progresses. 
The  message  or  declaration  must  be  made  by  the  acts  as  they  tran- 
spire. The  only  assurance  that  I  can  now  give  of  the  future  is  refer- 
ence to  the  past.  The  course  which  I  have  taken  in  connection  with 
this  rebellion  must  be  regarded  as  a  guarantee  for  the  future.  My 
past  public  life,  which  has  been  long  and  laborious,  has  been  founded, 
as  I,  in  good  conscience,  believe,  upon  a  great  principle  of  right, 
which  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  things. 

'"The  best  energies  of  my  life  have  been  spent  in  endeavoring  to 
establish  and  perpetuate  the  principles  of  free  government;  and  I 
believe  that  the  Government,  in  passing  through  its  present  perils, 
will  settle  down  upon  principles  consonant  with  popular  rights,  more 
permanent  and  enduring  than  heretofore.  I  must  be  permitted  to 
say,  if  I  understand  the  feelings  of  my  own  heart,  I  have  long 
labored  to  ameliorate  and  elevate  the  condition  of  the  great  mass  of 
the  American  people.  Toil  and  an  honest  advocacy  of  the  great 
principles  of  free  government  have  been  my  lot.     The  duties  have 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  641 

been  mine — the  consequence  God's.  This  has  been  the  foundation 
of  my  political  creed.  I  feel  that  in  the  end  the  Government  "will 
triumph,  and  that  these  great  principles  will  be  permanently  estab- 
lished. 

'"In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  let  me  say  that  I  want  your  encourage- 
ment and  countenance.  I  shall  ask  and  rely  upon  you  and  others  in 
carrying  the  Government  through  its  present  perils. 

"'  I  feel,  in  making  this  request,  that  it  will  be  heartily  responded  to 
by  you  and  all  other  patriots  and  lovers  of  the  rights  and  interests 
of  a  free  people.'  " 

Another  paper  so  furnished  for  my  biographic  use  was  either  the 
original  or  a  duplicate,  in  his  own  hand,  of  the  certificate  given 
by  him  of  the  oath  he  administered,  on  the  15th  day  of  April,  1865, 
to  Andrew  Johnson.  On  another  paper,  in  the  same  hand,  is  this 
indorsement : 

"  Cop3'  of  an  address  to  the  people,  written  at  the  request  of  Pres- 
ident Johnson  for  his  use,  April  15,  1865,  but  not  used. 

"The  Chief  Justice  left  the  room  when  the  oath  was  administered 
and  went  to  his  house  to  write  the  within  address.  When  he 
returned,  he  learned  that  Mr.  Johnson  had  made  some  remarks  to 
those  present,  contraiy  to  his  purpose  as  expressed  to  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice, who  inferred,  though  he  delivered  the  address  to  the  President, 
that  no  use  would  be  made  of  what  he  had  prepared.  The  remarks 
made  by  President  Johnson  may  be  found  in  the  Am.  Ann.  Cyclop. 
1865,  p.  800." 

The  address  prepared  by  the  Chief  Justice  reads  as  follows  : 

"Fellow  citizens  of  the  United  States  : 

"The  ways  of  God  are  inscrutable. 

"In  the  midst  of  National  rejoicings,  because  of  the  brightened 
prospects  of  restored,  benign,  and  permanent  peace,  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, the  revered  and  beloved  President  of  the  United  States,  has 
fallen  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin. 

"The  blow  was  stricken  yesterday  evening  about  half-past  ten; 
and  he  died  this  morning  at  twenty-two  minutes  past  seven.  Tho 
agonizing  grief  which  seizes1  all  hearts  fills  my  own. 

"Oppressed  by  this  sorrow,  and  profoundly  conscious  how  much  I 
shall  need  the  support  and  favor  of  my  countiymen,  I  have  taken 
the  oath  prescribed  by  the  Constitution,  and  have  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  the  great  office  so  suddenly  and  so  sadly  made  vacant.  It 
will  be  my  sincere  endeavor  to  perform  them  faithfull}*  and  to  jus- 
tify the  trust  which  has  been  reposed  in  me  by  the  American  people. 
In  this  endeavor  I  earnestly  ask  the  cooperation  of  all  patriots  and 
the  prayers  of  all  Christians  ;  and  reverently  invoke  the  gracious 
favor  of  Almighty  God." 


'This  word  was  substituted  for  wrings. 


642  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

How  out  of  character  that  would  have  been  for  the  man  who  fol- 
lowed Lincoln  in  the  Presidency  ! 

Again,  we  see  how  Chase  idealized  the  men  whom  he  had  reason 
to  desire  to  love  or  to  esteem. 

Who  does  not  remember  what  a  day  was  that  which  dawned  on 
Lincoln's  dying  moments?  I  was  then  at  Springfield,  in  Ohio. 
There  the  frozen  tears  of  Nature  seemed  to  mourn  the  Nation's  loss, 
and  every  chill  breeze  appeared  to  be  devoted  to  the  same  sad 
function. 

Here  is  a  document  that  might  seem  to  open  up  a  very  interest- 
ing line  of  progress  for  this  work : 

"  Executive  Mansion,  "Washington,  April  29.  1865. 
"All  officers  in  the  military,  naval,  and  civil  service  are  instructed 
to  afford  to  Chief  Justice  Chase,  in  his  journey  by  sea  to  New  Or- 
leans, and  thence  by  sea  or  inland  to  Washington,  and  in  visiting 
any  place  under  National  military  control,  all  such  facilities  as  their 
respective  duties  may  allow. 

'ANDREW  JOHNSON, 

"President  of  the  United  States." 

On  the  same  day  a  paper,  signed  by  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  and  ad- 
dressed to  the  departmental  commanders  and  all  commanders  of  mil- 
itary divisions,  armies,  posts  and  detachments  in  the  United  States 
military  service,  made  the  following  statement,  request,  and  order: 

"The  Hon.  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  proposes  to  make  a  trip  to  the  South.  If  he 
should  visit  your  command,  it  is  the  desire  of  this  department  that 
you  afford  him  every  facility  in  your  power  to  observe  and  become 
acquainted  with  the  condition  of  the  society  and  people,  and  the 
state  of  public  affairs,  within  your  respective  commands,  and  that 
you  extend  to  him  and  his  companions  courtesy,  assistance,  and  pro- 
tection.    You  will  give  him  such  transportation  as  he  may  require." 

The  letters  written  to  the  President,  in  the  course  of  this  tour, 
I  have  not  space  to  present  in  the  present  work.1  Here  I  ask  atten- 
tion only  to  some  notice  of  a  speech  he  made  at  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  to  an  audience  chiefly  composed  of  colored  men  and  women. 

Of  that  audience,  he  says  himself  that  it  seemed  quite  as  intelli- 
gent as  a  similar  gathering  at  the  North ;  the  colored  citizens  of 
Charleston  being  more  intelligent  than  elsewhere,  because  schools 
for  free  blacks  have  never  been  there  prohibited. 


JI  intend  to  give  them  in  the  work  mentioned  in  Chapter  III. 


OF   SALMON    TORTLAND   CHASE.  643 

At  Covington,  Kentucky,  I  addressed,  more  than  once,  in  1872, 
colored  fellow  citizens.  I  found  them  far  more  interesting  to  a 
speaker,  dealing  fairly  with  them,  than  I  had  anticipated.  But  I 
own,  in  reading  the  report  of  the  speech  made  by  Chief  Justice 
Chase  to  that  colored  audience  at  Charleston,  I  could  not  acquit  the 
speaker  of  some  self-conscious  acting,  in  the  sense  of  playing  a  part — 
the  part  of  a  man  with  Presidency  on  the  brain. 

Our  hero  said,  on  that  occasion  : l 

"Mr  Friends  :  In  compliance  with  the  request  of  General  Sax- 
ton,  your  friend  and  mine,  I  will  say  a  few  words. 

"  He  has  kindly  introduced  me  as  a  friend  of  freedom;  and  such, 
since  I  have  taken  a  man's  part  in  life,  I  have  always  been.  It  has 
ever  been  my  earnest  desire  to  see  every  man,  of  every  race  and 
every  color,  fully  secured  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  natural  rights, 
and  provided  with  every  legitimate  means  for  the  defense  and  main, 
tenance  of  those  rights." 

How  strictly  true  that  is  has  been  insufficiently  known.  But  we 
have  seen  that  this  same  speaker,  at  the  age  of  three-and-twenty 
years,  delivered,  at  Cincinnati,  a  lyceuni  lecture,  not  to  colored 
freedmen  and  freedwomen,  but  to  hearers  of  his  own  complexion 
and  condition,  in  which  he  foreshadowed  his  whole  subsequent  agita- 
tion against  slavery.2 

To  those  colored  men  and  -women,  in  that  church  at  Charleston, 
the  Chief  Justice  of  the  Union  also  said  : 

"No  man,  perhaps,  has  more  deplored  the  war,  from  which  the 
country  is  now  emerging  than  myself.  No  one  would  have  made 
greater  sacrifices  to  avert  it.  Earnestly  desirous,  as  I  always  was, 
of  the  enfranchisement  of  every  slave  in  the  land,  I  never  dreamed 
of  seeking  enfranchisement  through  war.  I  expected  it  through* 
peaceful  measures.  Never  doubting  that  it  would  come  sometime; 
fully  believing  that  by  a  wise  and  just  administration  of  the  National 
Government,  friendly  to  freedom,  but  in  strict  conformity  with  the 
National  Constitution,  the  time  of  its  coming  might  be  hastened,  I 
yet  would  gladly  have  put  aside,  if  I  could,  the  cup  of  evil,  of  which 
our  Nation  has  drunk  so  deeply.  Not  through  those  seas  of  blood 
and  those  vast  gulfs  of  cost,  would  I  have  willingly  sought  even  the 
great  good  of  universal  emancipation. 

"But  God,  in  His  providence,  permitted  the  madness  of  slavery- 
extension  and  slavery-domination  to  attempt  the  dismemberment  of 
the  Union  by  war.  And  when  war  came,  there  came  also  the  idea, 
gradually  growing  into  settled  conviction  in  the  hearts  of  the  people, 


1I  quote  from  the  Appendix  to  Mr.  Whitelaw  Ried's  After  The  W( 
*Ante,  Chapter  XL. 

42 


044  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

that  slavery,  having  taken  the  sword,  must  perish  by  the  sword.  It 
was  quite  natural,  perhaps,  that  I,  having  thought  much  on  the  re- 
lations of  the  enslaved  masses  to  the  Republic,  should  be  among  the 
first  to  recognize  the  fact  that  the  colored  people  of  the  South,  whether 
bond  or  free,  were  the  natural  allies  of  the  Nation  [prolonged 
cheers]  in  its  struggle  with  rebellion,  and  the  duty  of  the  National 
Government  to  assert  their  rights  and  welcome  their  aid.  A  very 
few  months  of  experience  and  observation  satisfied  me  that  if  we 
would  succeed  in  the  struggle,  we  must,  as  a  first  and  most  necessary 
measure,  strike  the  fetters  from  the  bondsmen.     [Cheers.] 

"Such  was  my  counsel  in  the  Cabinet;  and  when  our  honored 
President,  whose  martyrdom  this  nation  now  mourns,  in  common 
with  all  lovers  of  freedom  throughout  the  world,  made  up  his  mind 
to  declare  all  men  in  our  land  free,  no  one  was  more  ready  with  his 
sanction  or  more  hearty  in  his  approval  than  myself."     [Cheers.] 

The  Chief  Justice  also  said  : 

"So,  too,  when  necessarily  that  other  question  arose  :  '  Shall  we 
give  arms  to  the  black  men?'  I  could  not  doubt  or  hesitate.  The 
argument  was  plain  and  irresistible.  If  we  make  them  freemen,  and 
their  defense  is  the  defense  of  the  Nation,  whose  right  and  duty  is  it 
to  bear  arms,  if  not  theirs?  In  this  great  struggle,  now  for  univer- 
sal freedom  not  less  than  for  perpetual  Union,  who  ought  to  take 
part  if  not  they?  And  how  can  we  expect  to  succeed,  if  we  fail  to 
avail  ourselves  of  the  natural  helps  created  for  us  by  the  very  con- 
ditions of  the  war?  When,  therefore,  the  President,  after  much  con- 
sideration, resolved  to  summon  black  soldiers  to  battle  for  the  flag,  I 
felt  that  it  was  a  wise  act,  only  too  long  delayed."     [Cheers.] 

But  even  this  was  not  all  that  the  Chief  Justice  ventured  to  re- 
late and  to  explain  to  his  tutored  and  untutored  hearers.  He  thus 
advanced  on  the  great  highway  of  political  considerations  opened 
by  this  ever  memorable  speech  : 

"And  now,  who  can  say  that  the  colored  man  has  not  done  his 
full  part  in  the  struggle?  Who  has  made  sacrifices  which  he  has  not 
made?  Who  has  endured  hardships  which  he  has  not  endured? 
What  ills  have  any  suffered  which  he  has  not  suffered? 

"If,  then,  he  has  contributed  in  just  measure  to  the  victory,  shall 
he  not  partake  of  its  fruits?  If  Union  and  Freedom  have  been 
secured  through  courage  and  fortitude  and  zeal,  displayed  by  black 
as  well  as  white  soldiers,  shall  not  the  former  be  benefited  in  due 
measure  as  well  as  white  soldiers;  shall  not  the  former  be  benefited 
in  clue  measure  as  well  as  the  latter?  And,  since  we  all  know  that 
natural  rights  can  not  be  made  secure  except  through  political 
rights,  shall  not  the  ballot — the  freeman's  weapon  in  peace — replace 
the  bayonet — the  freeman's  weapon  in  war?" 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  04; 


CHAPTER    XLV  . 

CHASE,    JOHNSON,    DAVIS — GOV.   BROUGH — VIEWS   OF    RECONSTRUCTION. 

AUGUST  11,  1865,  President  Johnson  telegraphed  as  follows  to 
the  Chief  Justice,  who  was  then  at  Kingston  : 

"  I  would  be  pleased  to  have  a  conference  with  you  in  reference  to 
the  time,  place,  and  manner  of  trial  of  Jefferson  Davis,  at  your  earli- 
est convenience." 

Among  the  matter  prepared  for  this  work  was  a  pretty  full  account 
of  our  hero's  expressions  on  the  subject  of  the  trial  of  Mr.  Davis. 
Accidentally,  that  account  has  been  mislaid;  and  this  volume  has  to 
go  to  press  without  it.  But  in  another  place  will  be  found  other 
matter,  especially  an  address  to  the  bar,  at  Raleigh,  and  a  letter  to 
General  Schofield,  which  may  sufficiently  indicate  Chase's  views  in  the 
particular  referred  to. 

Next,  attention  is  invited  to  this  letter: 

"My  Dear  Sir:  It  has  been  made  my  duty  to  transmit  to  you 
a  copy  of  the  proceedings  of  a  recent  meeting  of  citizens  of  Ohio, 
convened  in  this  city,  to  express  the  mingled  sentiments  of  grief 
and  gratitude  with  which  the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  our  late 
Governor  filled  their  hearts;  grief,  because  of  the  great  loss  and 
sore  bereavement;  gratitude,  that  he  was  spared  until  he  had 
seen  the  auspicious  issue  of  his  labors,  watch ings,  and  anxieties  in 
the  assured  salvation  of  the  land  he  loved  from  the  rebellion  he 
abhorred. 

"It  is  a  sad  duty  which  I  perform.  We  have  lost  in  John 
Brough  a  useful  citizen,  a  sincere  patriot,  a  faithful  friend,  a  great 
statesman,  our  honored  and  beloved  Chief  Magistrate.  Our  only 
consolation,  little  felt  in  the  first  moment's  anguish,  but  sure  to 
come,  though  slow,  is  in  the  memory  of  his  honorable  work,  in 
the  observation  of  its  beneficent  results  and  influences,  and  in  the 
hopes  of  the  hereafter. 

'•  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  with  very  great  respect  and  esteem, 
"Yours  most  truly,    '  S.P.CHASE. 

"His  Excellency,  Charles  Anderson,  Governor  of  Ohio."1 


xThe  next  day  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  as  follows  : 

"Dear    Madam:     I  perform  a  sad    duty  by  transmitting  to  you  a  copy  of  the 
recent  meeting  of  citizens  of  Ohio,  assembled  in  this  city,  to  pay  the  homage  ot 


646  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

October  20  yields  this  note  to  Mr.  Sumner : 

"  My  Dear  Sumner  :  Your  convention  speech  was  welcome  in 
pamphlet;  but  I  had  read  it  in  the  Advertiser.  It  is  noble  and 
worthy  of  you. 

"  The  statement  that  the  President  is  unfriendly  to  the  Freedmen's 
Bureau  is  untrue.  He  is  much  embarrassed  by  clamor  from  all 
sides;  and,  as  I  think,  has  not  done  right  in  refusing  suffrage  to  the 
colored  citizens  in  reorganization  ;  but  I  have  good  hopes  that  all 
will  come  out  well,  if  Congress  stands  firm,  and  we  also,  while  earn- 
est, are  conciliatory. 

"  Ever  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Is  not  here  a  precious  letter  ? 

"  My  Dear  Kate  :  Don't  address  me  as  dear  Judge.  I  hate  that 
title  as  much  as  I  do  Salmon.  Say, my  dear  brother;  or,  if  you  want 
to  be  stately,  my  dear  Mr.  Chase  ;  but,  '  dear  Judge ! '  no,  no. 

"You  see,  I  am  giving  you  a  'a  reply  direct  this  time.' 

"  So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  you  may  have  the  lot  for  the  price  you 
name,  and  on  the  terms  you  name ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  Nettie 
will  agree  so  far  as  she  is  concerned.  So  you  may  have  the  deed 
made  out  for  execution  by  both  of  us — Salmon  P.  Chase  and  Janet 
R.  Chase — and  all  mortgages' and  notes  made  to  her  alone.  You  may 
furnish  the  stamps,  or  I  will,  just  as  you  please. 

"If  the  man  who  wishes  to  buy  the  lot  on  the  avenue  will  have 
a  deed  made  in  like  manner,  I  will  execute  it,  and  I  have  no  doubt 
Nettie  will.  He  must  furnish  the  stamps  and  pay  cash.  I  mean  to  in- 
vest what  I  get  for  Nettie  in  7-30's. 

"  Mr.  Hunt  and  Annie  were  here  a  day  or  two  ago.  They  are  now 
gone  to  New  York.  The  President  tells  me  he  was  most  favorably 
impressed  by  Mr.  Hunt ;  and  well  he  may  have  been. 

"  I  am  exceedingly  grieved  by  what  you  write  of  dear  Josie.  I 
hope  that  her  faith  in  Christ,  her  Savior,  is  clear;  and  that  a  perfect 
trust  in  God,  our  Father,  may  sustain  and  comfort  her. 

"  Give  my  love  to  her  and  Charlotte  and  Josie  Jones,  and  Israel 
and  Lud,  and  to  Dunlop,  when  you  write  him. 

"Affectionately  your  brother, 

"  Mrs.  C.  L.  Whiteman.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


their  affectionate  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  late  honored  Chief  Magistrate  of 
our  State,  your  lamented  husband. 

"  The  country,  the  State,  his  friends  (among  whom  I  feel  it  an  honor  to  be 
counted),  his  family,  and  above  all  yourself,  dear  madam,  have  sustained  a  great 
bereavement. 

"  That  He  who  in  His  inscrutable  wisdom  and  certain,  though  hidden,  goodness, 
has  brought  this  great  sorrow  upon  you,  may  support  and  console  you  under  it 
is  the  earnest  prayer  of  Your  sincere  friend, 

"Mrs.  John  Brougii.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  647 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  J.  D.  Ludlow,  under  date  November  20,  appears 
the  paragraph  : 

"We  are  all  well,  including  the  baby,  Master  Wm.  Sprague,  Jr., 
and  would  all  be  delighted  to  see  you  and  yours.  Won't  you  be 
coming  to  Washington?  If  not,  next  summer  we  may  see  you  on 
the  prairies.     Love  from  all  of  us  to  all  of  you." 

December  4  is  the  date  of  the  following : 

"My  Dear  Mr.  Smith:  In  September  I  received  a  charming  let- 
ter from  you,  which,  I  am  ashamed  to  confess,  yet  remains  unan- 
swered, except  by  verbal  acknowledgment.  One  reason,  and  I  think 
a  pretty  good  one,  is  that  I  can't  hope  to  give  as  good  as  I  get.  In- 
deed, the  sense  of  my  inability  to  write  anything  worth  your  read- 
ing has  been  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  my  delay. 

"But  as  I  don't  want  that  my  letter  should  find  you  among  the 
Cheyennes,  Ojibbways,  so  I  must  send  a  line  or  two  now. 

"Your  extract  from  Mr.  Balch's  letter  was  very  gratifying.  I  shall 
look  for  Mr.  Chevalier's  book  with  great  interest.  If  I  could  not 
find  the  appreciation  and  support  I  (shall  I  say  it?)  felt  I  deserved  at 
home,  it  will  be  some  compensation  to  have  the  approval  of  such  a 
thinker  and  writer  as  Mr.  Chevalier.  When  you  write  Mr.  Balch 
make  my  best  regards  acceptable  to  him. 

"  Cordially  your  friend, 

S.  P.  CHASE." 

"P.  S.  When  you  come  back  an  Indian,  don't  fail  to  show  yourself 
first  to  your  friends  here." 

The  next  letter  to  which  I  desire  to  call  attention  reads  as 
follows : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  April  30,  18G6. 

"  My  Dear  Judge  :  It  grieved  me  much  to  hear  from  your 
brother,  Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field,  that  you  have  been  quite  ill.  I  sup- 
posed that  3rou  were  now  in,  or  very  near,  California.  You  must 
take  the  best  care  of  yourself,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  your  family, 
but  of  your  country,  which  now  needs  true  patriotism  as  well  as  legal 
learning  upon  the  bench.  I  feel  all  the  interest  of  warm  personal 
friendship  in  your  welfare.  It  is  not  in  my  nature  to  forget  friends, 
even  where  serious  differences  of  judgment  and  political  affinities 
come  in  to  make  separation  ;  and  no  such  differences  come  between 
us.  Do  you  remember  when,  just  before  the  end  of  the  term,  in  the 
spring  of  1864,  you  met  me  on  the  avenue,  and  expressed  your  warm 
wish  that  I  might  fill  the  place  I  now  occupy?  If  you  have  forgot- 
ten it,  I  have  not,  nor  shall  I  ever  forget  it.  It  took  me  by  surprise, 
but  was  very  grateful  to  my  feelings. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  the  plan  of  reconstruction,  or,  rather,  of 
completing  reconstruction,  presented  by  the  Committee  of  Fifteen? 
To  me  it  seems  all  very  well,  provided  it  can  be  carried  out ;  but  I 


l')4*  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

am  afraid  that  it  is,  as  people  say,  rather  too  big  a  contract.  So  far 
as  I  have  had  opportunity  of  conversing  with  senators  and  rep- 
resentatives, I  have  recommended  to  confine  constitutional  amend- 
ments to  two  points  :  (1.)  No  payment  of  rebel  debt,  and  no  payment 
for  slaves;  and,  (2.)  no  representation  beyond  the  constituent  basis. 
And,  as  so  many  were  trying  their  hands  at  form,  I  drew  up  these 
two  amendments  according  to  my  ideas,  as  follows  : 

•'Article  14,  Section  1.  Representatives  shall  be  apportioned  among 
the  several  States,  according  to  their  respective  numbers;  but  when- 
ever in  any  State  the  elective  franchise  shall  be  denied  to  any  of  its 
inhabitants,  being  male  citizens  of  the  United  States  above  the  age 
of  twentj'-one  years,  for  any  cause  except  insurrection  or  rebellion 
against  the  United  States,  the  basis  of  representation  in  such  State 
shall  be  reduced  in  the  proportion  which  the  number  of  male  citizens 
so  excluded  shall  bear  to  the  whole  number  of  male  citizens  over 
twenty-one  years  of  age. 

"  Sec.  2.  No  payment  shall  ever  be  made  by  the  United  States  for, 
or  on  account  of,  any  debt  contracted  or  incurred  in  aid  of  insurrec- 
tion or  rebellion  against  the  United  States;  or  for  or  on  account  of 
the  emancipation  of  slaves. 

"And  I  proposed,  further,  that  the  submission  of  this  article  to  the 
States  should  be  accompanied  by  a  concurrent  resolution  to  this 
effect:  "That  whenever  any  of  the  States,  which  were  declared  to  be 
in  insurrection  and  rebellion  by  the  proclamation  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  dated  July  1,  1862,  shall  have  ratified  the  forego- 
ing article,  senators  and  representatives  from  such  ratifying  States 
ought  to  be  admitted  to  seats  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives respectively,  in  the  like  manner  as  from  States  never  declared 
to  be  in  insurrection  and  rebellion  ;  and  that  whenever  the  said  arti- 
cle shall  have  been  ratified  by  three-fourths  of  the  several  States, 
senators  and  representatives  ought  in  like  manner  to  be  admitted 
from  all  the  States. 

"It  has  really  seemed  to  me  that  on  this  basis  the  completion  of 
reorganization  by  the  admission  of  members  in  both  Houses  of  Con- 
gress would  be  safe;  and  I  have  greatly  doubted  the  expediency  of 
going  beyond  this.  In  two  or  three  important  respects  the  report  of 
the  committee  does  go  beyond  this:  (1.)  Prohibiting  the  States  from 
interfering  with  the  rights  of  citizens;  (2.)  disfranchising  all  persons 
voluntarily  engaged  in  rebellion  till  1870;  and,  (3.)  in  granting  ex- 
press legislative  power  to  Congress  to  enforce  all  the  new  constitu- 
tional provisions.  Will  not  these  propositions  be  received  with  some 
alarm  by  those  who,  though  opponents  of  secession  or  nullification, 
yet  regard  the  real  rights  ot  the  States  as  essential  to  the  proper 
working  of  our  complex  system?  I  do  not  myself  think  that  any 
of  the  proposed  amendments  will  be  likely  to  have  injurious  effects 
unless  it  be  the  sweep  of  the  disfranchisement;  but,  I  repeat  that  I 
fear  the  undertaking  of  too  much;  and  I  add  that  it  seems  to  me 
that  nothing  is  gained  sufficiently  important,  and  unattainable  by 
legislation,  to  warrant  our  friends  in  overloading  the  ship  with 
amendment  freight. 


OF    SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  649 

'"But  this  letter  is  too  long.  Pardon  and  answer.  Have  you  read 
the  opinion  and  the  dissent  in  the  Bank  Tax  cases  together? 

"Yours  cordially, 

"S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  next  document  I  offer  is  this  letter : 

"  Washington,  May  1,  1866. 

"Dear  Sir:  I  can  not  attend  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Amer- 
ican Anti-slavery  Society,  on  the  8th,  except  by  sincere  wishes 
for  the  complete  accomplishment  of  its  purpose  to  achieve  the 
deliverance  of  our  country  from  the  spirit,  as  well  as  the  fact,  of 
slavery. 

"Among  the  most  urgent  duties  of  the  hour,  I  count  that  of  press- 
ing upon  the  intelligence  and  conscience  of  our  countrymen  the 
duty  and  expediency  of  unqualified  recognition  of  the  manhood 
of  man. 

"  The  nation  has  libex-ated  four  millions  of  the  people  from  slavery, 
and  has  made  them  citizens  of  the  Republic. 

"  That  all  freemen  are  entitled  to  suffrage  upon  equal  terms  is  an 
axiom  of  free  government.  Neither  color  nor  race  can  hfe  allowed, 
as  grounds  of  exception,  without  injustice  and  damage. 

••  If,  in  the  first  movement  toward  national  reconstruction,  this 
truth  had  been  distinctly  recognized  by  an  invitation  to  the  whole 
loyal  people,  of  ever}7  State  in  rebellion,  to  take  part  in  the  work  of 
State  reorganization,  can  it  now  be  doubted  that  the  practical  rela- 
tions of  every  State  in  the  Union  would  have  been  already  reestab- 
lished, and  with  the  happiest  consequences? 

"Nothing  is  more  profitable  than  justice.  Does  not  suffrage  pro- 
mote security,  content,  self-respect,  betterment  of  condition  ?  With 
suffrage  will  there  not  be  more  and  more  productive  labor  than  with- 
out? Will  not  suffrage  insure  order,  education,  respect  for  law, 
activity  in  business,  and  substantial  progress? 

"I  have  heard  the  difference  between  the  production  of  the  lately 
insurgent  States  with  universal  suffrage,  and  the  production  of 
the  same  States  without  it,  estimated  at  one  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  a  year.  At  this  rate,  the  injustice  of  the  denial  of  suffrage 
will  cost  those  States — will  cost  the  nation — five  hundred  millions 
of  dollars  in  five  years — enough  to  pay  nearly  a  fifth  of  the  national 
debt. 

•*  Is  it  too  much  to  expect  that  sensible  and  patriotic  men  in  those 
States  will,  before  long,  see  their  true  interest  in  their  plain  duty, 
and  join  hands  with  those  who  seek,  not  their  injury  nor  their 
humiliation,  but  their  welfare  and  their  honor,  in  equal  rights 
for  all? 

'•However  these  things  may  be,  this,  at  least,  seems  clear  :  the  men 
who  so  long  contended  for  justice  to  the  enslaved,  and  now  contend 
for  justice  to  the  emancipated,  will  not,  can  not,  must  not  cease  their 
efforts  till  justice  prevails. 

"Yours  truly, 

"Wendell  Phillips,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


650  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

AVriting  to  Mr.  A.  Mot,  February  17,  1867,  the  Chief  Justice 
said : 

"  I  have  no  ambition  to  resemble  Louis  XVIII,  and  yet  I  acknowl- 
edge that  punctuality  is  a  virtue  in  all  men. 

"But,  really  j  I  have  not  known  what  to  do  concerning  your  enter- 
prise. I  am  not  of  the  fortunate,  or  unfortunate,  class  called  capi- 
talists, and  have  no  control  over  the  movements  of  men  ;  and  what 
vou  seemed  to  want  was  men  and  money. 

"  I  spoke  to  General  Howard  about  your  scheme,  and  it  seemed  to 
impress  him  favorably;  but  he  has  no  funds  at  his  command  except 
to  aid  in  the  erection  of  school-houses,  as  I  understand;  and  there  is 
nothing  definite  in  your  letter  on  which  to  base  action. 

"Perhaps  the  best  plan  will  be  to  write  to  him,  and  also  to  J.  M. 
McKim,  Corresponding  Secretary  Freedmen's  Union  Commission, 
in  Xew  York,  and  explain  to  each  your  views,  and  in  what  prac- 
tical way  aid  can  be  afforded.  You  may  refer  to  me  as  your 
friend.  Sincerely  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

On  the  18th  of  February,  in  the  course  of  a  letter  to  Hon.  J.  A. 
Arnold,  he  said  : 

"Ihonor  you  for  your  zealous  and  faithful  friendship  to  the  Martyr 
President;  and  I  was  the  more  grieved  that  you  should  attribute  to 
me  an  abuse  of  my  position  against  which  my  whole  soul  would  pro- 
test. The  truth  is,  that  the  bringing  forward  of  my  name  for  the 
Presidency  was  not  sought  by  me  ;  and  when  it  was  brought  forward, 
and  I  felt  the  embarrassment  created  by  it  for  me,  in  my  service  as 
head  of  the  Treasury,  I  availed  myself  of  the  very  first  honorable 
opportunity  to  ask  that  no  further  consideration  might  be  given  to 
my  name;  and,  though  much  urged  afterward  to  allow  it  to  be 
used,  steadfastly  refused.  It  was  months  after  this,  and  under 
very  peculiar  circumstances,  that  I  felt  myself  compelled  to  ten- 
der my  resignation.  But  enough  of  this ;  we  may  talk  it  over, 
sometime." 

In  a  letter,  dated  March  1,  1867,  the  Chief  Justice  stated  to  a 
Cincinnatian,  an  old  acquaintance,  Mr.  Hinkle : 

"  My  private  income  is  very  little  more  than  it  was  twelve  years 
ago.  before  I  was  elected  governor  ;  and  I  have  always  been  obliged 
to  add  to  it  my  salary  to  meet  the  demands  which  always  follow 
official  position  ;  so  that,  so  far  as  worldly  goods  go,  I  should  have, 
no  doubt,  been  better  off  had  I  kept  at  work  in  mjT  profession. 

'•  I  make  this  explanation  because  I  don't  want  }*ou  to  think  that 
anything  else  than  total  inability,  at  present,  prevents  me  from  con- 
tributing to  your  noble  undertaking." 

In  a  letter  to  his  "  dear  Bannister  " — of  whom  he  seems  to  have 
been  singularly  fond — the  Chief  Justice  said,  March  1,  1867  : 

"  1    have   done   to-day   what  I  did  not  believe   I   would    do  for 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  65] 

anybody — certainly,  what  I  would  not  do  for  mj'self.  At  Tay 
lor's  instance,  having  learned  that  your  name  and  his  were  not 
in  the  list  sent  to  the  Senate,  I  have  called  on  the  Secretary  of 
"War  and  on  the  President  to  ask  that  appointments  may  be  given 
you  both." 

Another  paragraph  of  the  same  letter  reads  : 

"  From  Stanton  I  went  to  the  President,  who  received  me,  as  he 
does  everybody,  I  believe,  with  courtesy — took  your  names  and  my 
wishes  for  you,  and  said  that  he  would  do  what  he  could.  How 
much  this  means,  I  can't  say." 

It  was  not  so  that  our  hero  always  treated  applications.  Much 
depended  on  his  mood ;  and  he  was  very  moody.  He  made  many 
foes  and  chilled  the  hearts  of  many  friends  by  his  behavior,  from 
time  to  time. 

March  2,  1867,  in  the  course  of  a  letter  to  Judge  Robert  A.  Hill 
District   Judge  of  the    United   States,   at   Jacinto,  Mississippi,  the 
Chief  Justice  said  : 

"Your  charge  to  the  grand  jury  was  exactly  what  it  should  have 
been.  The  Civil  Rights  Bill  is  as  important  to  the  prosperit}'  of  the 
whites  as  it  is  to  the  security  of  the  blacks." 

Again  : 

"  It  is  deeply  to  be  lamented  that  the  legislatures  of  the  several 
Southern  States  did  not  ratify  the  constitutional  amendments. 
Prompt  ratification  would  have  assured  complete  restoration,  in 
my  judgment.  The  refusal  to  ratify  has  resulted,  as  I  expected,  in  a 
more  stringent  measure.  I  am  glad  to  see  that  Governor  Brown,  of 
Georgia,  recommends  to  the  people  the  acceptance  of  the  new  bill, 
and  organization  under  it  by  universal  suffrage.  Southern  men,  I 
[think],  should  follow  this  lead.  Universal  suffrage  is  sure  to  come, 
and  the  sooner  it  is  conceded  the  sooner  will  all  political  questions 
be  settled." 

And  again : 

"  For  one,  I  am  exceedingly  anxious  for  the  complete  recovery  of 
the  Southern  States  from  the  evils  of  the  war.  They  are  a  most  im- 
portant part  of  the  country.  Their  prosperity  is  the  prosperity  of 
the  whole.  I  know  that  the  path  of  restoration  is  a  hard  one ;  but 
with  wise  men  difficulty  and  even  harshness  is  better  than  permanent 
or  long-continued  distraction." 

On  the  same  day  he  commenced,  as  follows,  a  letter  to  John  M. 
Langston,  Esq.,  now  Professor  : 

"  Dear  Mr.  Langston  :    Yours  of  the  26th  came  yesterday.     I  am 


652  THE    PRIVATE   LIFE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

very  sorry  I  did  not  see  you  in  Washington.  It  seems  to  me  that 
now  is  the  time  for  great  benefits  to  both  races  from  your  labors  in 
the  Southern  States.  There  are  indications  that  the  Southern  people 
may  conform  their  action  to  the  recent  legislation  of  Congress.  If 
so,  you  will  be  everywhere  well  received.  Governor  Brown's  letter 
is  manly  and  strong,  and  its  counsels  may  be  heeded.  I  hope  they 
may  be." 

Then  we  have  the  words  : 

"My  position  and  duties  allow  me  little  part  in  the  present 
work  of  restoration  and   elevation.     But  I  was  glad  that  Governor 

S /  who  was  the  first  to  organize  a  colored  regiment,  was  ready 

to  aid  the  .plan  of  the  League  in  restoring  the  late  rebel  States.  ■  I 
know  very  little  about  it,  except  that  you  were  naturally  thought  of 
as  one  who  could  render  great  service;  and  so  wrote  you.  It  is  a 
pity  you  can't  come  at  once;  but  I  hope  you  may  not  delay  beyond 
the  thirty  (?)  days." 

Marked  evidence  of  a  good,  kind  heart,  in  spite  of  moodiness, 
appears  in  a  letter,  dated  on  the  same  second  of  March,  and  ad- 
dressed to  Mrs.  Mary  Eliza  Chase,  widow  of  the  writer's  brother, 
Edward.  But  it  seeems  improper  to  transcribe  the  letter,  much  of 
which  relates  to  the  condition  of  an  afflicted  relative.  But  I  feel 
free  to  copy  the  sentences : 

"I  am  willing  to  pay  the  expense.  I  remember  her  when  I  was 
very  young  as  a  kind  aunt,  and  I  wish  to  do  all  I  can  to  smooth  the 
remnant  of  her  days." 

The  letter  concludes  with  the  words : 

"  We  are  all  well.  Nettie  is,  you  know,  in  Germany.  She  writes 
cheerfully  and  seems  to  be  improving  every  way." 

In  a  letter  of  the  same  date,  to  Mr.  Arnold,  are  the  words 

•'  I  have  nothing  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  which  seems  proper  for  publica- 
tion, at  this  time,  unless  it  be  what  he  said  to  the  Cabinet  at  the  first 
reading  of  the  Proclamation  of  Emancipation.  I  hardly  know 
whether  this  should  be  published  ;  but  if,  on  reflection,  it  may  be,  it 
was  promised  to  Mr.  Owen,  for  his  book,  before  I  knew  of  your 
intended  publication. 

"The  draft  of  a  proclamation,  to  which  you  refer,  as  submitted  to 
the  President  by  me  was  very  brief,  and  not  at  all  a  'grand  paper.' 
It  is  remarkable  for  nothing  except  for  the  concluding  paragraph, 
which,  with  some  modification,  Mr.  Lincoln  adopted  as  his  conclud- 
ing paragraph. 


'Sprague. 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  653 

"The  paragraph,  as  I  wrote,  was  as  follows  :  'And  upon  this  act, 
sincerely  believed  to  be  an  act  of  justice,  warranted  by  the  Constitu- 
tion [and  an  act  demanded  by  the  circumstances  of  the  country],  I 
invoke  the  considerate  judgment  of  mankind,  and  the  gracious  favor 
of  Almighty  God.' 

"Mr.  Lincoln  struck  out  the  words  in  brackets,  and  inserted, 
instead,  'upon  military  necessity."1 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Ball,  dated  March  11,  are  the  words: 

"I  have  inclosed  a  check  for  $50  to  Oma  Smith  (colored),  a  former 
servant  of  Mr.  Wirt,  at  the  request  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Golds- 
borough Perhaps  you  may  remember  Oma,  as  he  drove 

my  carriage  about  twenty  years  ago." 

On  the  same  day,  Oma  himself  was  thus  addressed  by  the  same  pen  : 

"  Friend  Oma  :  At  Mrs.  Goldborough's  request,  I  inclose  a  check 
on  First  National  Bank  of  Cincinnati  for  $50,  payable  to  yourself  or 
order.  Please  call  with  it  yourself  at  the  bank  and  get  the  money. 
Mrs.  Goldsborough  showed  me  her  letter  to  you;  'tis  very  kind,  and 
I  hope  you  will  accept  her  oifer.         Your  sincere  friend, 

"Mr.  Oma  Smith,  colored.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

It  is  pleasant  thus  to  find  ourselves  again  reminded  of  the  Wirts; 
and  I  am  rather  proud  of  that  little  note  to  "  friend  Oma." 

On  the  same  day,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote,  as  follows,  to  Judge 
Miller  : 

"  My  Dear  Judge  :  I  want  you  to  give  me  the  benefit  of  your 
best  judgment  on  the  question,  Can  Congress  Constitutionally  author- 
ize the  nomination  of  Registers  in  Bankruptcy  to  the  District  Court 
by  the  Chief  Justice  or  any  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court? 
I  have  asked  Swayne  for  his  advice,  and,  as  yet,  no  one  else  beside 
yourself.  I  shall  not,  probably,  act  in  any  case  before  April,  but 
shall  be  glad  of  your  views  as  soon  as  you  can  consider  the  matter. 

"I  wish  most  heartily  that  Congress  had  put  the  dutyT  of  nomina- 
tion on  some  one  else ;  but  am  inclined  to  perform  it,  if  the  putting 
of  it  on  me  is  not  unconstitutional." 

Did  the  Chief  Justice  "  fool  himself"  about  that  wish?  Was  he 
not  rather  fond  of  patronage?  Was  he  not  at  heart  rather  glad  of 
the  opportunity,  afforded  by  the  change  in  question,  to  make  faster 
friends  and  to  disarm  opponents?  It  appears  to  me  that  he  did  not 
deceive  himself  in  that  respect.  I  think  he  had  more  than  begun  to 
find  out  his  Achilles  heel. 

The  same  letter  to  Judge  Miller  says : 

"You  and  Mrs.  Miller  have  reached   home  in  safety  and   health,  1 


654  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

hope.  The  dreadful  cold  under  which  I  was  suffering,  when  you 
left,  grew  much  worse  and  alarmed  me  a  good  deal.  I  hope  I  am 
rid  of  it  now.  But  my  new  duties  have  pressed  me  so  much  that  I 
have  had  no  time  for  study.  I  tried  to  get  to  the  Capitol  to-day, 
and  shut  myself  up ;  but  could  not  make  my  escape  till  four  this 
afternoon.  I  am  writing  in  the  Conference  Eoom. 
"Yours  most  cordially, 
'■  Hon.  Samuel  F.  Miller.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

On  the  14th,  writing  to  Governor  Fenton,  the  Chief  Justice  said  : 

"  Our  political  sky  seems  to  be  clearing.  It  seems  probable  that 
under  the  Military  Act  and  the  Supplemental  and  Eestoration  Bill,  all 
the  Southern  States  will  be  back,  with  full  representation,  in  a  year. 
I  do  not  think  this  will  hurt,  but  rather  help  us." 

I  next  find  the  copy  of  an  undated  letter  to  Horace  Greeley,  as 
follows  : 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Greeley  :  Eeid  showed  me  a  letter  from  you  the 
other  day,  and,  I  presume,  has  seen  you  ere  this,  and  assured  you  of 
my  wish  to  do  all  I  can  to  benefit  a  paper  which  has  rendered  such 
invaluable  service  to  the  cause  of  freedom  and  right. 

"I  was  glad  to  see  your  articles  on  resumption.  If  I  had  time  I 
would  look  up  the  facts  of  the  last  six  years  and,  lay  them  in  order 
before  you.  I  was  often  accused  of  expansion,  and  I  never  went  be- 
yond the  original  limit  of  $450,000,000,  nor  beyond1  mill.,  except  in 
an  emergency.  The  expansion,  by  adding  the  national  currency  to 
the  greenback  currency,  instead  of  substituting  the  former  for  the 
latter,  took  place  after  I  left  the  department. 

"  Would  you  like  to  see  the  list  of  persons  recommended  for  reg- 
ister in  New  York?  The  number  is  large  and  increasing.  I  wish 
you  would  advise  Congress  to  repeal  the  clause  putting  the  nomina- 
tion on  me. 

"Your  friend  sincerely,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

A  letter  to  Colonel  R.  C.  Parsons,  dated  March  16,  concludes  as 
follows : 

"  Smith — Comly's  father-in-law — told  me  that  you  are  too  ardent, 
and  manage  too  much.  I  mention  this  that  you  may  be  careful : 
but  told  him  that  friends  who  wait  for  something  to  turn  up  are  not 
the  most  valuable.     He  says  Comly  is  friendly. 

"  Yours  always,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

On  the  same  day  we  have  this  letter : 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Austin  :  Your  note,  announcing  the  death  of  Mr. 
Garniss,2  filled  me  with  sadness.     All  gone !     Father,  mother,  their 


1A  word  is  here  illegible. 
2Ante,  page. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  655 

daughter,  my  clear  wife ;  their  grandchild,  my  precious  little  one; 
their  adopted  daughter,  the  beloved  partner  of  your  bosom;  all! 
How  this  earth  slides  from  under  our  feet!  It  is  a  comfort  to  be  as- 
sured that  Mr.  Garniss,  so  full  of  years,  was  ready  to  depart.  It  is  a 
comfort,  too,  to  hear  that  your  boys  are  doing  well.  I  shall  always, 
while  I  live,  take  a  warm  interest  in  them. 

"With  sympathizing  regards  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ferric,  believe  me, 
"  Most  sincerely  your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  David  Austin,  Esq. 

"Did  Mr.  Garniss  leave  a  will?    I  should  like  to  have  the  pictures 
of  myself  and  of  Kate,  and  our  child." 

Have  I  exaggerated  in  describing  the  supreme  affliction  of  our 
hero's  private  life?     But  more  of  this  wre  shall  see  hereafter. 


656  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 


CHAPTER   XLVI. 

CHASE   AND  JOHNSON — CHASE  AS  A  UNIONIST — PRESIDENTIAL  FEVER — 
CHASE  AND  THE  COOKES. 


0 


X  the  21st  of  March,  the  Chief  Justice  said  to  his  "dear  Par- 
sons/' by  letter : 

"  Your  note,  or  rather  letter,  of  yesterday,  is  just  received.     I  am 

very,  very  sorry  that  Mrs.  P and  Julia  are  ill.     I  would  rather 

have  my'friends  well  and  happy  than  be  President  by  a  good  deal. 
Most  earnestly  do  I  hope  that  they  are  already  much  better,  and 
will  soon  be  well. 

"  The  letter  from  Smith  was  to  the  effect  that  it  was  understood, 
at  Cols.,  that  you  and  some  others  of  my  friends  were  seeking 
strength  for  me  by  alliance  with  the  Conservatives,  and  that  there 
was  no  use  in  such  alliance;  that  the  radicals  would  unite  on  Cor- 
win,  and  that  my  prospects  would  be  injured  by  apparent  opposition 
to  him.  I  told  [here  follow  illegible  words]  the  substance.  That's 
all.  By  your  man,  I  mean  Mr.  D.,  not  Gov.  D.  He  is  very  able, 
and  has  shown,  of  late,  in  all  things,  a  very  good  record;  and  what 
I  meant  to  say  was  that,  if  he  can  not  have  the  office  you  spoke 
of,  his  talents  and  character  should  be  called  into  service  in  some 
other  honorable  position. 

"  I  agree  with  you  about  work.  No  cause  can  prosper  without  it. 
Though  there  be  men  who  sometimes  seem  to  have  honors  thrust 
upon  them. 

"  The  court  will  meet  on  the  1st  of  April,  and  will  at  once  appoint 
a  Marshal.  I  mentioned  your  name  to  Field  to-day,  and  he  was,  or 
seemed,  much  gratified.  Nobody  will  object.  All,  I  think,  will  x 
with  satisfaction — real  satisfaction.  Will  you  accept?  Of  course 
you  will;  for  you  have  promised;  and,  unless  you  see  something 
disagreeable  in  the  duties,  or  likely  to  injure  your  future  prospects, 
I  shall  insist  on  your  promise.  But  do  not  accept  at  any  sacrifice 
of  inclination  or  prospects.  I  know  another  man  who  will  do, 
though  no  one  who  will  do  as  well  or  be  half  so  acceptable  to  me." 

That  curious  letter  goes  on  as  follows  : 

"  I  am  very  sorry  to  give  you  so  much  trouble  about  the  iron  stock.2 


1  Here  is  again  an  illegible  word. 

2  In  an  earlier  letter,  dated  March  16th,  are  the  words:  "Dear  Parsons:  I  have 
no  memorandum  or  memory  of  the  iron  stock.  All  I  know  is,  that  I  bought  of  you, 
and  had  a  certificate  for  the  number  of  shares,  which  §5500  paid  for,  and  that  1 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  657 

It  is  very  strange  what  became  of  the  note  case  which  contained  it, 
and  some  other  certificates  and  notes.  There  was  nothing  that 
could  be  used  by  a  thief,  except  two  notes  which  were  indorsed. 
One  of  them  has  since  become  due  and  has  been  paid  as  a  lost  note 
by  the  maker.  The  original  has  not  been  presented.  This  makes 
me  think  it  possible  that  the  case  and  contents  may  yet  come  to 
light. 

"  With  affectionate  remembrances  to  Mrs.  P.  and  my  dear  little 
friend,  Julia,  and  the  youthful  Richard,  believe  me 

"Cordially  yours, 

"Col.  R.  C.  Parsons.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

"  P.  S.  Dr.  Smith  is  a  true  friend,  if  not  a  very  active  one.  T 
think  C will  not  differ  materially  from  him." 

On  the  22d  we  have  the  following : 

"  Dear  Mr.  Schuckers  :  I  inclose  the  acceptance.  If  your  ex- 
pectations are  realized,  you  may  consider  it  as  payment  for  stock. 
If  not,  and  you  can  not  conveniently  pay,  I  will  set  down  to  the 
debit  of  '  experiment '  and  '  good  will.' 

"  It  is  my  trust,  however,  that  you  will  come  out  successful. 

"  Faithfully  your  friend, 

"J.  "W.  Schuckers,  Esq.  g#  p.  CHASE." 

In  another  handwriting,  below,  we  have : 

"  Note  for  $500  accepted,  payable  to  Mr.  J.  W.  Schuckers,  four 
months  after  date,  March  21st,  1867." 

Concluding  a  letter  to  Hon.  Horace  Maynard,  on  the  25th  of 
March,  the  Chief  Justice  said : 

"  You  had  '  not  place  any  more  dependence  than  your  experience 
shows  you  ought  to,  on  rumors  of  my  intentions,  which  find  their 
way  into  the  papers." 

On  the  same  day  he  wrote  to  the  celebrated  "  Parson  Brownlow," 
a  letter,  beginning  as  follows: 

"  My  Dear  Governor  :  I  am  a  little  late  in  congratulating  you 
on  the  late  proof  of  confidence  which  the  loyal  men  of  Tennessee 
have  given  you.  It  was  nobly  deserved,  and  must  have  been  as 
gratifying  to  you  as  it  was  to  your  friends  every-where. 

"  Your  recent  proclamation  has  just  appeared  in  our  papers  here. 
God  grant  that  it  may  have  the  effect  of  repressing  the  violence  of 

soon  after  received  a  dividend  at  New  York  of  $500.     There  must  be  entries  on  the 
books  of  the  company  that  show  the  issue  of  the  certificate  to  me;    or  the  books 
must  be  very  loosely  kept." 
1  So  in  original. 


658  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

the  bad  and  encouraging  the  efforts  of  the  good,  so  that  peace  and 
prosperity  of  your  great  State  may  soon  be  fully  restored."  ' 

On  the  27th  we  have  the  note  : 

"  Dear  Mr.  Greeley  :  I  was  much  disappointed  in  not  seeing 
you  when  you  were  in  Washington. 

"  It  seems  that  Congress  is  determined  to  make  me  nominate  the 
registers.  If  adjournment  takes  place  without  relieving  me,  I  shall 
do  the  best  I  can. 

"  I  may  make  slow  work,  for  I  must  attend  to  my  judicial  duties. 

"  When  do  you  come  here  again  ? 

"  Yours  always, 

"  Hon.  H.  Greeley.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

April  26th  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  to  Mr.  J.  W.  Schuckers  : 

"  My  Dear  Schuckers  :  I  am  much  to  blame  for  neglecting  your 
letter,  but  I  am  pressed  out  of  measure. 

"  As  to  the  stock,  I  should  prefer  to  let  it  remain  as  it  is,  if  after 

seeing  Mr.  Miller,  I  think  it  best.     My  relations  to  Mr.  M are 

much  the  same  as  mine  to  you,  and  I  should  be  perfectly  willing 
to  communicate  freely  with  him. 

"  If  this  is  not  agreeable  to  you,  however,  do  as  you  please,  and 
I  shall  be  content.  Only  don't  burden  yourself  on  my  account. 
Take  care  of  yourself  and  you  will  please  me. 

"Your  friend, 

"J.  W.  Schuckers,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

On  the  same  day  General  Schofield  was  thus  addressed  by  letter : 

"  Dear  General  :  I  received,  some  days  ago,  a  kind  note  from 
you,  inviting  me,  in  case  I  should  come  to  Richmond  to  hold  the 
Circuit  Court,  to  share  your  quarters. 

"  As  my  duties  were  certain  to  detain  me  here  till  late  in  May,  I 
allowed  the  pressure  of  other  engagements  to  delay  my  reply,  and 
the  expression  of  my  thanks  for  your  kindness. 

"  To-day  I  have  received  (I  suppose  from  Judge  Underwood)  your 
letter  to  him  of  the  30th  of  March. 

"  The  judge  must  have  misapprehended  me,  since  he  evidently 
thought  that  I  required  some  assurance  of  welcome  and  protection 

1  On  the  27th  he  wrote  to  John  C.  Tucker,  Esq.,  assistant  assessor  United  States 
internal  revenue,  Marksville,  Avoyell's  Parish,  Louisiana: 

"  I  remember  very  well  the  occasion  to  which  you  refer  in  your  letter  of  the  18th. 
I  trust  the  time  is  now  nigh  at  hand  when  frank  recognition  of  the  rights  of  all  by 
all  will  secure  to  every  child  in  the  country  the  benefits  of  education. 

"  1  regret  that  it  is  not  in  my  power  to  procure  for  you  an  appointment  under 
government  in  Louisiana;  I  am  not,  however,  at  present,  in  a  position  which  en- 
ables me  to  influence  appointments  in  any  of  the  departments." 

How  different  from  that  letter  to  "  dear  Bannister  "  about  the  call  on  Secretary 
Stanton  and  President  Johnson  ! 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  G59 

from  your  headquarters  for  the  Circuit  Court,  to  remove  my  doubts 
as  to  the  propriety  of  my  attending  the  May  term. 

"I  certainly  never  expressed  a  wish  for  any  such  assurance, 
though  I  greatly  value  assurances  of  good-will  from  you. 

"I  have  not  entertained  any  doubts  as  to  the  safety  of  the  Circuit 
[Court]  in  Richmond;  and,  whether  welcome  or  not,  personally,  to 
the  people  there,  I  never  had  any  apprehension  that  I  should  not 
be  received,  as  Chief  Justice,  with  proper  respect. 

"My  unwillingness  even  to  seem  to  feel  such  apprehension  will 
compel  me,  in  case  I  come  to  Richmond,  to  decline  your  offered  hos- 
pitality. I  must  find  my  quarters  at  the  hotel  and  take  my  chance 
with  other  visitors  of  the  place,  whether  on  business  or  for  pleasure. 

"  With  great  regard  and  esteem,  yours  truly, 

"Maj.-Gen.  Schofield.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

And  to  Judge  Underwood,  on  the  same  day,  was  written : 

"  My  Dear  Judge  :  I  have  received,  to-day,  Gen.  Schofield's  letter 
to  you  cf  the  30th  of  March,  which,  I  suppose,  was  inclosed  to  me 
by  you. 

"  You  must  have  misconceived  me.  I  wanted  no  assurance  of 
welcome  and  protection  for  the  Circuit  Court  from  headquarters. 

"  If  I  go  to  Richmond  at  all,  I  intend  to  have  no  relations  with 
the  military,  except  those  which  spring  from  the  good-will  which 
subsists  between  myself  and  some  of  the  officers. 

"  But  I  can  not  goat  all  till  after  the  30th  of  May,  by  which  time 
the  Circuit  Court  will,  I  suppose,  have  adjourned." 

And  now  comes  a  letter  evidently  addressed  to  Col.  Donn  Piatt, 
now  of  the  Washington  Capital,  though  no  name  is  attached  to  my 
copy.  Col.  Piatt  was  then,  more  suo,  gently  agitating  men  and 
measures  in  the  Macacheek  Press.     The  letter  reads  as  follows : 

"  My  Dear  Colonel  :  Your  letter  gratified  me  so  much  that  I 
must  reply  instanter,  though  in  so  much  haste  that  I  can't  be  cer- 
tain that  you  will  be  able  to  make  out  my  crow-tracks. 

"  I  never  tire  of  assurances  of  friendship  from  friends,  and  no  man, 
I  believe,  is  more  sincerely  attached  to  his  friends,  or  feels  estrange- 
ment more  painfully  than  I.  And  yet  I  have  not  unfrequently  ex- 
perienced estrangement  when  I  was  unconscious  of  having  done 
any  thing  to  cause  it.  And  I  did  not  know  but  such  might  have 
been  the  case  with  you. 

"  The  article  in  the  Macacheek  was,  if  I  remember  rightly,  a  let- 
ter from  Washington,  for  nothing  in  which  was  the  paper  responsi- 
ble except  the  publication.  I  can  not  now  remember  what  it  was 
in  it  that  struck  me  as  unjust,  but  its  publication  did  excite  the 
apprehension  I  expressed  in  my  letter  to  the  general ;  and  it  pained 
me,  for  I  felt  that  I  had  not  been  wanting  in  proofs  of  friendship 
for  you. 

"  If  the  Macacheek  was  returned  by  the  postmaster  here,  it  was 
my  fault;  for  I  directed  no  papers  to  be  sent  me  unless  prepaid. 
43 


600  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

They  had  become  rather  numerous.  But  the  order  was  a  foolish 
one.  like  some  other  general  orders  I  have  read  of,  and  was  soon 
rescinded,  and  now  Macacheek  will  be  welcome. 

••  You  are  right  in  not  holding  me  responsible  for  my  friends,  but 
wrong  in  holding  me  responsible,  in  any  bad  sense,  for  my  enemies. 
I  am  sure,  I  do  not  '  create  '  them,  by  wrong  doing.  Some  of  them 
make  themselves  such  by  mistakes  and  misconception — some  are 
enemies  because  they  hate  what  I  think  best — and  some  from  envy 
and  spite.     How  am  I  responsible  for  these? 

"The  prospects  in  the  country  are  excellent  except  the  financial, 
and  I  don  't  work  on  these.  The  reconstruction  measures  are  doing 
their  work.  The  best  men  in  the  South  are  making  up  their  minds 
to  welcome  the  new  order.  A  gentleman,  prominent  Democrat,  and 
who  has  held  high  positions — just  returned — tells  me  that  many 
leading  gentlemen,  whom  he  met  in  the  South,  are  going  to  take 
hold  of  universal  suffrage  as  a  principle  for  the  whole  country,  and 
make  it  the  basis  of  future  action. 

"  It  will  be  a  glorious  resurrection  when  the  South  prospers  by 
justice.  Faithfullv  your  friend, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE."  » 

To  Judge  Underwood,  May  13th,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  a  letter 
saying  : 

"  Thanks  for  your  note  and  thanks  for  Mr.  Millward's  offer  of  ac- 
commodations. I  do  not  know  that  I  should  care  to  be  in  the  same 
house  with  Mr.  Davis,  while  he  and  I  occupy  our  present  relative 
positions. 

"  It  is  certain  that  I  shall  be  detained  here  all  this  week  and 
next.  After  that,  if  the  Circuit  Court  business  requires  my  presence, 
I  shall  try  to  join  you. 

'•  In  that  case,  I  will  thank  [you]  to  request  Mr.  Chandler  to  pro- 
cure suitable  quarters  for  me.  I  shall  want  a  parlor  and  a  bed-room, 
adjoining,  and  a  sleeping-room  for  my  messenger,  who  is  colored." 

1  To  Gov.  Dennison,  on  the  5th  of  May,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  a  letter,  contain- 
ing this  language  : 

"  I  had  a  letter  from  you  some  days  since  which  I  meant  to  make  an  occasion 
for  writing  you  my  thanks  for  what  has  been  reported  to  me  as  having  been  said 
by  you  of  me.  I  value  greatly  your  friendship  and  good  opinion.  It  was  my  habit 
to  rely  much  on  you  when  I  was  governor  of  Ohio.  When  I  was  secretary,  a  tem- 
porary difference  in  financial  views  deprived  me  of  much  of  the  benefit  I  hoped 
from  your  counsels.  But  I  can  never  forget  the  magnanimity  and  generous  terms 
in  which  you  declared  yourself  convinced  of  the  wisdom  of  my  course.  I  have  re- 
joiced in  all  the  honors  you  have  received  ;  and  while  I  regretted  that  you  felt  your- 
self constrained  to  retire  from  the  post  you  filled  so  ably,  I  most  cordially  approved 
the  course  you  felt  required  of  you  by  duty. 

"  I  do  not  know  that  I  shall  ever  again  be  in  a  position  in  which  I  shall  require 
any  other  counsel  than  that  of  counsellors  at  law ;  but  if  that  should  happen,  I  shall 
rely  on  yours." 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  66] 

On  the  21st,  a  letter  to  Hon.  Flam  en  Ball  began  as  follows  r 

"My  Dear  Old  Friend  :  My  nomination  of  you  for  Register  will 
go  to  Judge  Leavitt  by  next  mail." 

June  3d,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Geo.  O'Harra,  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  the 
Chief  Justice  said,  with  evidently  unaffected  feeling  : 

"  I  deeply  regret  your  embarrassment  through  Mr.  Stone.  Hardly 
any  thing  ever  gave  me  so  much  pain  as  his  misconduct."1 

What  a  history  those  few  words  will  open  up  for  many  residents 
of  Columbus!  Mr.  Stone,  the  reader  will  remember,  was  the  man 
appointed  by  Gov.  Chase  State  Treasurer,  on  the  resignation  of  Gen. 
Gibson. 

At  Raleigh,  on  the  6th  of  June,  1867,  in  the  State  Senate  Cham- 
ber, was  opened  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  Chief  Justice  Chase 
presiding.  A  large  number  of  distinguished  members  of  the  bar 
listened  to  the  following  address  of  the  Chief  Justice,  pronounced 
before  proceeding  to  business : 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Bar  :  Before  proceeding  to  the  regular  busi- 
ness, I  think  it  proper  to  address  a  few  observations  to  you.  For 
more  than  four  3-ears  the  courts  of  the  Union  were  excluded  from 
North  Carolina  by  the  rebellion.  When  active  hostilities  closed  in 
1865,  national  military  authority  took  the  place  of  all  ordinary  civil 
jurisdiction,  or  controlled  its  exercise.  All  courts,  whether  State  or 
National,  were  subordinated  to  military  supremacy,  and  acted,  when 
they  acted  at  all,  under  such  limitations  and  in  such  cases  as  the 
commanding  general,  under  the  direction  of  the  President,  thought 
fit  to  prescribe.  Their  process  might  be  disregarded,  and  their 
judgments  and  decrees  set  aside  by  military  orders.  Under  these 
circumstances,  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  allotted  to  the 
circuits  which  include  the  insurgent  States,  abstained  from  joining 
the  district  judges  in  holding  the  Circuit  Courts.  Their  attendance 
was  unnecessary;  for  the  district  judges  were  fully  authorized  by 
law  to  hold  the  Circuit  Courts  without  the  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  to  exercise  complete  jurisdiction  in  the  trial  of  all  crimi- 
nal and  almost  all  civil  cases.  And  their  attendance  was  unnecessary 
for  another  reason  :  the  military  tribunals,  at  that  time,  and  under 
the  existing  circumstances,  were  competent  to  the  exercise  of  all 
jurisdiction,  criminal  and  civil,  which  belongs,  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances, to  civil  courts.  Being  unnecessary,  the  justices  thought 
that  their  attendance  would  be  improper  and  unbecoming;  they 
regarded  it  as  unfit  in  itself  and  injurious  in  many  ways  to  the 
public  interests,  that  the  highest  public  officers  of  the  judicial  de- 
partment of  the  government  should  exercise  their  functions  under 

1  Ante,  p. 


662  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

the  supervision  and  control  of  the  executive  department.  At  length, 
however,  the  military  control  over  the  civil  tribunals  was  withdrawn 
by  the  President.  The  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  which  had  been  sus- 
pended, was  restored,  and  military  authority  in  civil  matters  was 
abrogated.  This  was  effected  particularly  by  the  proclamation  of 
A  |  'HI  2d,  and  partly  by  the  proclamation  of  August  20, 1866.  These 
proclamations  reinstated  the  full  authority  of  the  national  courts 
in  all  matters  within  their  jurisdiction,  and  the  justices  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  expected  to  join  the  district  judges  in  holding  the 
Circuit  Courts  during  the  interval  between  the  terms  at  Washing 
ton. 

"  On  the  23d  of  July,  1866,  however,  an  act  of  Congress  reduced 
the  number  of  the  circuits  and  changed  materially  the  districts  of 
which  the  Southern  circuits  were  composed,  without  making  or 
providing  for  an  allotment  of  the  members  of  the  Supreme  Court  to 
the  new  circuits;  and,  without  such  allotment,  the  justices  of  that 
court  have  no  circuit  jurisdiction.  The  effect  of  the  act,  therefore, 
was  to  suspend  the  authority  of  the  justices  to  hold  the  Circuit 
Courts  in  the  altered  circuits.  This  suspension  Avas  removed  by  the 
act  of  March  2,  1867,  by  which  a  new  allotment  was  authorized. 
Under  this  act  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  have  been  again 
assigned  to  circuit  districts,  and  the  Chief  Justice  has  been  allotted 
to  hold,  with  the  district  judges,  the  national  courts  for  this  dis- 
trict. 

"  I  am  here  to  join  my  brother,  the  district  judge,  in  holding  the 
Circuit  Court  for  this  district.  It  is  the  first  Circuit  Court  held  in 
any  district  within  the  insurgent  States,  at  which  a  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court  could  be  present  without  disregard  of  superior  duties 
at  the  seat  of  government  or  usurpation  of  jurisdiction.  The  asso- 
ciate justices  allotted  to  the  other  southern  circuits  will  join  in 
holding  the  courts  at  the  regular  terms  prescribed  by  law;  and  thus 
the  national  civil  jurisdiction  will  be  fully  restored  throughout  the 
Union. 

"It  is  true  that  military  authority  is  still  exercised  within  these 
southern  circuits,  but  not  now  as  formerly,  in  consequence  of  the 
disappearance  of  local  authority  and  in  suspension  or  control  of 
all  tribunals,  whether  State  or  national.  It  is  now  used  under 
acts  of  Congress,  and  only  to  prevent  illegal  violence  to  persons 
and  property,  and  to  facilitate  the  restoration  of  every  State  to 
equal  rights  and  benefits  in  the  Union.  This  military  authority 
does  QOt  extend  in  any  respect  to  the  courts  of  the  United  States. 
Let  us  hope  that  neither  rebellion  nor  any  other  occasion  for  the 
assertion  of  any  military  authority  over  courts  and  justices  -will 
hereafter  suspend  the  due  course  of  judicial  administration  by  the 
national  tribunals  in  any  part  of  the  republic." 

On  the  25th  of  June,  the  Chief  Justice,  writing  to  Horace  Gree- 
ley, started  off  as  follows  : 

"Dear  Mr.  Greeley  :  How  could  you !  Do  n't  the  Constitution 
Bay  what  shall  constitute  treason?  Is  n't  it  '  levying  war  ? '  Did 
not  the  rebels  'levy  war  ?  '     Did  n't  they,  then,  '  commit  treason  ?  ' 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  603 

"Read  that  part  of  Webster's  speech  in  reply  to  Hayne,  in  which 
he  describes  the  consequences   of  nullification.     You  will  find  no 
hint  that  nullifiers,  pursuing  their  nullification  to  civil   war.  cei 
to  be  traitors  on  becoming  engaged  in  such  a  war. 

"  But  no  matter  what  he  Baid.  There  is  the  Constitution,  and  it  is 
so  plain  that  it  can't  be  made  plainer. 

"Now  what  is  the  business  of  a  court?  To  fritter  away  plain 
words  by  arbitrary  interpretation?  or,  to  declare  their  obvious 
meaning  and  leave  to  the  political  departments." 

Here  my  copy,  in  the  letter-book,  becomes  totally  illegible. 
There  are,  indeed,  subsequent  passages  which  can  be  made  out  ;  but 
I  shall  quote  farther  only  the  conclusion  of  the  letter  and  its  post- 
script.    In  these  we  have  the  sentences : 

"  I  would  not  be  surprised  if,  when  the  States  have  thus  returned 
to  their  duties,  Congress  should  adopt  your  doctrine  of  universal 
amnesty.  Meantime  do  n't  let  us  by  construction  cut  out  the  law; 
but  take  it  as  it  is,  and  conform  it,  at  last,  to  the  highest  of  all 
laws,    whose  voice  is  the  harmony  of  the  world.' 

••  Yours  cordially. 

•;  Hon.  H.  Greeley.  S.P.CHASE/' 

"  P.  S.  Since  writing  this  letter  1  have  seen  a  head-note  in  the 
Commercial,  in  which  some  part  of  my  opinion  is  referred  to  as 
'an  adroit  thrust  at  Greeley.'  You  know  better.  You  know — 
at  least  I  hope  you  know — how  earnest  and  sincere  is  my  at- 
tachment to  you.  In  political  matters  I  generally  accept  your 
views  :  but  in  questions  of  law  I  am  and  must  be  a  mere  judge;  or 
be  dishone-t." 

It  is  here  that  I  propose  to  anticipate,  so  far  as  to  present  some 
extracts  from  the  opinion  of  Chief  Justice  Chase,  in  Texas  vb.  White.1 

In  that  too  little  studied  case  our  hero  said  : 

"  It  is  needless  to  discuss  at  length  the  question  whether  the  right 
of  a  State  to  withdraw  from  the  Union  for  any  cause,  regarded  by 
herself  as  sufficient,  is  consistent  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

'•The  union  of  the  States  never  was  a  purely  artificial  and  arbi- 
trary relation.  It  began  among  tin-  Colonies,  and  grewoul  of  com- 
mon origin, mutual  sympathies,  kindred  principles,  similar  interests, 
and  geographical  relations.  It  was  confirmed  ami  strengthened  by 
the  neex-ssities  of  war.  and  received  definite  form,  and  character,  and 
sanction  from  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  By  these  the  union  was 
solemnly  declared  to  ' be  perpetual."  Ami  when  these  articles  were 
found  to  be  inadequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the  country,  the  Consti- 
tution was  ordained    to  form  a  more  perfect  union.'     It  is  difficult 

1  7  Wallace,  700. 


664  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

to  convey  the  idea  of  indissoluble  unit}*  more  clearly  than  by  these 
words:  What  can  be  indissoluble,  if  a  perpetual  union,  made  more 
perfect,  is  not  ? 

"But  the  perpetuity  and  indissolubility  of  the  union  b}*  no  means 
implies  the  loss  of  distinct  and  individual  existence,  or  of  the  right 
of  self-government  by  the  States.  Under  the  Articles  of  Confeder- 
ation "each  State  retained  its  sovereignty,  freedom,  and  inde- 
pendence, and  eveiy  power,  jurisdiction,  and  right,  not  expressly 
delegated  to  the  United  States.  Under  the  Constitution,  though  the 
powers  of  the  States  were  much  restricted,  still  all  powers  not  dele- 
gated to  the  United  States,  nor  prohibited  to  the  States,  are  reserved 
to  the  States  respectively  or  to  the  people.  And  we  have  already 
had  occasion  to  remark,  at  this  term,  that  'the  people  of  each  State 
compose  a  State,  having  its  own  government,  and  endowed  with  all 
the  functions  essential  to  separate  and  independent  existence,' 
and  that,  '  without  the  States  in  union,  there  could  be  no  such 
political  body  as  the  United  States."1 

'•  Not  only,  therefore,  can  there  be  no  loss  of  separate  and  inde- 
pendent autonomy  to  the  States  through  their  union  under  the 
Constitution,  but  it  may  be  not  unreasonably  said  that  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  States,  and  the  maintenance  of  their  governments,  are  as 
much  within  the  design  and  care  of  the  Constitution  as  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Union  and  the  maintenance  of  the  National  Government. 
The  Constitution,  in  all  its  provisions,  looks  to  an  indestructible 
union,  composed  of  indestructible  States." 

It  seems  to  me,  the  Union  is  composed  of  private  as  well  as  pub- 
lic persons — of  individuals  as  well  as  communities, — of  natural  as 
well  as  artificial  persons — if,  indeed,  it  can  be  said  to  be  composed 
at  all  of  persons.  But  of  that  I  wish  to  say  no  more  at  present. 
We  are  interested  to  discern  not  my  conception  of  the  Union,  but 
the  views  of  the  man  whose  life  we  study. 

Having  explained  that  if  the  State  of  Texas  was  not,  at  the  time 
of  filing  the  bill  before  the  court,  one  of  the  United  States,  the  bill 
must  be  dismissed  for  want  of  jurisdiction,  the  Chief  Justice  says,  in 
that  interesting  case: 

"We  are  very  sensible  of  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  this 
question,  of  the  interest  it  excites,  and  of  the  difficult}*,  not  to  say 
impossibility,  of  so  disposing  of  it  as  to  satisfy  the  conflicting  judg- 
ments of  men  equally  enlightened,  equally  upright,  and  equally 
patriotic.  But  we  meet  it  in  the  case,  and  we  must  determine  it  in 
the  exercise  of  our  best  judgment,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Consti- 
tution alone. 

"Some  not  unimportant  aid,  however,  in  ascertaining  the  true 
sense  of  the  Constitution,  may  be  derived  from  considering  what  is 
the  correct  idea  of  a  State,  apart  from  any  union  or  confederation 


1  County  of  Lane  vs.  State  of  Oregon,  7  Wallace,  76. 


OF    SALMON  PORTLAND    CHASE.  665 

with  other  States.  The  poverty  of  language  often  compels  the  em- 
ployment of  terms   in  quite  different    signification!*  j    and   of    this 

hardly  any  example  more  signal  is  to  be  found  than  in  the  use  of 
the  word  Ave  are  now  considering.  It  would  serve  no  useful  purpose 
to  attempt  an  enumeration  of  all  the  various  senses  in  which  it  is 
used.     A  few  only  need  be  noticed. 

"  It  describes  sometimes  a  people  or  community  of  individuals 
united  more  or  less  closely  in  political  relations,  inhabiting  tem- 
porarily or  permanently  the  same  country;  often  it  denotes  only 
the  country  or  territorial  region  inhabited  by  such  a  community; 
not  unfrequently  it  is  applied  to  the  government  under  which  the 
people  live:  at  other  times  it  represents  the  combined  idea  of  peo- 
ple, territory,  and  government. 

"It  is  not  difficult  to  see  that,  in  all  these  senses  the  primary 
conception  is  that  of  a  people  or  community.  The  people,  in  what- 
ever territory  dwelling,  either  temporarily  or  permanently,  and 
whether  organized  under  a  regular  government,  or  united  by 
looser  and  less  definite  relations,  constitute  the  State. 

"  This  is  undoubtedly  the  fundamental  idea  upon  which  there- 
publican  institutions  of  our  own  country  are  established.  It  was 
stated  very  clearly  by  an  eminent  judge,1  in  one  of  the  earliest 
cases  adjudicated  by  this  court,  and  we  are  not  aware  of  any  thing, 
in  any  subsequent  decision,  of  a  different  tenor. 

"In  the  Constitution,  the  term  State  most  frequently  expresses 
the  combined  idea  just  noticed,  of  people,  territory,  and  govern- 
ment. A  State,  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  Constitution,  is  a  polit- 
cal  community  of  free  citizens,  occupying  a  territory  of  defined 
boundaries,  and  organized  under  a  government  sanctioned  and  lim- 
ited by  a  written  constitution,  and  established  by  the  consent  of  the 
governed.  It  is  the  Union  of  such  States,  under  a  common  consti- 
tution, which  forms  the  distinct  and  greater  political  unit,  which 
that  constitution  designates  as  the  United  States,  and  makes  of  the 
people  and  States  which  compose  it  one  people  and  one  country. 

"  The  use  of  the  word  in  this  sense  hardly  requires  further  remark. 
In  the  clauses  which  impose  prohibitions  upon  the  States  in  re- 
spect to  the  making  of  treaties,  emitting  of  bills  of  credit,  and  lav- 
ing duties  of  tonnage,  and  which  guarantee  to  the  States  represen- 
tation in  the  House  of  Representatives  and  in  the  Senate,  are  found 
some  instances  of  this  use  in  the  Constitution.  Others  will  occur 
to  every  mind. 

"But  it  is  also  used  in  its  geographical  sense,  as  in  the  clauses 
which  require  that  a  representative  in  Congress  shall  be  an  inhab- 
itant of  the  State  in  which  he  shall  be  chosen,  and  that  the  trial  of 
crimes  shall  he  held  within  the  State  where  committed. 

"And  there  are  instances  in  which  the  principal  sense  of  the 
word  seems  to  be  that  primary  one  to  which  we  have  adverted,  of  a 
people  or  political  community,  as  distinguished  from  a  government. 

"In  this  latter  sense  the  word  seems  to  be  used  in  the  clause 
which  provides  that  the  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State 


1  Mr.  Justice  Patterson,  in  Penhallow  vs.  Doane's  Adm.,  3  Dallas,  93. 


QQQ  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE   AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

in  the  Union  a  republican  form  of  government,  and  shall  protect 
each  of  them  against  invasion. 

"  In  this  clause  a  plain  distinction  is  made  between  a  State  and 
the  government  of  a  State. 

"  Having  thus  ascertained  the  senses  in  which  the  word  State  is 
employed  in  the  Constitution,  we  will  proceed  to  consider  the  proper 
application  of  what  has  been  said. 

"  The  Republic  of  Texas  was  admitted  into  the  Union,  as  a  State, 
on  the  27th  of  December,  1845.  By  this  act  the  new  State,  and  the 
people  of  the  new  State,  were  invested  with  all  the  rights  and  be- 
came subject  to  all  the  responsibilities  and  duties  of  the  original 
States,  under  the  Constitution. 

"  From  the  date  of  admission  until  1861,  the  State  was  represented 
in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  by  her  senators  and  represen- 
tatives, and  her  relations  as  a  member  of  the  Union  remained  unim- 
paired. In  that  year,  acting  upon  the  theory  that  the  rights  of  a 
State  under  the  Constitution  might  be  renounced,  and  her  obliga- 
tions thrown  off  at  pleasure,  Texas  undertook  to  sever  the  bond  thus 
formed." 

Then  follows  a  rehearsal  of  facts  which  it  is  unnecessary  here  to  set 
forth. 

The  Chief  Justice  said,  in  the  same  opinion : 

"When,  therefore,  Texas  became  one  of  the  United  States,  she 
entered  into  an  indissoluble  relation.  All  the  obligations  of  per- 
petual union,  and  all  the  guaranties  of  republican  government  in 
the  union,  attached  at  once  to  the  State.  The  act  which  consummated 
her  admission  into  the  Union  was  something  more  than  a  compact; 
it  was  the  incorporation  of  a  new  member  into  the  political  body. 
And  it  was  final.  The  union  between  Texas  and  the  other  States 
was  as  complete,  as  perpetual,  and  as  indissoluble  as  the  union  be- 
tween the  original  States.  There  was  no  place  for  reconsideration, 
except  through  revolution,  or  through  consent  of  the  States." 

It  is  impossible  to  reconcile  this  opinion  with  the  views  of  the 
citizens  who  believe  in  the  doctrine  of  secession.  But  here  is  a  pas- 
sage, part  of  which  can  not  be  reconciled  with  the  views  of  certain 
citizens  who  heartily  reject  that  doctrine  : 

"Considered,  therefore,  as  transactions  under  the  Constitution, 
the  ordinance  of  secession,  adopted  by  the  convention  and  ratified 
by  a  majority  of  the  citizens  of  Texas,  and  all  the  acts  of  her  legis- 
lature intended  to  give  effect  to  that  ordinance,  were  absolutely 
null.  They  were  utterly  without  operation  in  law.  The  obliga- 
tions of  the  State,  as  a  member  of  the  Union,  and  of  every  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  remained  perfect  and  unimpaired.  It  certain- 
ly follows  that  the  State  did  not  cease  to  be  a  State,  nor  her  citizens 
to  be  citizens  of  the  Union.  If  this  were  otherwise,  the  State  must 
have  become  foreign,  and  her  citizens  foreigners.     The  war  must 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  667 

have  ceased  to  be  a  war  for  the  suppression  of  rebellion  and  become 
a  war  for  conquest  and  subjugation." 

It  appears  to  me  that  that  opinion  was  correct;  but  it  is  proper  to 
inform  the  reader,  that  of  the  judges  wrho  dissented,  two,  at  least, 
Mr.  Justice  Swayne  and  Mr.  Justice  Miller,  were  most  learned,  able 
lawyers.  They  concurred  with  Mr.  Justice  Grier,  who  delivered  a 
dissenting  opinion,  holding  that,  in  her  then  condition,  Texas  had  no 
capacity  to  maintain  an  action  in  that  court.  Mr.  Justice  Swayne, 
with  whom  Mr.  Justice  Miller  concurred,  said:  "The  question,  in 
my  judgment,  is  one  iu  relation  to  which  this  court  is  bound  by  the 
action  of  the  legislative  department  of  the  Government." 

On  the  29th  of  June,  1867,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  to  Mr.  John 
Russell  Young,  Esq.,  a  long  letter,  which  commences  in  these  terms  : 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Young  :  Your  kind  note  is  just  received. 

"  Your  reference  to  the  absence  of  Mr.  Greeley  leads  me  to  suppose 
that  you  are  probably  the  author  of  the  article,  criticizing  my  recent 
opinion  in  Georgia.  It  was  too  kind  in  its  tone  to  make  me  feel  very 
bad ;  but  I  am  so  sure  that  its  logic  is  wrong  and  that  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  opinion,  in  which  the  Tribune  concurs,  can  not  be  de- 
fended except  upon  the  premises  which  it  does  not  admit,  that  I 
could  not  help  writing  a  few  lines  to  Mr.  Greeley,  which  please  take 
as  addressed  to  yourself.  Of  course,  I  want  nothing  of  this  by-talk 
in  the  paper." 

Then  we  have  the  words  : 

"  I  seldom  read  the  Herald.  I  should,  if  I  were  in  a  position  which 
required  me  to  acquaint  myself  with  all  that  could  be  said  against 
as  well  as  for  my  public  action.  But  I  am  in  no  such  position ;  and 
its  causeless  and  persistent  personal  hostility  is  better  unread  than 
read.     I  know  that  it  can  do  me  no  real  harm. 

"One  of  its  chief  correspondents,  when  I  was  secretary,  menaced 
me  with  its  displeasure  if  I  did  not  give  him  some  special  advan- 
tages in  respect  to  departmental  intelligence.  My  only  reply  was  : 
'The  Herald  did  not  make  me,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  it  can  un- 
make me.' " 

In  another  paragraph  appear  the  sentences : 

"  I  must  say  frankly  that  I  see  no  ground  for  thinking  that  the 
President  has  not  intended  to  carry  out  the  Reconstruction  Acts  in 
good  faith,  or  that  the  attorney-general  has  not  honestly  sought  to  as- 
certain and  state  their  true  meaning.  I  do  not  concur  in  the  attorney 
general's  opinions  in  some  of  their  most  important  particulars,  be- 
cause 1  start  with  the  premises,  that  Congress  has  full  power  to  govern 
the  rebel  States  until  they  accept  terms  of  restoration  which  will  in- 
sure future  loyalty,  the  fulfillment  of  national  obligations,  the  repu- 
diation of  all  rebellion  and  the  obligations  of  rebellion;  and  the  se- 


668  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

curitv  i  it*  all  rights  for  all  men ;  and  that  the  acts  of  Congress  must  be 
construed  with  reference  to  these  ends,  liberally;  whereas  the  attor- 
ney-general  starts  with  the  premises  that  the  acts  are  punitive  and 
mus  be  construed  strictly.  But  I  have  known  him  long;  am  sure  of 
his  great  legal  abilities,  and  equally  sure  that  he  is  an  upright  and 
loyal  man. 

'••  1  do  n't  want  to  see  Congress  set  aside  the  provisional  State 
governments.  It  would  be  a  very  mischievous  measure  in  its  effects 
on  private  rights,  and  lead  to  much  litigation,  and  very  seriously 
retard,  1  tear,  the  restoration  of  order  and  prosperity  to  the  South. 

"Congress  may  very  well  provide  that  the  military  commander 
may  remove  State  officials  who  put  themselves  in  the  way  of  recon- 
struction ;  and  that  their  successors  be  elected  by  universal  suffrage ; 
but  I  would  not  have  military  commanders  authorized  to  appoint 
their  successors,  unless  temporarily;  nor  would  I  have  them  diverted 
from  their  proper  work  under  the  acts  to  the  work  of  legislation  in 
matters  of  property  and  business. 

••  My  observations  in  North  Carolina  fully  satisfied  me  that  Con- 
gress acted  wisely  in  recognizing  the  existing  governments  as  pro- 
visional governments,  and  that  all  will  go  well  if  it  adheres  to  the 
general  policy  of  the  acts. 

"  1  have  written  too  much — for  I  have  been  obliged  to  write  hastily. 
My  old  motto  was,  'Freedom  and  Union  without  Compromise.'  It 
is  so  still. 

"By  the  way,  I  must  mention  that  one  of  the  best  Republicans  I 
met  in  N.  C. — an  active  and  influential  member  of  the  State  commit- 
tee— was  a  member  of  Stonewall  Jackson's  staff,  and  is  disfranchised." 

In  the  course  of  a  letter,  under  date  July  3d,  the  Chief  Justice 
wrote  to  A.  M.  Clapp,  Esq. : 

"  I  most  gratefully  acknowledge  the  constant  devotion  of  the  Ex- 
press to  the  great  cause  of  freedom  and  union,  for  which  I  care  a 
great  deal  more  than  for  an}'  personal  advancement;  and  my  esteem 
for  its  editor  is  cordial  and  sincere.  If  I  could  serve  either  the 
journal  or  yourself,  I  should  be  glad  to  do  so.  But  it  is  too  obvious 
that  1  can  not  control  the  action  of  any  of  the  district  judges. 
Congress  alone  is  competent  to  do  this." 

In  a  letter  to  Theodore  Tiltou,  dated  July  9th,  was  said : 

"  I  see  no  objection  to  your  using  the  letters  which  Mr.  Bailey  put 
into  your  hands,  as  you  say,  '  in  parts  and  discreetly.' 

••it  any  names  are  used,  the}-  should,  of  course,  not  appear  in 
print. 

"I  hope  you  will  say  nothing,  in  connection  with  them,  unkind 
of  President  Johnson.  The  letters  were  written  with  anxious  de- 
sin  s  that  lie  might  take  a  line  of  action  which  would  make  him  the 
great  leader  of  freedom  and  progress.  I  greatly  regret  that  he  did 
not  take  it,  for  his  own  sake  and  the  country's  ;  but  he  did  not. 
His  error  was  its  own  punishment.      I   make  no   reproaches,  and 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND    CHASE.  GG9 

wish  none  made  in  connection    with  any   correspondence  of  mine 
with  him  at  a  time  when  I  thought  we  were  nearly  agreed. 

••He  assures  me.  now,  that  he  is  in  favor  of  universal  suffrage; 
and,  /  think,  regrets  the  past.  He  has.  so  far  as  ]  can  see,  executed 
in  good  faith  the  reconstruction  acts  ever  since  the  veto,  lie  cer- 
tainly was  not  to  blame  tor  calling  lor  the  opinion  of  the  attorney- 
general  on  points  as  to  which  the  generals  were  in  donht  and  asked 
for  instructions,  nor  can  he  he  blamed  for  agreeing  with  the  attorney- 
general  on  points  of  construction.  I  am  glad  that  Congress  has 
Come  together  and  will  make  plain  what  was.  in  the  judgment  of 
able  and  good  men.  obscure.  I  shall  be  sorry  if  they  attempt  [to] 
supersede  the  President  in  the  command  of  the  army,  or  to  make 
the  district  generals  superior  to  all  civil  authority  as  well  as  all 
military.  For  I  do  not  think  this  necessary  to  the  great  ends  for 
which  the  couutry  longs — restoration  on  the  basis  of  justice  and  equal 
rights  firmly  secured  by  constitutions  ami  laws. 

-  i  far.  Congress  has  acted  with  great  wisdom.  If  it  acts  with 
less  wisdom,  or,  what  1  think,  unwisdom,  now,  I  shall  console  myself 
by  the  reflection  that  its  ends  are  just  and  noble,  and  that,  in  a  few 
months,  with  wisdom  and  prudence,  and  firmness  in  action,  we  shall 
have  doubled  the  cape  and  entered  the  Pacific  Sea.-' 1 

Writing  to  Horace  Greeley,  on  the  5th  of  August,  the  Chief 
Justice  said  : 

"  I  do  not  know  that  you  are  not  much  better  informed  as  to  pub- 
lic matters  here  than  I  am;  but  it  is  well  enough  that,  in  your  posi- 
tion, you  should  know  what  I  am  about  to  tell  you. 

'■  The  President  sent  for  me  last  Friday  morning,  and  I  went  to 
the  White  House  between  nine  and  ten.  He  received  me  kindly,  as 
he  always  does,  and  soon  went,  as  his  way  is,  directly  to  the  matter 
upon  his  mind. 

"  He  declared,  most  expressly,  that  he  had  executed,  and  meant 
to  cany  out,  the  reconstruction  acts  in  perfect  good  faith;  but  was 
much  dissatisfied  with  General  Sheridan's  action.  He  censured, 
especially,  the  letter  of  General  S.  to  General  Grant,  in  which  he 
spoke  of  the  President  as  hostile  to  the  legislation  of  Congress,  and 
of  the  attorney-general's  construction  of  it  as  forming  a  highway  for 
perjury.     He  thought  it  insubordination,  and  inexcusable  that  such 


1  While  there  is  fine  writing,  and  hard  sense,  and  amiable  spirit,  in  that  letter, 
that  rhetorical  flourish,  ending  in  the  Pacific  Sea,  is  almost  laughable  as  an  example 
of  the  folly  into  which  a  man  may  be  seduced  by  too  great  love  for  the  effects  of 
rhetoric.  If  congressional  wisdom,  prudence,  and  firmness  were  necessary  to  effect 
the  doubling  of  the  cape  and  the  passage  into  the  Pacific  Sea  of  government,  what 
storms  might  not  unwisdom  on  the  part  of  Congress  raise? 

Our  hero  was  decidedly  too  fond  of  rhetoric,  during  periods  of  his  life,  if  not  dur- 
ing most  of  his  days,  after  he  began  to  use  the  pen.  And  he  wrote  too  much,  and 
not  always  to  the  right  persons. 

Tilton,  for  example,  was  no  fit  oorrespondent  for  such  a  man  as  Chase. 


(370  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

a  letter  should  be  sent  to  the  commanding  general,  and  published  at 
New  Orleans  and  New  York,  about  high  matters,  and  never  com- 
municated to  him  officially  even  to  this  day.  He  censured  Sheridan, 
also,  for  his  course  in  other  respects." 

Then  follow  several  clauses  of  the  sentence  which  I  can  not  make 
out,  followed  by  the  wTords  : 

"  And  he  intimated  very  plainly  his  intention  to  remove  him  and 
put  Hancock  in  his  place. 

"After  hearing  what  he  had  to  say,  I  asked  him  if  he  wanted  my 
views,  and  he  said  that  was  what  he  wanted  to  see  [me]  for.  And  then 
I  told  him  what  I  thought,  very  plainly,  very  much  as  follows  : 
The  people  had  set  their  hearts  ou  the  restoration  of  the  rebel  States 
with  full  guaranties  for  future  peace,  order,  and  security,  especially 
by  universal  suffrage ;  his  vetoes  had  created  a  general  impression, 
north  and  south,  that  he  was  hostile  to  this  purpose;  that  this  im- 
pression had  been  partially  removed  by  his  action  in  carrying  the 
laws  into  execution  ;  but  the  reference  of  the  applications  of  the 
district  generals  for  instructions  to  the  attorney -general,  and  his 
opinions,  had  revived  and  intensified  this  impression,  encouraging 
the  enemies  of  reconstruction,  discouraging  its  friends  in  the  unre- 
stored  States,  and  inflaming  the  people  in  the  other  States.  This 
had  made  the  meeting  of  Congress  a  necessity,  and  the  new  law  and 
the  new  acts  had  caused  him  to  be  looked  on,  more  and  more,  as 
opposed,  not  to  the  policy  only,  but  to  the  objects,  which  the  people 
favored.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  was,  I  thought,  exceedingly 
unadvisable  to  make  a  new  issue  by  displacing  General  Sheridan.  I 
did  not  argue  with  him  the  fitness  of  General  Sheridan's  acts,  farther 
than  to  express  my  decided  opinion  that  Thomas,  Hinton,  and  Abell 
ought  to  have  been  put  on  trial  for  their  part  in  the  massacre — but 
I  urged  that  any  interference  with  General  S.  would  and  could 
work  only  evil. 

"  Of  course,  I  give  only  a  frank  (?)  sketch  of  what  was  said  on 
both  sides,  merely  summing  up  the  substance,  instead  of  trying  to 
repeat  words  or  preserving  an}'  thing  of  the  circumstantial  charac- 
ter of  the  discussion. 

"  He  had  expressed  no  decided  determination  when  I  left  him  ; 
but,  as  three  days  have  now  elapsed  and  nothing  has  been  done,  I 
hope  the  idea  has  been  abandoned.  Every  member  of  his  Cabinet, 
I  was  told  (not  by  him,  however),  is  against  interference;  and  I 
earnestly  hope  that  there  will  be  none.  The  country  wants  all  its 
energies,  now,  for  the  dii*ect  work  of  restoration,  without  the  distrac- 
tion of  another  hot  conflict  with  the  President. 

"  In  the  course  of  our  talk,  he  said  that  he  thought  of  putting 
General  Grant  temporarily  at  the  head  of  the  War  Department,  to 
which,  of  course,  nobody  would  object,  except  that  it  would  imply 
the  displacement  or  resignation  of  Mr.  Stanton.  I  took  the  liberty 
of  expressing  a  quite  decided  opinion  that  no  change  would  benefit 
the  country  or  ought  to  be  made. 

"  Of  course,  I  do  not  wish  any  thing  of  what  I  have  written  should 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND    CHASE.  671 

be  made  public;  but  while  you  will  not  refer  to  any  thing  said  in 
this  letter,  it  may  be,  you  will  write  somewhat  differently  with  this 
knowledge  than  without  it.     Sincerely  yours, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Was  it  well  so  to  confide  in  Horace  Greeley,  one  of  the  most  reck- 
less journalists  that  ever  libelled  or  lauded  public  men  or  public 
measures  ?     I  think  not. 

In  a  letter  to  A.  N.  Cone,  Esq.,  the  Chief  Justice,  on  the  6th  of 
August,  said : 

"  In  respect  to  the  matter  you  write  about,  it  is  my  wish  not  to 
be  consulted  at  all.  Information  will  always  be  acceptable ;  but 
consultation  should  be  with  those  like-minded  with  yourself,  in  your 
own  city  and  State — especially  in  your  own  city.  I  can  not  take 
any  active  part  in  what  so  nearly  concerns  myself." 

Our  sick  man  begins  to  recover.  He  has  been  disordered  fearfully 
with  the  brain-fever  and  heart-sickness  of  presidential  candidature. 
Now,  he  begins  to  be  convalescent. 

He  subjoins  : 

"I  do  not  know  that  I  understand  what  assurances  you  give  to 
the  friends  to  whom  you  write ;  but  have  too  much  confidence  in 
your  friendship  to  suppose  that  you  would  wish  me  to  take  an}' 
place,  or  seek  any  support,  upon  any  other  assurances  than  those 
of  general  fidelity  to  our  cause,  our  principles,  and  our  organization." 

Here  is  a  matter  of  most  painfully  suggestive  purport,  indicating 
quite  too  clearly,  that  in  some  respects,  Chief  Justice  Chase  was 
"  powerfully  weak." 

"  Washington,  August  10,  1867. 

"  My  Dear  Cooke  :  Inclosed  is  a  check  which  will  pay  the  bal- 
ance to  my  debit  on  your  books,  as  per  statement  just  received, 
$2448. 

"  I  am  glad  to  receive  any  kindness  from  you  not  of  a  pecuniary 
nature.  Your  hospitality  I  am  always  glad  to  share,  and  your  friend- 
ship I  greatly  value ;  but  I  do  n't  want  to  have  any  hotel  bills  of 
mine  assumed  by  you,  because  I  happen  to  have  just  before  been 
your  guest.  Hence  my  objection  to  your  paying  my  bill  at  the 
Continental ;  it  was  carrying  your  hospitality  just  a  little  too  far." 

One  would  say  so !  But  why  did  not  our  hero  spurn  from  him 
the  man  capable  of  such  pretended  hospitality  and  real  management? 
Our  patient  hero  closed  that  letter  with  these  words  : 

"A  good  name  and  the  consciousness  of  having  done  faithful  and 


672  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

useful  service  to  my  country  was  all  that  I  expected  or  desired  from 
my  public  labors.  *  The  latter  can't  be  taken  from  me;  I  will  not 
believe  that  enemies  will  be  allowed  to  deprive  me  of  the  other. 

'•  But   1  can   not   help  feeling   keenly  such   attacks  as  those  you 
speak  of,  knowing  that  good  men  must  be  deceived  by  them. 
"  Faithfully  your  friend, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

I  must  once  more  anticipate  a  little.  On  the  17th  of  November, 
1868,  the  same  infatuated  pen  addressed  to  Mr.  Jay  Cooke  the  fol- 
lowing letter  : 

"My  Dear  Cooke  :  Have  you  ever  sent  me  the  certificates  of 
Franklin  and  Warren  stock  ?  If  you  have,  I  have  mislaid  them. 
If  not,  please  send  them;  four  of  8500  each,  and  one  8250.  which  I 
believe  is  the  balance  since  consolidation.  You  wrote  me  there 
would  be  a  dividend  last  month — I  hope  it  did  not  fail. 

"  I  inclose  the  certificates  of  Sterling  stock.  I  have  never  felt 
exactly  satisfied  about  that  matter.  To  be  sure,  the  transaction 
took  place  after  I  left  the  Department,  and  did  not  come  within  the 
rule  against  purchases  for  resale,  and  it  would  all  have  been  well 
enough  if  you  had  made  me  take  and  pay  for  the  bonds,  as  well  as 
the  stock,  as  you  did  more  lately  in  the  F.  and  W.  subscription.  As 
it  was,  I  know  nothing  blameable  in  it.  Still  as  you  did  in  fact 
sell  the  bonds  and  with  the  proceeds  paid  for  bonds  and  stock,  and 
so  let  me  have  the  stock  without  cost,  the  matter  wears  too  much 
of  the  appearance  of  a  present  from  yourself  and  Mr.  M.  for  my  taste, 
and  I  prefer  not  to  have  it  transferred  to  me.  Please,  therefore, 
take  the  certificates  back,  and  do  n't  think  me  overscrupulous.  If 
you  do,  I  know  you  will  excuse  me  for  wishing  to  err  on  that  side, 
if  at  all. 

';  I  appreciate  fully  your  friendly  intention  in  the  matter,  and 
that  of  Mr.  M.,and  I  acknowledge  with  pleasure  your  friendly  serv- 
ices in  investing  my  small  means,  aided  sometimes,  temporarily, 
by  you  very  much  to  my  benefit,  and  particularly  for  allowing  me 
an  interest  in  the  Franklin  and  Warren  investment,  which  now 
promises  to  turn  out  so  well.  That,  I  think,  is  the  best  investment 
I  ever  made,  and  I  should  like  to  make  enough  more  of  the  same 
sort  to  enable  me  to  pay  for  a  good  house  here  in  Washington. 
You  may  help  me  in  this  way  by  counsel  and  service  as  much  as 
you  please. 

"  I  shall  never  cease  to  be  glad  and  grateful  that  I  laid  down  for 
myself  the  rule,  after  Congress  gave  me  such  great  powers,  enabling 
me  to  raise  and  depress  values  very  largely  at  my  discretion,  that 
I  would  have  nothing  to  do,  directly  or  indirectly,  with  speculations 
or  transactions,  in  gold  or  securities  of  any  sort,  for  my  own  or  any 
body's  private  benefit.  You  were  well  paid  for  your  services  as 
government  agent  for  loans,  but  it  was  by  well-earned  commissions 
and  not  by  any  advantages  which  all  might  not  equally  have.  If 
I  was  poorly  paid  as  Secretary,  by  a  salary  insufficient  to  meet  the 
expenses  of  housekeeping,  which  in  my  position  could  not  be  credit- 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  673 

ably  avoided,  I  was  nevertheless  abundantly  paid  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  good  service,  honestly  and  faithfully  performed,  not  without 
benefits,  both  immediate  and  permanent,  to  my  country  and  all  my 
countrymeni 

-My  separation  from  politics  and  parties  Beems  now  complete; 
but  I  earnestly  hope  that  you,  who  will  now  have  great  influence, 
and  be  greatly  responsible  for  it.  will  set  your  tace  Like  a  Hint 
against  any  modification  of  the  funding  system  I  which  1  established, 
and  which  I  honestly  think  can  not  be  materially  improved),  im- 
pairing at  all  tin1  great  principle  of  controllability.  Etedeemability 
after  live  years  for  six  per  cent-.  ;  after  ten  for  live  per  cent-.  ;  and 
after  not  more  than  fifteen  for  four  per  cents.,  is  indispensable.  I 
would  undertake  now  to  fund  the  whole  of  the  5-20  sixes  into  Id- 10 
lives  of  even  date  with  those  now  outstanding,  so  as  to  be  controll- 
able after  seven  or  eight  years.  If  any  thing  will  reconcile  the 
American  people  to  repudiation,  direct  or  indirect,  it  will  be  per- 
petuity, or  apparent  perpetuity,  of  debt.  Be  sure  of  that. 
"Faithfully  your  friend, 

"Jay  Cooke,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

I  give  the  whole  of  this  letter,  in  order  that  there  may  be  no 
question  as  to  context.  Mr.  Cooke  I  have  treated  with  a  consideration 
which  lie  has  clearly  shown  himself  incapable  of  courteously  and  prop- 
erly regarding.  I  have  given  him  every  opportunity  of  justifying,  if 
he  could  justify,  the  course  of  presses  which,  belauding  him,  disparaged 
the  financial  life  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase.  Immediately  on  the 
appearance  of  one  of  the  articles  referred  to,  I  addressed  to  Mr. 
Cooke  a  courteous  letter,  calling  his  attention  to  the  matter,  and  ex- 
pressing my  unfeigned  desire  to  give  due  credit  to  Cooke  as  well  as 
to  Chase. 

As  was,  perhaps,  to  be  expected,  Mr.  Jay  Cooke  treated  with 
contempt  my  wish  to  make  this  work  as  faithful  to  the  truth  as  to 
the  ordinary  courtesies  and  kindnesses  of  civilized  society.  He  an- 
swered not  at  all;  and  now  the  country — the  whole  country — knows 
how  to  estimate  the  laudation  and  disparagement  just  mentioned. 

Much  I  have  read,  much  heard,  about  the  great  indebtedness  of 
Secretary  Chase  to  the  financial  genius  of  Mr.  Jay  Cooke.  I  have 
faithfully  endeavored  to  inform  myself  on  the  subject.  Even  after 
the  failure  of  Jay  Cooke  &  Co.,  I  felt  particularly  anxious  to  show, 
practicallv,  that  the  fallen  fortunes  of  that  house  had  not  in  the 
least  disposed  me  to  deny  to  any  member  of  it  any  credit  properly 
ascribable  to  him.  Sometimes,  I  had  heard  or  read  that  it  was  not 
to  the  financial  genius  of  Mr.  Jay  Cooke,  but  to  the  really  greater 
financial  genius  of  his  brother,  ex-Governor  Henry  D.  Cooke,  that 
Secretary  Chase  owed  such  heavy  obligations.     Circumstances  as  to 


674 


THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 


which  I  have  already  made  some  intimation,  deepened  my  desire  tc 
deny  neither  to  Mr.  Jay  Cooke  nor  to  ex-Governor  Cooke  any  trib- 
ute, which  a  faithful  biography  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase  might 
fairly  be  expected  to  pay.  I  do  not,  however,  find  myself  acquainted 
with  any  facts  whatever,  even  tending  to  show  the  supposed  obliga- 
tions. 

That,  in  any  case,  I  should  not  have  been  disposed  to  exaggerate 
any  such  obligations,  has,  perhaps,  appeared  in  some  of  the 
foregoing  chapters.  Intimation  has  been  made  already,  that,  for 
one,  the  author  of  this  work  can  not  discern  in  the  financial  career 
of  Salmon  Portland  Chase  the  real  glory  of  his  life. 

It  is  to  me,  indeed,  the  darkest  part  of  his  whole  public  life.  The 
truth  is,  he  was  totally  unfit  for  any  save  judicial  office.  Never 
was  a  man  less  fit  to  judge  of  men  with  whom  it  was  necessary  to 
deal  in  a  public  office.  Be  that  as  it  may,  however,  had  Salmon 
Portland  Chase  never  seen  a  Cooke,  it  had  been  well  for  him  and  for 
his  country.     That  is  now  too  evident  to  be  disputed  or  denied. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  675 


0 


CHAPTER    XLVII. 

THE    IMPEACHMENT  OF    THE    PRESIDENT — CHASE   AND    GRANT. 

N  the  19th  of  September,  1867,   the    Chief  Justice  wrote  as 
follows : 


"  I  am  just  about  starting  for  Ohio,  and  wish  you  were  going  with 
me. 

'■If  you  will  come  and  act  as  secretary  for  me,  I  shall  be  glad  to 
have  you  do  so  in  October.  I  will  guarantee  you  $1500  per  annum, 
and  hope  Congress  will  allow  me  a  secretary  with  the  same  salary 
as  the  secretary  of  the  Vice-President,  in  which  case  that  will  be 
your  salary.  Perhaps,  Congress  will  enable  me  to  pay  you  at  that 
rate  from  the  date  you  commence  work.     Write  to  me  at  Cincinnati. 

"  Sincei'ely  your  friend, 
"J.  W.  Schuckers,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Thus  prepared,  I  offer  next  this  document,  about  the  authenticity 
of  which  there  is  no  question  : 

"  Washington,  November  25th,  18(i7. 

"Dear  Sir:  Chief  Justice  Chase  directs  me  to  acknowledge  the 
receipt  of  your  letter  and  paper  for  the  press.  He  is  grateful  for  the 
confidence  and  favor  with  which  a  portion  of  his  countrymen  seem 
to  regard  him  ;  but  under  the  rules  he  has  prescrihed  to  himself,  can 
not  request  of  any  journal  the  insertion  of  }~our  communication. 
He  desires  me  to  say,  moreover,  that  he  desires  no  commendation 
through  comparisons  with  statesmen  or  soldiers  whom  the  people 
honor.  Under  no  circumstances  could  he  sanction  any  disparage- 
ment of  Gen.  Grant  or  any  of  the  brave  men  who  shared  in  Labors 
and  achievements  by  which,  so  far  as  military  service  was  concerned, 
the  integrity  of  the  Republic  was  vindicated  and  saved.  Their  honor 
and  renown  are  public  treasures,  which  he  would  gladly  augment 
but  by  no  means  diminish. 

■•  1  am  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 
"John  S.  Corbin,  Esq.,  Selma,  Alabama.         J.  W.  SCnUCKERS." 

"  P.  S.     Your  paper  will  be  returned  if  you  desire  it." 

In  the  course  of  a  letter  to  Dr.  John  Paul,  then  of  Ottawa,  111., 
the  Chief  Justice,  on  the  20th  of  December,  1867,  said  : 
44 


676  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"  As  to  the  next  Presidency,  I  am  content  to  let  matters  take  their 
course.  It  is  a  great  gratification  that  so  many  of  the  hest  and  most 
earnest  men  of  the  country  honor  me  by  their  preference;  and  I  am 

{larticularly  gratified  by  the  confidence  and  attachment  manifested 
>y  the  new  citizens,  whose  rights  to  freedom  and  equality  I  have  so 
long  maintained.  Gratitude  is  not  extinct  among  them  at  least;  nor 
can  they  be  said  to  be  deficient  in  sagacity  who  prefer  tried  friends." 

What  language  for  the  pen  that  syllabled  that  sentence!  That 
sagacity,  at  least,  our  hero  never  showed.  The  greatest  error  of  his 
life,  perhaps,  was  that  he  so  often  showed  himself  insensible  to  the 
wisdom  in  the  Polonian  precept: 

"  Do  not  dull  thy  palm  with  entertainment 
Of  each  new-hatched,  unfledged  comrade." 

But  that  letter  to  an  old  friend  goes  on  as  follows : 

"  What  the  issue  will  be  can  not  be  foreseen.  Many  of  my  friends 
are  sanguine.  Some  feel  that  the  political  currents  are  now  run- 
ning in  military  channels,  and  apprehend  that  they  will  continue 
so  to  run.  I  am  not  sanguine,  and  never  was,  in  regard  to  my  per- 
sonal prospects.  Indeed,  I  have  never  been  taken  up  on  personal 
considerations,  but  simply  because  enough  men  thought  my  services 
needed,  to  carry  my  nomination  and  election." 

It  might  have  been  quite  otherwise  had  this  man  been  duly  friendly 
to  his  friends  and  not  so  friendly  to  his  foes.     But  he  proceeds : 

"  If  there  are  enough  such  men,  now,  I  shall  be  nominated,  and  if 
not,  not.  I  mean  to  be  quite  contented  either  way.  If  not  now 
nominated,  my  name  will  never  again  be  mentioned  in  connection 
with  any  political  office,  with  my  consent.  Especially  shall  I  eschew 
all  connection  of  it  with  the  Presidency. 

"  How  glad  I  should  be  to  see  you  ! 

"  Sincerely  and  faithfully  your  friend,          S.  P.  CHASE." 

And  so  this  volume  for  the  present,  bids  farewell  to  the  year  1867. 
On  the  second  day  of  January,  1868,  some  one — I  know  not  who — 
was  thus  addressed  by  letter: 

"  Hear  Sir  :  For  your  kind  note  of  the  31st  ult.  please  accept  my 
thanks. 

"Professions  are  of  no  value,  especially  when  made  under  circum- 
stances which  indicate,  however  fallaciously,  that  they  were  made 
with  expectations  of  personal  advantage. 

"  You  will  excuse  me,  therefore,  if  I  say  nothing,  at  this  time,  of 
the  particular  question  in  which  you  naturally  feel  so  much  interest. 

"  I  send  you,  however,  a  couple  of  pamphlets,  which  will  show  what 
my  sentiments  were  in  1843  and  1863;  and  you  know  I  am  not  a 
man  much  given  to  change." 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  677 

Good  heaven  !  what  a  self-judgment!  Not  a  man  much  given  to 
change,  indeed! 

To  the  changes  we  have  witnessed  I  suggest  no  exception.  I  believe 
that  they  were  all  supposed  to  be  required  or  suffered  by  a  due  regard 
to  conscience  and  a  due  devotion  to  the  common  weal ;  but  it  is  very, 
very  strange,  to  find  our  hero  writing — evidently  in  good  faith,  too — 
in  1868: 

"  You  know  I  am  not  a  man  much  given  to  change." 

On  the  14th  of  January,  a  letter  from  our  hero  to  J.  W.  Hoi  den, 
Esq.,  said  : 

"I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  sending  me  the  proceedings  of 
the  Raleigh  meeting  and  Iry  the  part  3Tou  took  in  it. 

'•The  approval  of  the  loyal  men  of  the  Southern  States  is  especi- 
ally gratifying  to  me.  I  have  long  felt  that  to  no  equal  number  of 
patriotic  Americans  docs  the  country  owe  more,  or  may  reasonably 
expect  more." 

Another  part  of  the  same  letter  says  : 

"  I  do  not  know  that  the  declaration  of  your  Raleigh  meeting  will 
find  echoes  enough  to  make  it  a  national  expression.  Its  sentiments 
are  shared.  I  am  assured,  by  some  of  the  truest  and  best  republicans 
in  all  parts  of  the  land.  I  shall  be  content,  in  any  event,  by  what- 
ever will  best  advance  the  cause  of  equal  rights  secured  by  equal 
laws,  enacted  through  universal  suffrage." 

On  the  19th  of  February,  writing  to  Judge  Underwood,  our 
presidential  convalescent — who  was,  however  to  have  two  relapses — 
said  : 

"In  political  matters,  the  prospect  now  is  that  if  General  Grant 
does  not  decline,  he  will  be  the  nominee  of  the  Chicago  Convention, 
/shall  not  fret  about  it;  but  think  that  the  earnest  republicans  will 
have  most  power  and  effect  most  if  they — that  is,  in  the  restored 
States — abide  by  their  first  choice." 

In  a  letter  to  Hon.  W.  S.  Hatch,  of  Ohio,  the  Chief  Justice,  on 
the  2d  of  March,  said  : 

"Receive  my  sincere  thanks  for  your  welcome  letter  of  the  25th. 
It  proves  that  you  still  cherish  the  old  time  friendship,  as  T  also  do. 
Our  political  differences  have  never  wrought  personal  estrangement, 
and  now  they  can  not. 

"I  rather  think  you  give  me  credit  for  more  political  ambition 
than  I  have.  My  consciousness  does  not  accuse  me  of  any  which  I 
could  not  subordinate  cheerfully  to  the  claims  of  duty.     It  boars  me 


G78 


THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


witness  that  I  have  ever  regarded  offices  as  opportunities  of  useful- 
ness, rather  than  as  a  distinction  or  means  of  aggrandizement." 

These  words  appear  to  me  precisely  true.  This  man,  as  we  have 
clearly  seen,  was  far  from  faultless,  far  from  untouched  by  foibles; 
but  he  never  had  the  low  ambition  of  the  place-man.  His  ambition 
as  to  office  ever  was  an  aspiration  after  usefulness  and  the  true  glory, 
shining  out  of  splendid  duties  splendidly  performed. 

The  same  letter  contains  the  words  : 

"  I  have  never  had  any  sanguine  expectation  that  the  people  would 
call  me  to'  the  Presidency.  There  have  been,  now  and  then,  some 
indications  of  that  sort ;  but  none  so  marked  as  to  raise  in  me  any 
very  troublesome  thoughts. 

"At  the  present  time  I  have  no  wish,  whatever,  to  have  my  name 
connected  with  that  office.  In  my  judicial  action  I  can  not  regard 
party  policy,  and  can  not  hope  to  please  any  party.  And  no  man 
who  is  not  a  party  man,  or  a  party  necessity,  can  expect  party  favor. 
So  1  dismiss  any  thought  except  that  of  doing  the  duty  which  lies 
directly  before  me,  whatever  that  may  be,  and  leave  all  the  future  to 
Him  who  disposes  of  all  things. 

"I  never  expected  great  success  in  any  position  I  have  occupied. 
My  surprise  at  the  degree  of  it  that  I  have  achieved  has  been  greater, 
perhaps,  than  any  other  man's.  And  now  I  can  still  less  hope  for 
much  success  as  a  judge.  I  came  to  the  bench  too  late  and  from  too 
active  pursuits  to  think  of  emulating  any  of  my  great  predecessors. 
It  will  suffice  if  the  duties  of  my  position  are  performed  according  to 
the  measure  of  my  ability  and  circumstances." 

This  is  a  sad,  a  very  sad  confession.  Had  our  hero  but  appreci- 
ated his  great  opportunity,  as  a  successor  of  John  Marshall,  he  could 
have  at  least  equalled  that  great  judge,  in  most  respects,  and  more 
than  equalled  him  in  some.  Chase  did  not  go  to  the  bench  too  late 
and  from  too  active  pursuits.  All  the  pursuits  of  his  life  had  admir- 
ably tended  to  prepare  him  for  his  grand  position  as  Chief  Justice. 

Let  us  fairly  take  into  consideration  the  state  of  things  when  that 
letter  was  written. 

It  was  on  the  24th  of  the  preceding  month  that  the  resolution  to 
impeach  the  President  passed  the  House  of  Representatives.  The 
letter  just  quoted  was  written  on  the  day  before  the  articles  of  im- 
peachment were  agreed  to.  Very  sad,  no  doubt,  were  the  thoughts 
of  the  Chief  Justice,  in  anticipation  of  that  fearful  mockery. 

But  he  disparaged  all  his  previous  legal  life  when  he  so  wrote  to 
Mr.  Hatch,  his  old  neighbor,  on  the  2d  of  March,  1868.  And  here, 
as  well  as  in  another  place,  I  might  say  a  few  words  more  about  his 
learning  and  his  powers  as  a  legist;  but  I  have  decided  to  reserve 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  679 

that  subject  for  a  future  chapter.1     Now,  let  us  return   to  that  sad 
letter  to  Hon.  W.  S.  Hatch.     It  contained  also  these  words : 

"I  see  you  date  your  letter  from  your  river  home;  and  trust  that 
all  things  around  you  contribute  to  jour  comfort  and  happiness.  It 
would  be  very  agreeable  to  me  to  drop  in  upon  you  this  blustering 
night,  instead  of  studying  law  arguments  and  reading  up  about  im- 
peachment. 

"The  times  are  as  blustering  as  the  weather.  May  our  merciful 
God  bring  our  beloved  land  through  the  storm  safely  and  gloriously." 

Passing  notice  has  been  already  taken  of  the  fact  that  the  resolu- 
tion to  impeach  the  President  passed  the  House  of  Representatives 
February  24,  1868.  The  conclusion  of  the  trial  resulting  from  the 
actual  impeachment  was  on  the  26th  of  the  following  May.  During 
this  period,  the  spectacle  so  often  witnessed  in  this  country,  the  spec- 
tacle, I  mean,  of  prejudgment  by  the  press,  did  not  fail  to  sadden  the 
hearts  of  the  unprejudiced  and  the  unbiased. 

Articles  of  impeachment  were,  we  have  already  seen,  agreed  to  on 
the  3d  of  March.  The  next  day,  Chief  Justice  Chase  addressed  to 
the  Senate  a  letter,  in  which  he  submitted  observations  on  the  subject 
of  the  proper  mode  of  proceeding  in  the  contemplated  impeachment 
trial.  He  suggested  that  "  the  organization  of  the  Senate,  as  a  court 
of  impeaehment  under  the  Constitution,  should  precede  the  actual 
announcement  of  the  impeachment  on  the  part  of  the  House,"  the 
House  first  giving  notice  to  the  Senate  of  intention  to  impeach.  He 
thought  it  "  a  still  less  unwarrantable  opinion  that  articles  of  im- 
peachment should  only  be  presented  to  a  court  of  impeachment ;  that 
no  summons  or  other  process  should  issue  except  from  the  organ- 
ized court,  and  that  the  rules  for  the  government  of  the  proceedings 
of  such  a  court  should  be  framed  only  by  the  court  itself."  But, 
the  Senate  having  taken  a  different  view  of  propriety  in  procedure, 
it  was  not  the  purpose  of  the  Chief  Justice  to  contest  the  matter. 
He  desired  only  to  dissent;  and  it  seems  to  me  he  erred  in  that  dis- 
sent. 

But  let  that  pass.  I  need  hardly  say  that  this  whole  matter  is 
of  history  far  more  than  of  biography.  But  there  are  things  about 
it  which  this  volume  must  not  fail  to  state. 

Among  the  papers  furnished  for  my  biographic  use  was  a  large 
bundle  relating  to  the  trial  of  the  President.  There  was,  among 
other  papers  in  that  bundle,  a  printed  one,  discussing   the  question 

^ost,  Chapter. 


080  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

whether  the  Chief  Justice,  in  such  trials,  in  case  of  a  balanced  ver- 
dict, if  I  may  so  express  myself,  has  the  casting  vote.  Then  there 
were  papers  setting  forth  the  course  of  procedure  in  other  cases.  In 
a  word,  the  indications  were  that  the  Chief  Justice  had  deeply 
studied  the  whole  matter. 

But  to  set  forth,  in  this  book,  a  full  account  of  the  impeachment 
here  in  question,  would  be  quite  impossible;  and  without  setting 
forth  a  full  account,  I  could  not  do  justice  either  to  my  readers,  to 
my  hero,  or  to  the  compiler  of  these  pages.  I  confine  myself,  there- 
fore, to  some  indications  of  our  hero's  correspondence. 

On  the  10th  of  March,  the  Chief  Justice,  heavy-hearted,  wrote  as 
follows,  to  Col.  Wm.  B.  Thomas: 

"My  Dear  Colonel:  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  letter 
and  for  your  views  of  the  situation,  and  the  more  so  because  it 
makes  no  reference  whatever  to  the  impeachment.  To  be  sure,  I  ex- 
pected no  such  reference  in  a  letter  from  you;  but  there  are  so  many, 
and  persons  of  sense,  too,  who  think  it  necessary  and  proper  to  ad- 
vise me  on  that  subject,  that  I  could  not  help  noticing  the  absence 
of  it  in  your  letter.  If  the  correspondents  who  favor  me  with  such 
letters  could  only  be  made  aware  that  the}'  are  never  read,  but  con- 
signed to  the  waste-basket  as  soon  as  their  subject  is  ascertained, 
they  would,  doubtless,  save  themselves  some  labor. 

"As  to  political  matters,  I  take  only  the  interest  of  a  citizen  who 
loves  his  country  and  desires  earnestly  the  speediest  possible  resto- 
ration to  all  the  benefits  of  union  the  ex-rebel  States  on  the  basis  of 
equal  rights  secured  by  equal  suffrage.  Whatever  I  may  have  form- 
erly thought,  or  even  desired,  in  connection  with  the  Presidency,  ] 
wish  now  to  have  my  name  completely  disconnected  from  it.  I  am 
satisfied  that  I  am  not  a  suitable  candidate  for  either  party.  My 
opinions  on  the  leading  questions  of  the  day  are  well  known,  or  may 
be  inferred,  without  difficulty,  from  my  public  acts.  On  some  ques- 
tions, intimately  connected  with  those  leading  questions,  I  shall, 
probably,  be  obliged  to  pass  judicially.  And  I  can  not  be  a  party 
judge.  I  must  express  my  honest  opinions  of  the  Constitution  and 
the  law.  I  must  do  my  duty  without  fear  and  without  favor.  Thus 
acting,  it  is  not  likely  that  my  judgments  will  gratify  the  wishes  of 
party  on  either  hand. 

"  Hence,  I  prefer  to  keep  clear  of  all  personal  interest  in  political 
contests. 

"  A  year  ago — even  six  months  ago — I  did  not  anticipate  the 
present  condition  of  affairs.  But  impeachment  has  come;  the  con- 
stitutionality of  trials  of  civilians,  in  the  late  rebel  States,  by  mili- 
tary commissions  is  before  the  court;  new  doctrines  are  promul- 
gated by  Republican  as  well  as  Democratic  conventions,  of  disregard 
i"  public  faith,  and  in  respect  to  these,  the  question  of  the  consti- 
tutionality of  the  legal  tender  law  assumes  new  importance.  And 
in  regard  to  all  these  matters  I  have  a  not  unimportant  voice.  1 
prefer,   in  this   state    of  things,  to   dismiss   every   thought    which 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  681 

might  incline  the  scale  of  judgment  either  way.  Do  what  I  may, 
I  can  not  hope  to  escape  imputations.  I  hope  only  to  avoid  giving 
any  just  occasion  for  them.  The  rest  I  leave  cheerfully  to  Him 
[who]  alone  judgeth  righteously. 

"  For  all  your  friendship  accept  my  grateful  thanks.    Such  friend- 
ship of  men  like  yourself  is  my  best  reward  for  my  endeavors  to 
serve   our  country ;     for  it   is  disinterested.      Believe   me   that   I 
reciprocate  fully  all  your  good-will,  and  remain, 
"  Sincerely  and  faithfully  yours, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

On  the  16th  of  March,,  in  the  course  of  a  letter  to  Dr.  J.  E.  Snod- 
grass,  the  Chief  Justice  said  : 

"  Those  who  opposed  slavery  and  the  domination  of  the  slave 
power  when  it  cost  something  to  do  so,  can  afford  the  censures  of 
new  zeal  which  risks  nothing  and  may  gain  much." 

And  the  same  letter  said  : 

"As  to  the  Chief  Justice  being  the  ally  of  Mr.  Johnson,  it  is  a  flat 
absurdity.  Since  his  proclamation  of  a  provisional  government  for 
North  Carolina,  in  order  to  reconstruction  on  the  White  basis,  I 
have  been  opposed  to  his  plans.  And  I  have  been  just  as  steady  a 
friend  to  the  congressional  policy  of  reconstruction,  so  far  as  it  con- 
templated equal  rights  for  all,  secured  by  equal  constitutions  and 
laws.  But  I  do  not  believe  in  military  domination  any  more  than 
I  do  in  slaveholding  oligarchy;  nor  do  I  believe  that  any  thing  has 
been  accomplished  by  military  supremacy  in  the  rebel  States  that 
could  not  have  been  as  well,  if  not  better,  accomrjlished  by  civil 
supremacy,  authorized  and  regulated  by  Congress,  with  military 
subordination.  But  I  prefer  even  military  domination  for  a  time, 
itself  controlled  and  directed  by  Congress,  with  an  honest  reference 
to  restoration  of  the  States  to  full  participation  in  the  government, 
with  suffrage  secured  to  all  who  will  not  seek  to  withhold  it  from 
others,  to  any  such  plan  as  that  proposed  by  the  President. 

"While  I  have  condemned  the  President's  attempt  to  impose  on 
the  colored  population  of  the  South,  the  rule  of  the  ex-rebel  popula- 
tion, and  his  hostility  to  congressional  reconstruction,  I  have  not 
thought  it  necessary  to  revile  him.  I  do  not  quarrel  with  people 
about  matters  in  which  I  differ  from  them.  I  like  manly  and  frank 
dealing  even  between  extremest  political  opponents.  I  have, 
therefore,  called  on  the  President  when  official  propriety  has  re- 
quired, and  three  or  four  of  these  occasions  have  been  at  his 
request ;  others  have  been  on  public  occasions.  Once,  and  once 
only,  have  I  called  to  serve,  if  I  could,  old  friends  who  had  done 
faithful  service  in  the  war.  On  several  occasions  when  I  have  met 
the  President,  public  matters  have  been  the  theme  of  conversation; 
and  I  believe  I  never  failed  in  what  I  thought  my  duty  on  such 
occasions.  I  urged  him  by  every  argument  that  I  could  think  of  to 
abandon  his  opposition  to  congressional  reconstruction,  and  to  uni- 
versal suffrage.     At  the  last  of  these  interviews,  now  months  ago, 


682  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 

he  complained  of  Sheridan  and  Stanton,  and  intimated  his  purpose 
to  remove  them.  I  told  him  plainly  what  I  thought  of  it  and  what 
the  people  would  think  of  it,  and  warned  him  of  the  danger  of  the 
avalanche. 

"  I  do  not  den}'  that  sympathy  with  him  had  something  to  do 
with  lay  action.  *  I  remembered  his  loyalty  at  the  outset  of  the  war 
and  his*  patriotism  all  through  the  war,  and  I  urged  him  to  retrace 
his  steps.  But  I  could  do  nothing.  I  believe,  however,  that  he 
saw  that  my  purpose  was  an  honest  purpose  and  not  actuated  by 
personal  hostility,  and  therefore  felt  a  certain  degree  of  respect  and 
perhaps  regard  for  me.  It  was  not  enough  to  induce  him  to  spare 
my  friends  from  removal,  but  it  led  him,  doubtless,  to  pay  me  the 
compliment  of  attending  that  reception  of  mine  to  which  the  cor- 
respondent refers. 

"  Now,  that  is  all  of  my  intercourse  with  the  President.  I  tell 
you  for  your  own  satisfaction  and  information.  Let  it  go  no  farther. 
I  will  not  defend  myself  against  calumny  except  by  my  acts. 

"  And  in  the  present  heated  temper  of  the  public  mind  I  can  not 
hope  to  escape  a  great  deal  of  honest  censure.  My  duties  are  judi- 
cial. "What  I  honestly  believe  the  Constitution  and  laws  to  sanction 
or  condemn,  that  I  must,  fearless,  sanction  or  condemn.  I  am  of  no 
party  on  the  bench.  If  I  believe  an  act,  or  part  of  an  act,  of  a 
Republican  Congress  to  be  unconstitutional,  1  must  say  so.  If  a 
man  whom  Republicans  would  gladly  see  condemned,  has  rights, 
and  I  must  judge,  the  rights  shall  be  respected.  And  so  of  the 
Democrats.  I  expect  to  please  neither  at  all  times.  But,  God  help- 
ing me,  I  will  do  my  duty,  sorry  only  that  limited  powers  do  nut 
allow  me  to  do  it  better. 

"  Good-bye.     Sincerelv  your  friend, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

On  the  20th  of  the  same  memorable  month  of  March,  the  Chief 
Justice  wrote  to  Francis  J.  Tucker,  Esq.,  as  follows : 

"  Dear  Sir  :  Please  accept  my  thanks  for  your  kind  note. 

"  I  am  not,  however,  an  aspirant  for  any  political  position,  and 
do  not  desire  to  have  my  name  connected  with  the  presidential 
nomination  in  any  way. 

"  To  discharge  honestly  and  faithfully  the  duties  of  the  difficult 
position  in  which  I  am  called  to  act,  is  all  I  can  hope  to  accomplish, 
and  more,  I  fear,  than  I  am  likely  to  accomplish  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  majority  of  any  party.  I  shall  be  satisfied  if  I  get  the  ap- 
proval of  my  own  conscience. 

"  Very  respectfully  yours, 

«  S.  P.  CHASE." 

To  Jacob  Heaton,  Esq.,  March  23d,  he  said : 

"  You  need  not  fear  for  me.  Good  men  have  misunderstood  and 
bad  men  have  misrepresented  me  before  now. 

"As  a  judge,  whether  presiding  with  large  powers  in  a  Circuit 
Court,  or  presiding  with  very  limited  powers  in  the  Supreme  Court, 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  683 

or  in  the  Senate,  sitting  as  a  Court  of  Impeachment,  I  mean  to  do 
impartial  justice  according  to  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  made  in 
pursuance  thereof;  and,  God  being  my  helper,  neither  clamor  nor 
imputation  shall  move  me  from  the  doing  of  it. 

"I adhere  to  the  old  creed  of  universal  freedom  and  equal  rights; 
but  no  one  knows  better  than  you  that,  as  a  citizen,  I  have  never 
been  the  bondsman  of  party.  As  a  judge,  I  can  recognize  no  party 
obligation  whatever. 

"  1  seek  no  political  office.  I  am  neither  candidate  nor  aspirant. 
All  I  want  is  strength,  wisdom,  and  courage  for  whatever  duty 
reason  and  conscience  show  to  me." 

Writing  to  Hon.  Gerritt  Smith,  on  the  2d  of  April,  he  said  : 

"The  subject  of  the  Presidency  has  become  distasteful  to  me. 
Some  will  say,  'sour  grapes;'  and  there  may  be  some  ground  for 
the  application  of  the  proverb.  But  I  really  think  that  I  am  not 
half  so  ambitious  of  place  as  I  am  represented  to  be.  Certainly,  I 
never  used  any  of  the  ordinary  means  to  get  place.  I  worked  for 
ideas  and  principles  and  measures  embodying  them,  and  with  all 
citizens  of  like  faith  and  aims;  and  was  always  quite  willing  to 
take  place,  or  be  left  out  of  place,  as  the  cause,  in  the  judgment  of  its 
friends,  required.  And  I  am  certainly  entirely  content,  now,  to  be 
left  out  of  consideration  in  connection  with  the  Presidency. 

"  My  desire,  at  present,  is  [to]  perform  the  duties  of  President  of 
the  Senate,  sitting  as  a  Court  of  Impeachment,  faithfully  and  im- 
partially. My  constant  prayer  is  for  guidance  and  strength,  for 
wisdom  and  courage;  and  I  trust  I  shall  be  kept  from  making  any 
serious  mistake. 

"  My  position  is  peculiarly  difficult.  As  the  Chief  Justice,  my 
whole  duties,  except  in  the  single  case  of  impeachment,  connect  me 
with  another  bod}'.  Coming  into  the  Senate  to  preside,  I  feel  and 
am  felt  as  a  sort  of  foreign  element.  The  Senate,  like  all  other 
bodies,  has  a  good  deal  of  esprit  du  corps.  I,  as  Chief  Justice,  look  for 
my  powers  and  duties  in  the  Constitution,  and  very  naturally  disa- 
greeing as  to  their  nature  and  extent  from  many  Senators.  So  far, 
these  differences  have  been  attended  by  no  disagreeable  result.  The 
majority  has  substantially  sustained  my  views,  and  I  have  tried  to 
avoid  every  claim  which  could  be,  as  I  thought,  called  in  question. 

"  Mr.  Sumner's  motion,  yesterday,  alarmed  me.  The  question, 
however,  forced  itself  upon  me:  'What  will  be  my  duty  in  case 
the  Senate,  by  denying  to  me  the  casting  vote  which  belongs  to 
the  President  of  the  Senate,  sitting  as  a  Court  of  Impeachment, 
and  so  refusing,  in  effect,  to  recognize  my  right  to  preside  ?  '  Hap- 
pily, 1  was  not  compelled  to  decide  this  question. 

"I  hope  that  your  health  is  good,  and  that  you  are  enjoying  your 
delightful  home.     How  I  should  like  to  drop  in  upon  you." 

April  6th,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  to  Col.  John  D.  Van  Buren  : 

"I  see  nothing  in  the  article  you  sent  me  to  object  to  ;  lint  am 
much    obliged  both   to  Mr.  Marble  and  yourself  for  it.     It  will  do 


684  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

much  to  disabuse  the  public.  Here  my  position  is  well  understood  , 
and  no  one,  on  either  side,  except,  perhaps,  a  few  over-jealous  par- 
tisans, desires  or  expects  any  thing  of  me  except  the  honest  and 
impartial  discharge  of  my  duties  as  presiding  officer.  In  this  ex- 
pectation I  trust  no  one  will  be  disappointed." 

April  8th,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  to  Hon.  Alexander  Long  a 
letter  which  contained  these  words  : 

"  Your  letter,  marked  '  strictly  confidential,'  has  been  received. 
You  hardly  need  any  assurance  that  the  injunction  will  be  scrupu- 
lously observed. 

"It  would  please  me  to  know  the  author  of  the  article  you  in- 
closed ;  and  it  does  please  me  to  be  assured  that  you  have  no  regret 
for  the  part  you  took  in  my  election  to  the  Senate  in  1849.  If  you 
will  turn  to  the  Congressional  Globe  Debates  in  the  Senate,  of  April 
9, 1853,  you  will  find  the  view  I  take  of  that  election  and  its  results, 
which  will,  I  think,  interest  you  now.  It  may  interest  you,  also,  to 
read  again,  if  you  have  ever  read  it  all,  my  letter  to  Mr.  Breslin  on 
the  subject  of  the  union  between  the  Old  Line  and  the  Independent 
Deinocrac}",  written  during  the  summer  after  that  election.  You 
will  find  it  in  the  Congressional  Globe,  1849-50,  Part  I.,  p.  135. 
You  will  see,  if  you  read  Mr.  Butler's  speech,  especially  its  second 
paragraph,  and  what  immediately  follows  the  latter,  that  he  favored 
that  union.  It  is  my  belief,  to-day,  that  if  that  union  had  taken 
place,  all  our  calamities  would  have  been  avoided  ;  or,  if  that  be  too 
strong,  that  civil  war  and  national  debt  would  at  least  have  been 
escaped  ;  and  yet  that  universal  freedom  would  have  been  assured, 
if  not  as  soon,  yet  without  any  great  delay,  and  with  the  concur- 
rence of  the  States  most  interested. 

"Nothing  would  now  gratify  me  more  than  to  see  the  Democracy 
turn  away  from  past  issues,  and  take  for  its  mottoes :  Suffrage  for 
all  ;  amnesty  for  all ;  good  money  for  all  ;  security  for  all  citizens, 
at  home  against  military  despotism,  and  abroad  against  govern- 
mental invasion. 

"But  I  am  neither  aspirant  nor  candidate  myself.  I  want  no 
more  political  distinction  or  position.  All  I  desire  is  courage  and 
wisdom  to  do  my  immediate  duty,  now  and  in  the  future." 

In  a  letter  to  Hon.  Gerritt  Smith,  dated  April  19th,  the  Chief 
Justice  said : 

"The  trial  of  the  President  draws  toward  its  end.  The  evidence 
will,  doubtless,  be  closed  to-morrow  ;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the 
first  speech  on  the  part  of  the  managers  will  be  made.  If  the  Sen- 
ate adheres  to  its  resolution  to  allow  only  two  arguments  on  each 
side,  I  do  not  see  how  the  discussion  can  be  protracted  be}Tond  the 
week,  unless  the  Senate  retire  for  consultation  among  themselves. 

"  To  me  the  whole  business  seems  wrong,  and  if  I  had  any  opin- 
ion, under  the  Constitution,  I  would  not  take  part  in  it.  But  the 
President  is  on  trial,  and  the  Constitution  is  express  that  'when  the 
President  is  tried,  the  Chief  Justice  shall  preside.' 


OF   SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  685 

"Nothing  is  clearer  to  my  mind  than  that  acts  of  Congress,  not 
warranted  by  the  Constitution,  are  not  laws.  In  case  a  law,  believed 
by  the  President  to  be  unwarranted  by  the  Constitution,  is  passed, 
notwithstanding  his  veto,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  his  duty  to  ex- 
ecute it  precisely  as  if  he  held  it  to  be  constitutional,  except  in  the 
case  where  it  directly  attacks  and  impairs  the  executive  power  con- 
fided to  him  by  that  instrument.  In  that  case  it  appears  to  me  to 
be  the  clear  duty  of  the  President  to  disregard  the  law,  so  tar  at 
least  as  it  may  bo  necessary  to  bring  the  question  of  its  constitu- 
tionality before  the  judicial  tribunals. 

"  Until  the  late  rebellion  a  broad  distinction  has  always  been 
taken  between  the  oath  of  office  required  of  the  President  and  the 
oath  required  of  other  officers.  That  of  the  President  is  prescribed 
by  the  Constitution  itself:  'I  do  solemnly  SAvear  that  I  will  faithfully 
execute  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  and  will,  to  the 
best  of  my  ability,  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.'  That  of  other  officers  was  prescribed  by  law — 
the  first  ever  enacted  under  the  Constitution — and  follows  almost 
literally  its  direction  :  '  I  do  solemnly  swear  that  I  will  support  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.' 

"The  test  oath  act  of  1862,  introduced  for  the  first  time  into  the 
oath  to  be  administered  to  other  officers  than  the  President  the  word 
'defend'  in  addition  to  the  word  'support.' 

"How  can  the  President  fulfill  his  oath  to  preserve,  protect,  and 
defend  the  Constitution,  if  he  has  no  right  to  defend  it  against  an 
act  of  Congress,  sincerely  believed  by  him  to  have  been  passed  in 
violation  of  it? 

"To  rne,  therefore,  it  seems  perfectly  clear  that  the  President  had 
a  perfect  right,  and,  indeed,  was  under  the  highest  obligation,  to 
remove  Mr.  Stanton,  if  he  made  the  removal,  not  in  wanton  disre- 
gard of  a  constitutional  law,  but  with  a  sincere  belief  that  the  tenure- 
of-office  act  was  unconstitutional,  and  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
the  question  before  the  Supreme  Court.  Plainly  it  was  the  proper 
and  peaceful,  if  not  the  only  proper  and  peaceful,  mode  of  protect- 
ing and  defending  the  Constitution. 

"I  was  greatly  disappointed  and  pained,  therefore,  when  the  Sen- 
ate, yesterday,  excluded  the  evidence  of  members  of  the  Cabinet  as 
to  their  consultations  and  decisions  (in  one  of  which  Mr.  Stanton 
took  a  concurring  part),  and  the  advice  given  to  the  President  in 
pursuance  thereof.  I  could  conceive  of  no  evidence  more  proper  to 
be  received,  or  more  appropriate  to  enlighten  a  court  as  to  the  in- 
tent with  which  the  act  was  done;  and  accordingly  ruled  that  it 
was  admissible. 

"The  vote,  I  fear,  indicated  a  purpose  which,  if  carried  into 
effect,  will  not  satisfy  the  American  people,  unless  they  arc  prepared 
to  admit  that  Congress  is  above  the  Constitution. 

"Have  you  looked  at  the  questions,  whether,  in  the  event  of  con- 
viction, the  President  pro  tempore  of  the  Senate  is  an  'officer.'  who, 
under  the  Constitution,  can  '  act  as  President?'  and  'whether,  if 
such  an  officer,  he  must  remain  such  while  acting  as  President?' 
My  own  mind  answers  the  last  question  in  the  affirmative,  and  in- 
clines to  the  negative  on  the  first. 


686  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  you  ought  to  give  the  public  the  American 
view  of  these  questions,  if  you  can  find  time  to  consider  them." 

There  is  a  postscript  as  follows  : 

"  I  suppose  you  have  seen  Mr.  Tilton's  'folded  banner.'  He 
came  to  Washington,  some  ten  days  or  two  weeks  ago,  and  sought 
a  conversation  with  me,  and  I  talked  pretty  freely  with  him.  I 
dare  say  he  thought  what  I  said  warranted  the  opinion  he  ex- 
pressed. I  do  not;  but  if  he  did,  it  was  certainly  an  abuse  of  hos- 
pitality  to  build  and  publish  such  conclusions  on  the  basis  of  a 
private  conversation." 

Had  our  hero  then  forgotten  what  use  he  had  made  of  private 
conversations?  But  of  that  more  must  be  said  hereafter.  It  is  an 
unpleasant  theme;  but  one  that  can  not  be  avoided. 

Far  from  pleasant  also  is  the  subject  to  which,  not  for  the  first 
time,  attention  must  be  drawn  by  stating  that  on  the  same  day 
when  the  foregoing  letter  was  dictated  by  our  hero  to  his  private 
secretary,  he  wrote  an  autographic  letter  to  Alexander  Long. 

It  was  remarkably  imprudent  to  address  to  Alexander  Long 
that  letter  of  the  8th  of  April,  1868.  It  was  yet  more  imprudent 
to  write  to  him  the  letter  now  about  to  be  presented. 

On  the  19th  day  of  April,  then,  this  letter  was  addressed  by 
Salmon  Portland   Chase  to  Alexander  Long: 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  My  reply  to  your  last  note  has  been  somewhat 
delayed.     My  time,  as  you  may  readily  imagine,  is  much  occupied. 

"It  appears  to  me  quite  unlikely  that  such  a  union  as  is  essential 
to  success  can  be  brought  about  among  those  who  agree  in  opposition 
to  military  commissions  and  military  ascendancy  in  the  government. 

"  The  Democratic  party,  no  doubt,  could  insure  such  a  union  by 
proclaiming  anew  its  old  creed  of  equal  and  exact  justice  for  all 
men,  and  declaring  itself  for  the  full  restoration  of  the  States,  now 
unrepresented,  on  the  basis  of  universal  suffrage  and  universal 
amnesty,  but  against  military  government,  and  military  commis- 
sions, and  the  whole  train  of  related  doctrines,  such  as  State  suicide, 
State  subjugation,  confiscation,  and  the  like.  Of  such  a  union,  if 
brought  about,  I  should  certainly  desire  the  success.  I  should  wish 
as  earnestly  now  as  I  did  in  1849  for  the  success  of  the  Democracy, 
united  on  such  a  basis.  I  could  not  wish  otherwise,  and  be  faithful 
to  my  antecedents. 

"With  these  sentiments  I  should  not  be  at  libertj-  to  refuse  the 
use  of  my  name  in  the  contingency  you  refer  to.  I  see,  however, 
very  slight  indications  that  such  a  contingency  will  occur;  and  I 
have,  certainly,  no  desire  for  a  nomination.  I  greatly  prefer  to  re- 
main disconnected  from  all  political  responsibilities,  save  that  of 
casting  my  vote. 

"  I  have  no  doubt,  however,  that  such  a  union  as  you  desire  would 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  G87 

be  attended  with  complete  success.  Nor  is  there  any  reason  stronger 
than  prejudice  why  it  should  not  take  place.  The  restoration  of  the 
Southern  States,  on  the  basis  of  universal  suffrage,  is  now  certain. 
Every  one  of  them  will  have  adopted  constitutions,  recognizing  the 
right  of  every  citizen,  not  disfranchised,  to  vote,  before  the  present 
Congress  ends — most  of  them  certainly,  and  all  of  them  probably, 
before  the  presidential  election.  The  united  democracy,  frankly 
conceding-  the  permanence  of  these  constitutions  and  the  rights  of 
suffrage  secured  by  them,  and  appealing  to  the  sentiments  of  justice 
and  generosity  and  enlightened  interest  for  universal  amnesty  and 
the  removal  of  all  political  disfranchisements,  could  carry  two-thirds, 
if  not  more,  of  those  States;  whereas,  without  the  union  suggested, 
and  upon  the  antiquated  issues,  the  Democratic  party  can  hardly 
hope  to  carry  one  of  them  ;  and  its  success  seems  impossible. 

"But  enough  of  this.  The  impeachment  draws  to  an  end.  The 
arguments  will  probably  be  concluded  this  week.  Whether  the 
Senate  will  proceed  at  once  to  vote,  or  take  time  for  conference  and 
deliberation,  no  one  can  say.  The  coui'se  thus  far  pursued  would 
indicate  an  immediate  vote.  I  hazard  no  conjecture  as  to  the  result ; 
but  I  think  it  safe  to  say  that  if  the  vote  were  deferred  for  six  weeks, 
until  after  the  Chicago  nomination,  conviction  would  be  impossible. 

"  The  Senate,  in  m}r  opinion,  made  its  greatest  and  most  injurious 
mistake  yesterday,  when  it  refused  to  receive  the  testimony  of  the 
heads  of  the  departments." 

Then  follows  an  argument  similar  to  that  contained  in  the  letter 
to  Hon.  Gerritt  Smith.     The  letter  closes  in  these  terms: 

"I  am  glad  to  know  who  wrote  the  article  you  inclosed  to  me.  I 
greatly  honor  Mr.  Reed's  abilities  and  his  independence  of  thought, 
and  wish  I  could  give  him  better  evidence  of  it  than  these  words. 

"  But  I  must  close  this  already  too  long  letter. 

"  Very  truly  yours, 

"  Hon.  Alexander  Long.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  role  performed  by  Mr.  Long  in  Congress  is  of  history.  I 
did  not  purpose  to  disparage  him  at  all,  when  I  said  that  it  was 
imprudent  on  the  part  of  the  Chief  Justice  to  address  to  him  such 
letters.  It  was  worse  than  idle  for  a  man  with  a  record  such  as 
that  of  Mr.  Long,  to  open  up  with  Salmon  Portland  Chase  a  corre- 
spondence such  as  we  have  seen;  and  it  was  worse  than  idle  for 
Chief  Justice  Chase  to  correspond  with  Mr.  Long  on  such  a  subject. 

On  the  same  day  a  letter,  hardly  less  imprudent,  was  addressed 
to  Mr.  Tilton  by  our  hero.     It  contains  these  words  : 

"Your  article,  under  the  caption,  'A  Folded  Banner,'  was  very 
different  from  any  thing  which  your  conversation  with  me  fore- 
shadowed. 

"You  visited  me  at  my  house  and  invited  a  conversation.     I  was 


688  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

glad  to  see  you,  as  I  alwayB  have  been  ;  and  my  esteem  for  you  and 
trust  in  you  were  such  that  I  talked  with  you  very  freely.  I  lit- 
tle thought  that  I  was  on  trial  before  an  editor,  and  that  he  was 
about  to"  pronounce  a  sentence  upon  me,  ex  cathedra,  according  to 
the  supposed  result  of  his  investigations.  Had  I  been  aware  of  that 
I  should  probably  have  followed  a  great  military  example,  and 
observed  a  prudent  silence. 

"  I  had  seen,  with  perfect  content,  so  far  as  I  was  concerned,  the 
Eepublican  preference  concentrating  upon  General  Grant.  I  had 
observed,  also,  new  shibboleths  of  Eepublican  faith,  invented  and 
demanded,  in  the  hot  contentions  of  the  time,  which  I  could  not 
frame  my  lips  to  pronounce.  I  felt,  therefore,  that  whatever  might  be 
my  obligation  to  support  Eepublican  candidates,  because  of  my  agree- 
ment with  the  majority  of  the  party  on  the  great  point  of  equal 
rights  protected  by  equal  suffrage,  I  could  not  myself  properly  rep- 
resent it  as  its  candidate.  And  I  said  to  you  that  I  could  not  take 
the  Eepublican  nomination  if  I  could  have  it.  1  knew  I  could  not 
have  it,  even  were  General  Grant  out  of  the  way,  if  I  proclaimed 
my  opinions  on  impeachment,  military  commissions,  military  govern- 
ment, and  the  like  ;  and  I  wanted  no  nomination  with  concealed  or 
un avowed  opinions;  and,  indeed,  wanted  no  nomination  at  all.  For 
this  reason,  I  said  I  would  not  take  the  Eepublican  nomination  if  I 
could  have  it.  I  had  said  it  to  nobody  else.  I  said  it  to  you  because 
I  felt  like  saying  it,  and  thought  you  knew  me  well  enough  to  believe 
me.  I  certainty  never  dreamed  of  a  proclamation  by  you  in  The 
Independent,  based  upon  it.  I  knew  very  well  that  every  body  who 
should  think  I  had  made  such  a  declaration  to  you,  and  did  not  know 
me  intimately,  would  characterize  it,  coming  as  it  must  have  come 
from  one  who  knew  he  had  not  the  least  chance  of  receiving  the 
nomination,  in  very  uncomplimentary  terms. 

"I  was  still  more  surprised  by  your  confident  expression  that  I 
would  accept  the  Democratic  nomination.  I  refused  to  say  to  you 
that  I  would  not  accept  it.  But  I  did  not  say  that  I  would  ;  nor  did 
I  say  any  thing  to  that  effect.  I  have  never  sought  or  expected  it. 
I  have  never  thought  it  in  the  least  degree  likely  that  it  would  be 
offered  to  me.  It  would  have  been  ridiculous  in  me  to  say  that  I 
would  not  accept  what  had  not  been  offered,  and  was  not  likely  to 
be.  It  would  have  savored  strongly  of  a  vanity  and  presumption 
justly  offensive,  and  from  which,  at  least,  I  hope  I  am  free.  What 
you  said  led  me  to  suppose  that  you  agreed  with  me  in  opinion  that 
the  Chief  Justice,  presiding  in  the  Senate,  has  the  same  right  as  the 
Vice-President  when  presiding  in  that  body,  and  I  expressed  a  wish 
that  you  would  express  that  opinion  in  The  Independent.  You  said 
you  would,  and  your  article  does  contain  a  sentence  to  that  effect. 

"For  this  and  for  your  declaration  that  I  am  not  likely  to  aban- 
don any  of  the  ideas  and  principles  on  which,  I  suppose,  your  former 
preference  was  based,  I  beg  you  to  accept  my  thanks.  I  regret  that 
you  saw  fit  to  withdraw  that  preference  with  such  a  flourish  of 
trumpets.  You  might  have  said,  with  truth,  that  I  was  neither 
candidate  nor  aspirant  for  any  nomination;  and  that  The  Independent 
did  not  think  it  useful  to  urge  any  farther  consideration  of  my  name. 
I  do  not  think  you  had  any  right  to  make  any  other  inference  from 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  689 

my  conversation  with  yo u  ;  and  if  the  conversation  did  warrant  any 
other  inference  by  you,  I  do  not  think  you  had  a  right  to  use  a 
private  conversation  for  the  purpose  of  making  it. 

'•I  write  frankly,  just  as  I  spoke  frankly.  1  do  not  he'ieve  that 
you  will  hereafter  reflect  with  complacency  upon  your  article.  But 
I  do  not  desire  to  have  another  written,  based  on  this  note,  which  is 
exclusively  for  your  personal  information,  anil  not  for  thai  of  the  readers 
of  The  Independent.  I  am  content  to  be  read  out  of  the  Republican 
party.  1  can  afford  to  be,  so  long  as  I  retain  my  old  principled  and 
my  old  fidelity  to  the  cause  of  the  oppressed  and  the  needy.  I  regret 
only  that  Theodore  Tilton  took  upon  himself  the  office  of  reader,  and 
that  he  read  the  sentence  in  a  way  which,  taken  in  connection  with 
the  leaded  and  leading  article  of  some  weeks  ago,  and  his  remarks 
to  me  concerning  it,  strikes  me  as  peculiarly  ungracious  and  un- 
warranted.    And  so  I  remain,  regretfully,  yours, 

"  Theodore  Tilton,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

I  have  shown,  by  quoting  and  commenting  on  a  thought  of  Mr, 
Tilton,1  that  I  do  not  look  upon  him  as  without  ability.  But  I 
think  he  never  was  a  safe  correspondent  for  our  hero,  or,  indeed,  for 
any  other  man.  The  tone  of  Mr.  Tilton  is  not  high.  He  is  a  canter, 
half-religious,  half-political. 

But  though  the  letters  here  in  question  were  not  prudent,  they  are 
deeply  interesting  documents  for  us,  who  now  study  Chase's  course 
and  character. 

To  Dr.  A.  L.  Child,  of  Glendale,  Nebraska,  on  the  24th  of  April, 
the  Chief  Justice  wrote : 

"Dear  Sir:  Yours  of  the  12th  is  received.  The  account  given 
of  the  Chase  family  by  Senator  Dudley  Chase  is,  I  believe,  correct. 
I  am  the  son  of  Itbamar,  and  you,  being  the  grandson  of  Mercy,  are 
my  second  cousin. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  learn  from  your  account  that  the  old  bishop  had 
so  bad  an  opinion  of  me.  I  hope  he  has  thought  better  of  the  mat- 
ter since,  for  he  was  a  good  man,  and  is,  I  believe,  in  heaven.  He 
made  some  inquiry  into  the  connection  of  our  family  with  that  of 
Judge  Chase,  who  was  impeached  and  acquitted;  though,  upon  one 
of  the  articles,  there  was  a  majority  (though  not  two-third-  \.  The 
bishop  found,  1  believe,  some  relationship  between  the  families. 
What  it  was  I  don't  know. 

"  With  hearty  good  wishes  for  your  welfare,  and  thanks  for  your 
letter,  I  remain,  Yours  very  truly, 

."8.  P.CHASE." 

An  animated  account  of  Judge  Samuel  Chase  (with  the  spelling 
Chace)  may  be  read  in  the  admirable  autobiographic  book  of  Judge 

1  Ante,  p.  21. 


GOO  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

Bracken  ridge,  once  of  Baltimore,  but  first  and  last  of  Pennsylvania. 
I  have  not  the  book  at  hand,  and  I  am  not  sure  about  the  title,  but 
I  think  it  is  Recollections  of  Life  in  the  West. 

The  impeached  Judge  Chase  had  many  traits  of  resemblance  to 
the  unimpeached  Judge  Chase. 

Col.  William  Brown,  of  Nicholasville,  Kentucky,  not  long  after 
the  death  of  the  Chief  Justice,  sent  to  the  Cincinnati  Commercial  a 
letter  received  by  him  from  our  hero,  under  the  date  April  29,  1868. 
It  contains,  according  to  the  Commercial,  these  words: 

"  I  have  erased,  as  I  told  you,  to  have  any  aspirations  connected 
with  the  Presidency.  It  once  seemed  to  me  a  position  highly  desir- 
able for  the  opportunities  of  usefulness  it  afforded;  nor  was  I  indif- 
ferent to  its  distinctions.  But  I  am  almost  surprised  to  find  how 
contentedly  I  have  seen  the  preference  of  the  Republicans  fall  upon 
General  Grant,  and  how  little  I  am  troubled  by  any  lingering  desire 
for  the  place.  You  doubtless  notice  the  talk  there  is  about  uniting 
all  the  opponents  of  military  ascendancy  and  military  commissions 
on  one  candidate,  and  making  me  that  candidate.  But  I  have  no 
idea,  with  my  known  principles  and  convictions  in  respect  to  res- 
toration on  the  basis  of  universal  suffrage  as  well  as  universal  am- 
nesty, that  there  will  any  such  unite  upon  me ;  and  I  am  very  sure 
that'  I  shall  not  seek  any  nomination  from  any  party.  I  do  n't  want 
any  office  enough  for  that;  and,  indeed,  if  I  could  now  do  so,  with 
propriety,  would  prefer  to  resign  the  post  1  hold  to  being  a  seeker 
for  any  other. 

"  I  am  none  the  less  grateful  to  you  for  your  strong  friendship. 
Should  what  some  paper  calls  '  the  miracle '  of  the  suggested  nom- 
ination take  place  under  circumstances  which  would  make  it  my 
duty  to  accept  it,  and  should  success  attend  it— what  a  succession 
of  unhatched  chickens! — it  may  be  in  my  power  to  prove  better 
than  I  can  otherwise  how  I  value  it.  Whether  or  no,  it  will  always 
be  pleasant  to  me  to  show  my  sense  of  it  in  any  fitting  way." 

On  the  5th  of  May,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  to  Richard  Gaines, 

Esq.,  a  letter  saying,  in  the  last  sentence  but  one:     "This,  my  old 

friend,  is  entirely  for  your  own  satisfaction,  and  not  for  any  printer." 

In  the  first  paragraph  of  that  letter  are  the  words ; 

"  Your  kind  note  reached  me  a  day  or  two  since.  It  was  very 
pleasant  to  hear  from  you ;  for  the  days  when  a  few  of  us  were 
united  in  a  seemingly  insignificant  minority,  by  a  common  devo- 
tion to  what  we  sincerely  believed  to  be  a  good  and  noble  cause,  are 
very  fresh  in  my  remembrance.  I  have  made  no  friends  since  for 
whom  I  cherish  a  warmer  attachment  than  for  those  of  that  time." 

Plow  natural  that  language  !  It  appears  to  me  sincere.  But  then 
follows  a  paragraph  in  which  I  think  I  see  some  self-delusion.  It 
runs  thus : 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  691 

"  I  was  a  Democrat,  then,  too  Democratic  for  the  Democratic 
party  of  those  days ;  for  I  admitted  no  exception  on  account  of  race 
or  color  or  condition,  to  the  impartial  application  of  Democratic 
principles  to  all  measures  and  to  all  men.  Such  a  Democrat  I  am 
to-day."' 

The  birthday  letter,  most  of  which  will  be  found  in  Chapter  LII 
of  this  volume,  contemplated  a  method  different  from  that  which, 
some  time  after  the  death  of  our  hero,  seemed  to  me  advisable.  Had 
I  observed  that  originally  contemplated  method,  I  would  have  pre- 
sented a  pretty  full  account  of  parties  which  I  have  quite  carefully 
made  up.  I  have  not  space  for  that  account  in  any  portion  of  the  pres- 
ent work.  But  I  may  say  that  I  always  thought  that  Chase  had  never 
olear  conceptions  of  the  measure  in  which  he  could  be  regarded  as,  in 
any  sense,  "  too  Democratic  for  the  Democratic  party."  He  was  never 
of  that  party,  heart  and  brain,  if  I  was  not,  at  all  times,  much  in 
error  as  to  him  as  well  as  in  regard  to  the  party  known  as  Demo- 
cratic. But  of  this  more  must  be  said  hereafter.  In  that  letter  of 
May  5th  to  Mr.  Gaines,  our  hero  also  said  : 

"  But  I  am  not  a  candidate  nor  an  aspirant  for  any  political  office, 
nor  do  I  see  any  reason  for  thinking  that  the  people  will  ever  again 
require  my  services  in  any  political  capacity. 

"  As  a  citizen,  however,  I  shall  always  be  ready  to  aid,  so  for  as 
1  properly  may,  '  with  malice  toward  none,  and  charity  toward  all,' 
in  the  complete  restoration  of  the  States  lately  in  rebellion,  to  full 
participation  in  all  the  benefits  of  the  Union  on  the  basis  of  equal 
rights  secured  by  equal  suffrage.  I  fervently  desire  the  renewed 
prosperity  of  those  States  and  of  all  their  citizens.  Restoration  on 
this  basis  is  just  now  the  most  important  object  of  political  efforts; 
but  there  are  others  which  seem  to  me  hardly  less  important.  I 
refer  particularly  to  making  the  currency  good  enough  to  pay  all 
debts  whether  to  bondholders  or  to  working-men,  and  to  resistance 
to  the  attempts  which  have  lately  became  so  alarming;  to  subju- 
gate the  executive  and  judicial  departments  of  the  government  to 
the  unlimited  control  of  the  legislative,  and  to  subvert  the  regular 
order  of  the  administration  of  criminal  justice,  by  .substituting,  at 
the  discretion  of  Congress,  military  commissions  for  trial  by  jury  in 
time  of  peace. 

"  With  these  views,  you  will  readily  imagine  that  I  am  quite 
content  to  be  regarded  as  an  outsider  by  both  the  great  political 
parties  which  now  divide  the  country,  and  to  preserve  my  indepen- 
dence in  a  non-political  station." 

On  the  next  day,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  to  Col.  John  D.  Van 
Buren  : 

"  You  are  at  liberty  to  say  to  the  governor  what  I  said  to  you. 
"  There  seems  to  be  a  persistent  effort  to  create  the  erroneous  im- 
pression which  I  hoped  was  effectually  suppressed  by  your  article. 
45 


692  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"  The  more  I  reflect  on  the  subject,  the  more  decided  is  my  convic- 
tion that  the  Chief  Justice,  presiding  in  the  trial  of  the  President, 
has  no  other  or  different  powers  or  responsibilities  than  the  Vice- 
President  would  have,  presiding  in  a  trial  of  the  Chief  Justice. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  Constitution  which,  in  my  judgment,  war- 
rants a  different  conclusion  ;  and  I  would  no  more  assume  an  uncon- 
stitutional function. 

"  Even  if  the  Chief  Justice  were,  strictly  speaking,  a  member  of 
the  court,  he  would  have  no  right  to  charge  the  other  members  of 
the  court;  he  could  only  express  his  opinion  in  common  with  them." 

Is  that  so  certain  ?  I  find  reason  to  doubt  whether  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice whose  opinion  we  are  ascertaining,  ever  read  Forsyth's  History 
of  Trial  by  Jury.  In  that  work  he  could  have  found,  what  other 
works  also  show,  respecting  the  process  of  mere  usurpation  through 
which  gradually  the  foremost  of  the  sworn — the  presiding  trier — 
came  to  be  a  charging  Judge ;  and  how  long  it  was  before  the  now 
settled  doctrine,  touching  the  duty  of  the  jurors  to  receive  and  to  re- 
gard instructions  given  by  the  Judge,  became  completely  settled. 
But  the  Chief  Justice  thus  goes  forward  in  that  letter  of  May  6th: 

"But  he  is  not,  in  any  strict  sense,  a  member.  He  is  presiding 
officer  ;  being  Chief  Justice,  it  is  proper  that  he  should  rule,  prelim- 
inarily, questions  of  evidence,  and  if  called  upon,  express  his  opinion 
on  tiny  other  questions,  in  analogy  to  the  practice  in  England  when 
the  Judges  attend  the  House  of  Lords  on  trials  of  impeachment,  and 
answer  such  questions  as  the  House  of  Lords  sees  fit  to  put.  But  I 
see  in  the  Constitution  no  authority  beyond  this. 

"  I  have  endeavored,  looking  only  to  the  Constitution  and  the  law, 
to  do  exactly  right,  thus  far,  seeking  nothing — disregarding  every 
thing — except  the  satisfaction  of  my  own  conscientious  judgment. 
So,  God  helping  me,  I  shall  continue  to  the  end."  ! 

On  the  12th,  he  wrote  to  his  old  friend  and  former  partner,  Mr. 
Ball : 


1  On  the  same  day,  he  wrote  to  Hon.  Emory  Washburn : 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  If  I  have  been  somewhat  remiss  in  thanking  you  for  your  kind 
note  of  the  '27th  of  April,  it  is  not  because  I  do  not  gratefully  appreciate  it.  It.  is, 
indeed,  a  great  satisfaction  to  have  your  assurance  that  my  course,  as  presiding 
officer  of  the  Senate  during  the  trial  of  the  President,  has  met  the  approval  of  those 
whose  judgment  may  be  taken  as  representing  the  candid  judgment  of  the  country. 

"  My  own  conscience  testifies  to  me  that.  I  have  desired  nothing  except  to  be  right, 
and  to  have  the  Senate  right  on  the  important,  questions  which  necessarily  arose  in 
the  organization  and  proceedings  of  that  body  as  a  Court  of  Impeachment.  To  have 
this  testimony  reinforced  by  the  approbation  of  gentlemen  whose  judicial  experi- 
ence and  professional  ability  give  the  greatest  weight  to  their  opinions,  is  a  real 
support  and  consolation,  amid  censures,  most  of  which,  I  am  sure,  spring  from  party 
heat  or  unreflecting  bias." 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  693 

"The  vote  on  impeachment  is  ordered  for  to-day,  but  it  is  quite 
probable  it  will  not  be  taken,  as  Senator  Howard  is  said  to  be  quite 
ill.  But  you  will  know  before  you  receive  this.  I  am  entirely 
uncertain  as  to  the  result;  and,  indeed,  do  not  wish  to  be  bettor 
informed  in  advance  of  the  actual  vote.  I  have  tried  faithfully  to  do 
my  whole  duty,  with  absolute  impartiality,  and  my  conscience  does 
not  reproach  me." 

In  the  course  of  a  letter  of  May  13th,  to  Col.  J.  R.  G.  Pitkin, 
of  New  Orleans,  the  Chief  Justice  said  : 

"  It  was  not  my  purpose,  in  any  thing  I  said,  to  express  any  pre- 
ference between  Messrs.  Taliaferro  and  War  mouth.  When  I  was 
engaged  in  political  contests,  my  rule  was  to  accept  the  nomination 
of  my  party,  and  I  made  no  exceptions  unless  on  what  seemed  to  me 
clearly  obligatoiy  reason.  I  have  not  undertaken  to  decide  whether 
any  such  obligator}'  reason  existed  in  Louisiana  for  the  refusal  of 
yourself  and  your  friends  to  support  Judge  Warmouth  ;  but  I  am  sure 
you  must  have  thought  so,  or  you  would  [not]  have  supported  even 
so  good  a  man  as  Mr.  Taliaferro  in  opposition. 

"  I  feel  honored  b}T  the  esteem  and  confidence  expressed  in  me  by 
yourself  and  many  other  honored  citizens  of  Louisiana.  But  it  was 
without  regret  that  I  observed  the  preference  of  the  Republican  party 
gradually  concentrating  upon  Gen.  Grant;  and  new  issues,  new 
measures,  and  new  leadership  have  made  it  unfit  that  I,  who  cared 
most  of  all  for  the  restoration  of  the  Southern  States  on  the  basis  of 
equal  rights  secured  for  all  by  universal  suffrage  and  universal  am- 
nesty, should  be,  even  if  I  would  be,  selected  as  its  representative 
in  a  political  canvass.  I,  therefore,  very  willingly  dismissed,  long 
since,  the  subject  of  the  Presidency  from  my  thoughts;  and  am  now, 
more  than  ever,  satisfied  with  the  dismissal." 

Is  not  that  a  singular  expression  ?  Never  was  a  heart  more  self- 
deceived  than  was  the  heart  of  our  hero  when  he  wrote  that  letter 
and  some  others  of  like  import.     He  continued  : 

"  You  will,  of  course,  infer,  that,  while  much  obliged  by  your  kind 
reference  to  future  possibilities,  I  am  wholly  indisposed  to  the  con- 
sideration of  them.  I  neither  expect  nor  wish  for  any  contingency 
in  which  my  name  will  be  again  connected  with  political  contests, 
or  in  which  I  should  be  called  upon  to  take  any  other  part  than  that 
of  a  voter." 

In  a  letter  to  Hiram  Barney,  Esq.,  dated  May  13th,  the  Chief 
Justice  said  : 

"Thanks  for  your  promised  kindness.  I  hope  that  the  bust  will 
come  safely;  if  not,  Nettie  will  be  grievously  disappointed. 

"We  have  surely  fallen  upon  evil  times.  Think  of  legislatures, 
political  conventions,  even  religious  bodies,  undertaking  to  instruct 
Senators  how  to  vote,  guilty  or  not  guilty  !    What  would  be  thought 


G94  THE  TKIVATE  LIFE  and  public  services 

of  such  attempts  to  drive  the  decisions  of  any  other  courts?  All  the 
appliances  to  force  a  measure  through  Congress  are  in  use  here  to 
force  a  conviction  through  the  Court  of  Impeachment. 

"To  me  personally  the  result  is  not  a  matter  of  the  smallest  con- 
sequence ;  but  to  every  lover  of  the  country  and  of  the  Constitution, 
it  is  of  the  utmost  consequence  that  the  Senate  should  be  left  free  to 
decide  according  to  the  oath  each  member  has  taken  'to  do  impar- 
tial justice  according  to  the  Constitution  and  the  laws.'  " 

On  the  16th  he  wrote  to  G.  W.  Jonson,  Esq. : 

"  Dear  Sir  :  I  return  your  letter  as  requested,  but  have  taken  no 
copy. 

"It  gives  me  much  pain  that  one  of  those  old  anti-slavery  men 
with  whom  I  labored  in  the  early  daj's  of  the  great  movement  for 
freedom  and  justice,  and  for  whom  I  cherish  and  shall  ever  cherish  a 
warm  and  sincere  affection,  so  totally  misconceives  and  misrepre- 
sents me.  I  do  not  care  to  defend  myself.  My  conscience  does  not 
reproach  me  with  any  lack  of  fidelity  in  my  service  to  our  cause  and 
our  country.  With  this  I  must  be  content,  and  leave  events  to  the 
Great  Disposer." 

On  the  same  clay,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Clark  Williams,  of  Cincinnati : 

"My  Dear  Sir  :  I  was  glad  to  see  your  hand-writing  once  more. 
I  do  not  quite  agree  with  you.  To  me  the  most  important  thing 
seems  to  me '  not  that  Mr.  Johnson  should  be  acquitted  or  con- 
victed, but  that  his  judges,  the  Senators  of  the  United  States,  should 
render  an  honest  and  impartial  judgment,  according  to  [the]  Consti- 
tution and  the  laws,  upon  the  facts  proved  before  them.  In  what  I 
have  done  as  presiding  officer.  I  have  endeavored  to  be,  and  I  believe 
I  have  been,  perfectly  unbiased. 

"I  had  written  thus  far  when  the  time  came  for  me  to  go  to  the 
Capitol,  wdience  I  have  just  returned.  You  have  already  learned  the 
result  of  the  vote  on  the  10th  Article,  on  which  the  Senate  required 
the  question  to  be  put  fii'st ;  thirty-five  declaring  the  President  guilty 
and  nineteen  declaring  him  not  guilty;  so  that  there  not  being  two- 
thirds  voting  guilty,  he  was  declared  acquitted.  I  was  under  the 
impression  that  the  result  would  be  the  other  way,  until  the  vote  had 
been  taken.  With  one  exception,  I  had  never  heard  any  Senator 
who  had  not  pronounced  his  opinion  in  committee,  even  intimate 
what  his  vote  would  be  on  this  article;  and  yet  if  you  were  to 
believe  what  is  published  in  the  papers  you  would  imagine  that  I 
had  contrived  the  whole  thing. 

"The  truth  is,  that  conviction,  which  should  be  a  judicial,  has 
assumed  very  much  the  character  of  a  party  question  ;  and  here,  in 
my  judgment,  is  the  chief  danger  to  our  country. 

"  What  possible  harm  can  result  to  the  country  from  the  continu- 
ance of  Andrew  Johnson months   longer   in    the   presidential 

chair,  compared  with  that  which  must  arise  if  impeachment  becomes 


1  So  in  the  original. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  695 

a  mere  mode  of  getting  rid  of  an  obnoxious  President?  Whal  would 
be  thought  of  a  jury  or  a  court  which  would  convict  or  sentence  a 
man  to  the  penitentiary  because  of 'general  cassedness,'  to  use  the 
current  phrase,  without  sufficient  proof  of  specific  charges  of  offei 
or  crimes?  Suppose  the  proof  sufficient,  but  the  facts  alleged  nol  to 
constitute  the  crime  charged,  what  court  could  Bentence?  If  any 
body  brought  suit  against  you, would  you  be  satisfied  with  the  courl 
or  with  the  jury  which  should  find  and  adjudge  against  you  without 
good  warrant  in  law  and  in  fact? 

'•But  I  have  written  more  than  I  intended.  All  I  meant  to  saw 
when  I  began,  was.  that  I  fear  3-0 u  do  not  allow  sufficientl}-  for  honest 
differences  of  judgment;  and  that  your  old  friend  is  still  just  what 
you  always  took  him  to  be,  and  that  nobod}*  shall  fail  of  having  a 
fair  and  impartial  trial  in  any  tribunal  where  he  presides,  if  your 
friend  has  the  power  of  securing  it  to  him." 

In  a  letter  to  Hon.  John  H.  Gilmer,  May  17th,  he  said: 

"If  I  know  my  own  heart,  I  desire  much  more  to  merit  than  to 
receive  the  approval  of  my  fellow-citizens.  All  indeed,  that  is  possi- 
ble for  man  is,  to  act  steadily  in  that  manner  which  he  honestly 
believes  ought  to  have  that  approval ;  for  all  experience  teaches  that 
no  one  can  so  act  as  to  secure  it  from  all.  Xo  man  can  do  more  than 
satisfy  his  own  convictions  of  right  and  duty;  and  my  conscience 
testifies  to  my  earnest  endeavors,  in  all  my  public  life,  to  do  this.  I 
make  no  boast  of  an  iron  will;  but  trust  that  I  have  '  firmness  to  do 
the  right  as  God  gives  me  to  see  the  right,'  '  with  malice  toward  none, 
but  with  good-will  toward  all.'  " 

Again  our  hero's  meditations  called  up  Lincoln. 

More  and  more,  the  true  philosophy  of  life  begins  to  be  acknowl- 
edged by  the  life  we  study.  It  is  yet  to  be  subjected  to  temptation, 
that  so  often  tempted  life,  and  it  is  yet  to  exhibit  weakness  in  the 
presence  of  temptation  ;  but,  from  this  time  on,  it  will  be  found 
from  time  to  time  ascending,  still  ascending,  high  above  the  plane 
where  low  ambition  finds  Its  most  aspiring  level. 


696  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER    XLVIII. 

ABOUT  IMPEACHMENT  AND  ABOUT  THE  PRESIDENCY. 

TO  Horace  Greeley  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  as  follows,  on  the 
19th  day  of  May,  1868  : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  am  very  sorry  to  see,  in  The  Tribune  of  yes- 
terday, a  statement  that  'he  (the  Chief  Justice)  decided  the  vote  of 
Mr.  Van  Winkle.  He  did  his  utmost,  happily  in  vain,  to  carry  off 
Messrs.  Anthony  and  Sprague.  "We  douht  that  Mr.  Henderson  would 
have  voted  as  he  did  but  for  the  Chief  Justice's  exertions.' 

"I  appeal  from  Horace  Greeley  thus  informed  to  Horace  Greeley 
better  informed.  More  lies  seem  to  be  afloat  about  me  than  I  thought 
invention  capable  of.  1  have  not  interchanged  a  word  with  Mr. 
Van  Winkle,  on  the  subject  of  impeachment,  that  I  remember,  and 
my  acquaintance  with  him  is  very  slight.  I  have  not  exerted  myself 
to  influence  anybody,  one  way  or  the  other.  Until  yesterday,  when 
I  happened  to  fall  in  with  him  on  the  street,  all  my  conversation 
with  Anthony  would  not  occupy  ten  minutes.  Sprague  was  not  in- 
fluenced by  me,  nor  did  I  seek  to  influence  him.  Henderson  took 
his  dinner — he  is  a  near  neighbor — twice  with  Sprague  and  myself, 
during  the  trial;  hut  I  am  sure  that  I  gave  him  no  advice,  nor 
sought,  in  any  way,  to  control  him,  and  could  not,  if  1  had.  The 
stories  about  dinner  are  mere  bosh,  and  so  are  the  stories  about 
rides,  except  that  there  is  a  grain  of  fact  sunk  in  gallons  of  false- 
hood. On  particular  points,  in  occasional  talks  with  senators,  I  have 
expressed  my  opinion,  just  as  I  should  in  talk  with  you;  but,  cer- 
tain ly,  have  not  sought  to  make  converts  to  my  views,  and,  just  as 
certainly,  I  had  no  idea,  when  I  put  the  question  on  the  Xlth  Article, 
what  the  result  would  be.  1  thought  it  doubtful,  and  very  doubtful, 
with  the  probability  in  favor  of  conviction.  I  had  no  information 
whatever  how  any  senator  would  vote;  I  mean  of  those  who  had 
not  read  opinions,  or  declared  them,  in  the  Senate;  except,  of  course, 
that  I  did  not  doubt  how  Sumner,  Drake,  and  those  of  that  sort, 
would  vote. 

"  1  care  very  little  for  clamor.  But  I  have  felt  greatly  enriched 
by  your  friendship  and  good  opinion,  and  know  1  have  done  nothing 
which  should  entail  the  loss  of  either.  I  have  kept  my  oath  on  the 
trial,  and  have  done  nothing  from  partiality  or  hostility. 

"Your  article  of  May  9,  'Counsel  in  Extremity,'  was  just  and  kind, 
only  overrating  me.  1  have  not  made  a  step  from  my  platform  and 
your  platform  of  universal  suffrage  and  universal  amnesty.  I  am 
looking  for  nothing  in  the  political  way.     I  believe  myself  to  be,  as 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  697 

you  say,  'a  thorough  democrat,  according  to  the  true  definition  of 
that  much-abused  term;'  and  nothing  would  more  rejoice  my  heart 
than  to  see  the  Democratic  party  conforming  its  policy  to  demo- 
cratic ideas  and  principles.  I  do  not  expect  it  to  do  bo  this  year; 
but  it  may.  for  this  is  a  day  of  revolution.  Whether  it  does  or  not, 
I  ask  nothing  from  it  or  any  other  party. 

••Perhaps  there  is  little  use  in  writing  this  note.  In  the  tempos! 
there  is  little  chance  of  hearing.  And  when  this  note  reaches  you, 
the  shouts  from  Chicago  will  be  filling  your  ears. 

'•So  let  me  end  by  assuring  you  that  J  am  in  no  whit  changed  in 
my  devotion  to  the  ideas  and  principles  which  you  have  approved, 
and  that  I  can  never  change  in  my  gratitude  for  your  friendship — 
not  past,  I  hope — and  for  the  support  with  which  you  have  aided 
me  in  my  endeavors  to  serve  the  country. 
"Most  truly,  yours." 

To  Hon.  H.  S.  Bundy  the  Chief  Justice,  on  the  21st  of  May, 
somehow  obtained  his  own  consent  to  write  as  follows: 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  inclose  a  couple  of  paragraphs,  copied  from 
the  "Washington  Chronicle,  which  will  surprise  you,  I  think." 

That  was  a  doubtful  proposition.  Bundy  politicians  are  not  easily 
surprised.     But  the  Chief  Justice  went  on  as  follows: 

"That  so  gross  a  fabrication  should  get  into  print  can  only  be  ac- 
counted for  by  the  strange  excitement  which  seems  to  possess  men's 
minds. 

"Did  I  invite  you  to  call  on  me?  If  I  met  you  anywhere  previ- 
ously, I  doubtless  did;  but  1  don't  recollect  it.  I  certainly  never 
said  that  I  had  'important  matters  to  talk  about.' 

"In  the  rest  of  the  article,  there  is  nothing  but  falsehood;  except 
that  I  may  have  predicted  the  downfall  of  radicalism  as  represented 
by  the  advocates  of  impeachment.  If  I  did,  I  must  have  predicted 
it.  not  as  a  consequence  of  impeachment  itself — though  \  was  al- 
ways opposed  to  it  as  a  political  measure — but  as  a  consequence  of 
the  denunciatory  and  proscriptive  course  pursued  toward  the  sena- 
tors who  had  declared  for  acquittal.  I  still  think  that  if  that  course 
does  not  defeat  the  Republican  part}-,  it  will  be  because  of  the  devo- 
tion of  many  who  feel  greatly  aggrieved  and  wronged  by  it.  to  the 
principle  of  restoration  on  the  basis  of  equal  rights,  and  the  rejection 
of  that  principle  by  the  opponents  of  that  party. 

'•The  conversation  between  us  must  have  taken  place  on  Wednes- 
day or  Thursday  evening,  May  13th  or  1  -1th.  It  was  telegraphed  to 
the  Chicago  Republican  on  Friday,  and  published  in  that  paper  on 
Saturday  morning,  on  the  da}'  when  the  Senate  voted.  I  really 
remember  nothing  of  the  conversation;  except  that  we  talked  some 
about  impeachment,  but  more,  I  believe,  about  your  iron  business 
and  family  affairs.  I  only  know  the  falsity  of  the  statement  because 
I  know  that  the  intentions  and  ideas  ascribed  to  me  never  entered 
into  my  mind.  It  is  simply  impossible  that  I  should  have  predicted 
the  failure  of  the  impeachment,  for  I  did  not  know  whether  it  would 


608  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 

fail  or  not.  I  knew  absolutely  nothing  of  the  votes  of  any  senators 
claimed  to  be  in  favor  of  acquittal,  except  what  Senators  Trumbull, 
l\  ssenden,  Grimes,  and  Henderson  had  publicly  declared.  If  pos- 
sible, it  is  even  more  impossible  that  I  could  have  said  what  I  am 
reported  as  having  said  about  candidacy,  success,  the  pledges  of 
Fessenden  and  others,  and  all  that.  This  is  not  counterfeiting;  for 
there  never  was  tiny  original  to  be  counterfeited.  It  is  mere  false 
(•(linage.  And  I  think  you  owe  it  to  j'our  own  honor,  and  to  me, 
10  stamp  the  whole  invention  with  the  infamy  it  deserves. 

"It  can  not  hurt  me  except  by  robbing  me  of  the  txood  opinion  of 
some  good  men;  for  I  am  not  a  contriver  of  new  political  organiza- 
tions, nor  am  I  an  aspirant  or  expectant  of  any  political  office  or 
position.  If  new  political  organizations  arise,  they  will  grow — they 
won't  be  manufactured — they  will  grow  out  of  the  real  or  imagined 
exigencies  of  the  times.  What  may  be,  in  m}T  judgement,  my  duty 
as  a  citizen  in  respect  to  political  parties  hereafter.  I  do  not  know. 
It  will  be  determined,  as  heretofore,  by  the  principles  they  represent 
and  the  measures  they  pi"opose.  Of  one  thing,  however,  you  ma}* 
rest  assured,  that  among  men  faithful  to  the  ideas  of  impartial  justice 
and  equal  rights  which  ought  to  constitute  the  basis  of  political  or- 
ganization, no  one  will  be  more  faithful  than 

"  Your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

I  have  not  space,  and  it  is  unnecessary,  to  set  fortli  other  letters 
addressed  to  Mr.  Bundy  by  the  Chief  Justice.  Mr.  Bundy  may 
have  erred  in  understanding.  Error  of  that  kind,  I  think,  was  far 
from  difficult  to  him;  and  I  trust  it  was  easier  than  intentional  mis- 
representation. But  hallucinations  and  illusions  of  the  auditory 
organs  very  often  happen  to  such  partisans  as  Mr.  Bandy  of  the 
••  iron  business."  1 

On  the  22d  of  May,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  to  Mr.  Murat 
Halstead : 

"My  Dear  Mr.  Halstead:  Your  note  is  just  received.  I  have 
no  concern  with  third  parties,  or  with  first  or  second  parties.  To 
make  and  unmake  parties  is  the  work  of  the  people.  Politicians 
can't  do  it,  and  their  attempts  to  do  it  are  always  failures. 

"The  Bund)-  story  is  pure  invention,  except  that  I  dare  say  I  rmay 

have  said  that  proscription  of  Eepublican  senators  would  be  'likely' 

or   'sure'  to  result  in  the  organization  of  a  new  party.     If  I  said 

sure'  I  was  too  fast.      If  I  said  'likely,'  I  only  stated  what  then 

seemed  highly  probable.     I  did  not  refer  to  a  third  party,  however, 


1To  Mr.  Van  Winkle,  on  the  same  day  of  May,  our  hero  wrote  as  follows: 
"My  Dear  Sir:  If  I  ever  exchanged  a  word  with  you  on  the  subject  of  the 
impeachment,  I  do  not  remember  it.  Certainly,  my  respect  for  you,  to  say  nothing 
of  proper  respect  for  myself,  is  too  great  to  allow  any  attempt  on  my  part  to  in- 
fluence your  vote.  It  is  impossible,  therefore,  that  you  could  have  made  any  such 
statement  to  Mr.  Willey  as  is  asserted  in  the  slip  which  I  inclose." 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND  <  BASS.  690 

but  to  a  coming  together,  upon  the  common  ground  of  opposition  to 
the  tyranny  of  the  dominant  majority  in  the  Some  of  Representa- 
tives, of  all  not  interested  in  its  Bupport.  All  thai  I  am  reported  to 
have  said  about  myself  and  the  Democratic  party  is  mere  bosh.  I 
do  wish  that  the  Democratic  party  would  consent  to  be  democratic; 
but  I  neither  seek  nor  want  any  nomination.  I  have  neither  the 
ambition  nor  the  vanity  which  some  unambitious  and  very  modest 
gentlemen  are  pleased  continually  to  ascribe  to  me.  It  amazes  un- 
to see  how  a  simple  endeavor  to  be  absolutely  impartial  in  con- 
ducting a  great  trial  is  magnified  into  Lofty  virtue  on  one  side,  and 
stigmatized  as  political  recreancy  on  the  other.  1  suppose  there  is 
no  man  in  the  country  who  had  less  personal  interest  in  the  result 
than  myself.  And  my  interest  as  a  citizen  was  balanced  between 
hopes  of  good  in  the  event  of  conviction,  through  the  assure. I  buo 
of  reconstruction  on  the  basis  of  equal  rights  for  all,  and  the  fear  of 
evil,  present  and  to  come,  from  the  strain  to  which,  in  the  Same  event, 
all  our  institutions  would  be  Bubjected  in  consequence  of  the  transfer, 
under  the  dictation  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  of  the  execu- 
tive power  from  the  President  elected  by  the  people  to  the  President 
pro  tempore  of  the  Senate. 

"You  have  seen  Henderson's  testimony  about  the  dinner  to  which 
such  consequence  was  given  by  reliable  correspondents.  Nobody  at 
dinner  but  himself  and  that  accidental! — no  talk  of  a  third  party, 
and  no  attempt,  direct  or  indirect,  to  bring  any  influence  to  bear  on 
the  votes  of  senators!  This  is  a  fair  specimen. 
"Faithfully,  yours."1 

May  22,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  to  James  Gordon  Bennett,  Esq., 
a  long  letter,  containing  these  paragraphs : 

c;  My  Dear  Sir  :  I  can  not  any  longer  forbear  saying  to  you  how 
much  I  feel  myself  indebted  for  the  kind  things  which  the  Herald 
has  lately  said  of  me. 

"It  is  a  particular  gratification,  since  this  gives  me  an  opportunity 
of  saying  to  you,  directly,  how  much  I  valued  your  son's  patriotic 
services  and  the  generous  tender  of  his  yacht  to  the  Treasury  De- 
partment at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  I  wanted  to  do  this  when 
he  retired  from  the  service;  but,  about  that  time,  something.  1  know 


'On  the  25th  of  May,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  to  Senator  Anthony: 

"  Dear  Mr.  Senator  :  Mr.  Greeley  writes  me  as  follows:  '  Hon. Thomas  A.  Jenckes 
is  my  authority  for  the  statement  that  you  tried  hard  to  set  Mr.  Anthony  against 
impeachment.  Mr.  J.  personally  controverted  arguments  which  Mr.  Anthony  6aid 
he  had  heard  you  advance.' 

"If  I  tried  hard  to  set  you  against  impeachment,  I  don't  know  it;  and  if  you 
heard  me  -advance'  any  'arguments'  against  it,  or  say  any  thing  about  impeach- 
ment beyond  simply  expressing  the  opinion  that  the  first,  second  and  third  articles 
must,  go  together,  and  were  too  weak  to  warrant  a  verdict  of  guilty,  I  don't  know  it. 

"But  I  see  no  reason  why  I  might  not  have  argued  the  case  with  you,  being  ('hief 
Justice  and  presiding  in  the  Courl  of  Impeachment,  with  much  more  propriety  than 
a  gentleman  who  is  one  of  the  accusers  and  committed  in  advance  to  conviction." 


700  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 

not  what,  drew  down  upon  me  the  wrath  of  the  Herald,  and  I  did 
not  wish  to  do  or  say  any  thing  which  might  be  construed  into  an 
effort  to  stay  or  mitigate  its  censures.  My  Scotch  blood  rebels  against 
asking  or  seeming  to  ask  quarter. 

"Before  that  time,  the  Herald  had  given  me  important  support  in 
my  efforts  to  get  money  for  the  war,  and  I  had  more  than  once 
sought  an  opportunity  of  expressing  m}r  appreciation  of  it,  but  never 
found  you  in  your  rooms  when  I  called  for  that  purpose. 

"  Let  this  suffice  for  the  past.  I  only  want  it  understood.  And 
now,  after  thanks  for  present  kind  words,  let  me  say  that  a  remark 
in  your  columns,  a  few  days  ago,  to  the  effect  that  I  have  undertaken 
to  engineer  the  movement  for  my  nomination  to  the  Presidency, 
does  me  injustice.  I  have  done  no  such  thing,  and  shall  do  no  such 
thing. 

"What  was  said  in  the  Herald,  some  time  before,  that  I  had  ceased 
to  be  a  candidate,  was  the  exact  truth.  There  was  a  time  when  I 
thought  I  might  be  nominated,  and  I  don't  deny  that  a  nomination 
would  have  gratified  me ;  but,  I  assure  }*ou,  I  never  desired  it  so 
much  as  to  make  me  at  all  discontented  when  the  probability  of  it 
disappeared." 

After  several  sentences  of  the  succeeding  paragraph,  came  the 
words : 

"  So  I  have  preferred  to  be  entirely  quiescent  in  respect  to  the 
recent  discussions  in  which  my  name  has  been  brought  forward.  If 
they  result  in  anything  more  than  mere  discussion,  it  will  be  be}Tond 
my  expectations  and  without  any  procurement  of  mine.  But  I  am 
none  the  less  grateful  for  every  generous  word  you  have  uttered, 
and  I  trust  you  will  never  have  occasion  to  regret  it." 

June  1,  the  same  entirely  too  prolific  pen  produced  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Murat  Halstead,  beginning  in  this  fashion  : 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Halstead  :  I  am  glad  you  did  not  print  my  note 
to  you.  It  would  certainly  have  been  taken  as  conclusive  proof  of 
this  conspiracy  between  us. 

"The  apparent  strength  and  extent  of  the  movement  for  my 
nomination  at  Xew  York  surprises  me.  You  would  be  surprised, 
too,  if  I  could  tell  you  what  letters  I  receive,  and  from  whom  and  from 
what  distant  parte  of  the  country.  I  do  not  know  that  any  thing 
will  come  of  it.  I  think  that  it  is  pretty  well  understood  now,  that 
I  want  no  nomination  ;  and  that  while  I  should  not  feel  at  liberty 
to  decline  one  which  really  represented  the  wishes  of  the  masses, 
whether  Republican,  Conservative,  or  Democratic,  opposed  to  the 
present  leadership  and  new  measures  and  tests  of  the  dominant 
party,  I  can  not,  under  any  contingency,  abandon  the  principles  of 
equal  rights  and  exact  justice  for  all,  which  I  have  hereto  foi*e  main- 
tained. This  being  understood,  I  am  content  to  let  the  movement 
take  its  course,  and  shall  be  satisfied  whatever  the  issue. 

"A  singular  error  crept  into  the  Commercial,  a  few  days  ago.  Mr. 
Fessenden  had  remarked,  in  the  Senate,  that  he  had  been  in  favor  of 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  701 

the  nomination  of  General  Grant  ;  and  this  remark  got  transformed, 
in  the  Commercial,  into  a  statement  by  Mr.  Fessenden  thai  the  Okie) 

Justice  had  declared  his  intention  to  vote  for  General  Grant.     M  r.  I 
senden  did  not  make  that  statement;  and  I  certainly  did  nol  make 

that  declaration.     As  Mr,  Webster  Once  said,     1  will   think  of  that; 
yes,  sir,  I  will  think  of  that.' 

"I  had  the  pleasure  of  administering  the  iron-clad  oath,  this 
morning  to  General  Schotield,  as  Secretary  of  War." 

On  the  19th  of  June,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  as  follows,  to 
William  Cullen  Bryant : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  It  was  at  Richmond,  where  I  Avas  holding  the 
Circuit  Court,  that  your  kind  letter  of  the  13th  reached  me.  It  gave 
me  great  satisfaction  in  one  respect;  for  it  proved  that  recent  events 
have  not  impaired  the  esteem  with  which  you  have  long  honored 
me,  and  which  I  have  ever  felt  to  be  a  true  and  great  honor.  To 
have  lost  that  would,  indeed,  have  been  a  great  calamity. 

"  The  movement  for  my  nomination  has  taken  me  entirely  by 
surprise,  and  I  can  not,  even  now,  persuade  myself  of  the  reality 
of  it;  or,  rather,  I  can  not  imagine  that  it  will  develop  into  such 
strength  as  will  produce  any  important  result  in  the  action  of  the 
Convention  of  the  4th.  It  is  pretty  obvious  that  a  large  number  of 
the  Northern  Democrats  are  wearied  of  the  formulas  under  which,  for 
the  last  ten  years,  they  have  been  led  to  defeat;  and  that  very 
many  of  the  Southern  men  long  for  peace  and  restoration  on  almost 
any  terms  which  will  insure  to  them  amnesty  and  complete  re- 
moval of  disabilities,  and  which  are  not  in  themselves  dishonorable. 
All  these  would  gladly  accept  me  as  a  candidate,  believing  that, 
through  the  election  of  a  citizen  holding  my  ideas  of  restoration,  on 
the  basis  of  universal  suffrage  and  universal  amnesty,  peace  and 
prosper^  would  be  most  certainly  restored  to  the  country,  and  the 
party  so  established  upon  true  Democratic  principles,  as  to  afford 
just  hope  of  a  continued  ascendency,  unless  forfeited  by  corruption 
and  maladministration  hereafter. 

"But  to  these  progressives  in  the  Democratic  party  a  large  body 
of  the  Democrats  are  very  hostile;  and  these  anti-progressives  will, 
most  probably,  control  the  Convention  ;  and  another  period  of  four 
years'  minority  will  probably  be  necessary  to  bring  the  progressives 
into  the  ascendency. 

"So  you  perceive  that  it  is  not  likely  to  be  at  all  in  my  power 
to  exercise  any  material  influence  upon  the  platform  to  be  adopted 
next  month.  *!Nobody  now,  I  am  glad  to  find,  expects  me  to  desert 
the  original  application  of  democratic  ideas  which  1  have  ever  la- 
bored to  make  real  in  the  Government.  This  application  might  be 
sufficiently  assured  by  the  incorporation  into  the  platform  of  one  of 
two  forms  of  expression. — either  restoration  on  the  basis  of  universal 
suffrage  and  universal  amnesty,  without  any  declaration,  one  way  or 
the  other,  about  suffrage  in  tin"  States;  or,  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
universal  suffrage  is  a  democratic  principle,  the  application  of  which 
is  to  be  left  in  the  States,  under  the  Constitution,  to  the  State-  them- 
selves,   without   saying  any    thing    more  about  restoration,    except 


702  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 

to  declare  in  favor  of  general  amnesty  and  the  removal  of  all  dis- 
abilities on  account  of  insurrection.  Upon  a  platform  in  either  of 
these  forms  of  expression,  I  might,  I  suppose,  honorably  accept  a  nom- 
ination; and  I  have  no  doubt  that  this  practical  settlement  of  the 
question  would  be  hailed  with  great  satisfaction  as  the  harbinger  of 
restored  union,  and  peace,  and  prosperity.  It  is  hardly  extravagant 
to  say  that  such  action  as  this  would  be  speedily  followed  by  a  large 
advance  in  the  value  of  property  throughout  the  South.  On  all 
other  questions  there  is  no  substantial  difference  between  me  and 
other  Democrats  who  do  not  propose  repudiation. 

"I  do  not  expect  any  result  personal  to  myself  from  the  action  of 
the  Fourth  of  July  Convention.  If  any  comes,  it  will  surprise  me 
not  less  than  the  movement  which  has  already  taken  place.  The 
movement  itself,  however,  will  not  be  without  result.  It  has  shown 
a  liberalit}r  and  progressiveness  of  sentiment  among  Democrats 
which  can  not  fail  to  have  an  auspicious  influence  upon  the  future; 
and  it  has  given  to  the  country  a  better  knowledge  than  it  has  hith- 
erto had  of  my  true  character  and  sentiment,  and  will  enable  [me] 
hereafter  to  speak  to  the  Southern  educated  classes  on  the  great 
questions  which  especially  concern  their  status  with  freedom,  and 
with  a  respectful  and,  very  often,  a  kindly  hearing.  It  may  enable 
[me]  in  this  way  to  do  as  much  real  good  as  I  could  do  in  a  higher 
position.     With  this  I  ought  to  be,  and  I  shall  be,  content. 

"  It  would  be  interesting  to  you,  I  think,  if  I  would  relate  to  you 
the  conversations  I  had  in  Richmond.     They  indicated  a  great  ad- 
vance in  the  right  direction,  and  gave  me  great  hopes  of  the  future. 
"Yery  faithfully,  your^friend,  S.P.CHASE." 

This  is,  if  I  do  not  greatly  err  in  judgment,  one  of  the  most 
indicative  documents  presented  in  these  pages.  Yet,  on  the  whole, 
it  is  hardly  equal  to  the  much  shorter  letter  written  to  the  author 
of  this  work  by  the  hero  of  it,  on  the  3d  of  November  following,  as 
we  shall  see  hereafter. 

And  now  I  must  reluctantly  ask  leave  to  go  back  a  little,  in 
order  to  refer  to  a  letter  carefully  preserved  by  Chief  Justice  Chase, 
and,  some  months  after  its  reception,  most  characteristically  an- 
swered by  him,  as  we  shall  see,  but  for  some  time  apparently 
considered  as  not  worthy  of  an  answer. 

Before  the  1st  of  May,  1868,  I  had  had  many  conversations  in 
Ohio,  but  especially  at  Cincinnati,  tending  to  convince  me  that 
many  voters  of  Ohio,  and  especially  some  German-Americans,  de- 
sired to  take  measures  to  contribute  toward  making  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice a  people's  candidate  for  the  Presidency.  On  that  day  I  wrote 
a  letter  to  him  on  that  subject.    In  that  letter  I  used  this  language: 

"  The  time  (I  think)  has  come  when,  without  indelicacy,  one  who 
loves  his  country,  and  would  prove  his  love  by  honorable  service,  may 
address  you  on  the  subject  of  the  Presidency.     ...     1    implore 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE. 

you  to  do  all  you  honorably  may  to  place  your  name  before  the  p 
pleas  a  candidate  for  the  highest  office  in  the  land.     False  modesty 

would  be  a  crime  at  such  a  moment.  .  .  .  North  and  South 
alike  have  reason  to  demand  that  sin-h  as  you  devote  themselves  to 
the  country.  South,  as  well  as  North,  would  hail  the  prospect  of  your 
election.  You  can  be  elected.  What,  we  need  is  a  popular  m<  ce- 
ment, to  the  end  of  bringing  you  before  the  people  as  a  'people's 
candidate.'  I  believe  the  Democrats  would  be  driven  to  Bupport 
you,  if  you  were  before  the  people  in  that  manner.  1  believe  thai 
the  great  body  of  the  voters,  North  and  South,  would  hail  your 
nomination." 

Here,  of  course,  was  nothing  even  looking  toward  nomination 
by  the  Democratic  party.  Such  a  nomination  always  would  have 
seemed  to  me  miraculous.  There  never  was  a  time  when  I  antici- 
pated witnessing  a  wonder  so  complete.  Yet  perhaps  it  may  sefim 
that  a  popular  movement  such  as  that  I  looked  upon  as  possible 
would  have  been  hardly  less  miraculous  than  the  nomination  by  the 
Democratic  party  of  Chief  Justice  Chase  in  1868.  Who  knows 
what  might  have  been  done  in  the  direction  indicated  by  my  letter '.' 
Chase,  however,  answered  not.  Perhaps  he  thought  the  letter  not 
entitled  to  an  answer;  possibly  it  puzzled  him.  Apparently  he 
misconstrued  it.  That,  as  we  shall  see,  is  indicated  by  his  answer, 
which  apparently  assumes  that  I  had  expected  him  to  be  made  the 
Presidential  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party.  But,  however  that 
may  be,  some  time  after  the  26th  day  of  June,  1868,  I  received, 
quite  unexpectedly,  the  following  circular  : 

"Philadelphia,  June  26,  1868. 
"Dear  Sir:  You  were  appointed  by  the  Chairman  of  the  meet- 
ing of  the  friends  of  Chief  Justice  Chase,  held  at  the  Continental 
Hotel  in  this  cit}~,  on  the  10th  inst.,  one  of  a  Committee  of  one 
hundred  to  visit  New  York  and  present  the  name  of  the  Hon. 
Salmon  P.  Chase  to  the  National  Democratic  Convention,  as  a 
suitable  person  to  be  nominated  by  that  body,  as  their  candidate 
for  President  of  the  United  States. 

"The  Committee  will  assemble,  on  the  3d  day  of  July.  1868,  at 
parlor  No.  129,  Metropolitan  Hotel,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  at 
five  o'clock  P.  M.     Please  be  present. 

"  Very  respectfully,  yours, 
"  JOHN  WELSn,  WM.  F.  JOHNSON, 

«WM.  S.  PRICE,  THEO.  H.  MoFADDEN, 

"  JOHN  W.  STOKES,  CHAS.  D.  FREK.M  A  N . 

"DAVID  W.  SELLERS,  Executive  Committee:' 

I  need  not  insist  that  nothing  in  my  letter  to  Chief  Justice  Chase 
warranted  any  one  in  supposing  that  I  was  in  favor  of  the  move- 
ment proposed  by  the  document  just  set  forth.     That  document  was 


704  THE    PRIVATE  EIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

not,  I  believe,  sent  to  me  by  the  Chief  Justice.  For  I  found 
among  his  papers,  furnished  for  my  biographic  use,  a  copy  of  it, 
marked  in  his  handwriting:  "Knew  nothing  of  this  before  re- 
ceiving it  by  mail."  But  the  same  copy  has  this  addition  in  a 
handwriting  entirely  strange  to  me  : 

"  I  inclose  for  your  information  the  form  of  notice.  We  have  as- 
surances of  a  full  attendance. 

"Yours,  truly,  J.  W.  STOKES." 

Was  not  that  a  foolish  movement  ?  It  appeared  to  me  a  foolish 
movement  then ;  it  seems  to  me  now  just  as  it  appeared  to  me  at 
the  time. 

There  never  was  an  instant  in  1868  when  the  Democratic  party 
could  have  been  expected  to  accept  Salmon  Portland  Chase  as  its 
Presidential  candidate.  A  madder  movement  never  was  inaugu- 
rated than  the  movement  indicated  by  the  document  just  offered. 

July  1,  however,  Chase  thus  wrote  to  Alexander  Long : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  You  were  quite  correct  in  saying  that  I  am  de- 
cidedly of  the  opinion,  that  the  military  force  should  be  with- 
drawn from  the  Southern  States  without  delay.  It  is  best  for  the 
whole  country  that  those  States,  as  well  as  all  others,  should  gov- 
ern themselves,  without  interference  by  the  National  Government; 
and  I  have  no  fears  of  the  result;  only  let  disfranchisement  cease, 
and  all  disabilities  be  removed. 

"  I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  the  various  proofs  of  esteem 
and  friendship  you  have  given  me,  and  have  no  apprehension  that 
you  will  make  any  representation  which  I  can  not  sustain. 

'•Yours,  truly,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

Next,  attention  is  invited  to  this  letter: 

"Washington,  July  4,  1868. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  inclose  a  letter  which  may  be  addressed  to 
yourself  or  Colonel  Van  Buren,  or  any  other  gentleman  3-ou  may 
think  best.  I  have  also  allowed  Colonel  MeElhenny  to  take  some 
notes  of  conversation  with  me,  which  may  answer  every  purpose 
without  using  the  letter.  He  will  hand  both  to  you  in  strict  confi- 
dence. It  is  my  special  request  that  no  use  be  made  of  either,  un- 
less some  real  exigency  shall  require  it,  and  that  none  at  all  be 
made  of  it  in  any  event,  without  full  consultation  with  Colonel  Van 
Buren,  or  without  his  advice  and  consent. 

"You  will  see  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  comply  precisely 
with  your  suggestions;  but  I  have  felt  bound  by  my  obligations  to 
your  friendship  to  come  as  near  to  doing  so  as  I  could. 

•'But  my  self-respect  is  worth  more  to  me  than  fifty  Presidencies. 
Without  the  nomination  I  shall  sleep  more  soundly  than  with  it. 
To  surrender  my  consciousness  of  doing  right  by    binding  myself, 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  705 

in  advance,  to,  I  know  not  what,  is  simply  impossible  for  me.  If 
it  were  possible,  it  would  prove  mo  unworthy  of  the  trusl  and 
confidence  of  my  countrymen. 

"Doivt  fail  to  cull  on  Colonel  Van  Buren  immediately.  He  is 
wise,  and  may  be  implicitly  depended  upon.  His  residence,  1 
presume,  you  know,  No.  11  West  Ninth  Street. 

"Faithfully,  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE." 

"Hon.  Alex.  Long. 

What  happened  in  Convention  is  of  history.  Moreover,  I  could 
not  set  it  forth  without  making  intimations  which,  in  the  first 
place,  seem  to  me  unnecessary,  and  which,  in  the  second  place, 
might  seem  to  make  this  book  an  instrument  of  party  politics. 

But  I  do  not  feel  free  to  pass  on  without  presenting  a  matter  of 
great  delicacy — one  of  the  most  delicate  matters  which  these  pages 
have  to  touch. 

It  was  in  the  National  Republican,  of  Washington  City,  that 
I  first  encountered  this  extract  from  the  correspondence  of  the 
Courier-Journal,  of  Louisville: 

"  I  saw  yesterday  a  correspondent's  description  of  Mrs.  Kate  Chase 
Sprague's  bouse  at  Narragansett,  the  fashionable  sea-side  resort  in 
Rhode  Island.  It  contains  eighty  rooms,  and  is  magnificently  fur- 
nished, and  is,  of  course,  filled  with  choice  works  of  art.  Mrs.  Sprague 
has  all  which  ought  to  make  life  desirable — wealth,  beauty,  grace, 
and  accomplishments;  yet  I  doubt  not  the  Ma}'  morning  on  which 
her  father  was  found  unconscious  in  his  room,  with  no  hope  of  his 
reeoveiy  possible,  has  darkened  her  life  forever,  and  though  time  may 
alleviate  her  grief  at  the  loss  of  the  father  of  whom  she  was  so  proud, 
and  to  whom  she  was  so  devoted,  yet  nothing  can  ever  cure  the  pain 
from  the  mortal  wound  her  ambition  has  received.  Mrs.  Sprague  is 
thoroughly  ambitious.  It  has  not  been  because  of  mere  personal 
vanity  that  she  has  perfected  herself  as  a  woman  of  the  world  and  a 
queen  of  society.  It  was  not  the  desire  to  fascinate  and  delight, 
merely  for  the  sake  of  the  homage  it  brought  her,  that  induced  her 
to  study  every  graceful  pose,  and  school  herself  in  courtly  language 
and  brilliant  repartee.  She  for  years  prepared  herself,  using  all  the 
advantages  wealth  gave  her  to  cultivate  her  really  remarkable  talents, 
for  a  social  ruler,  in  the  fond  expectation  of  being  one  day  the  presiding 
lady  at  the  White  House.  Mr.  Chase  was  credited  with  an  over- 
weening desire  to  be  the  Chief  Magistrate;  yet  I  believe  thai  this  was 
less  due  to  his  own  ambition  than  to  his  elder  daughter's.  A  gentle- 
man who  acted  as  one  of  Mr.  Chase's  chief  agents  during  the  campaign, 
prior  to  the  nomination  of  Seymour,  in  1868,  has  told  me  how, 
throughout,  Mrs.  Sprague  was  taken  into  consultation,  how  high  were 
her  hopes,  and  how  constantly  her  father  spoke  of  her  in  connection 
with  his  success  or  failure.  When  he  thought  success  certain,  as  he 
did  until  the  very  da}'  Seymour  received  the  nomination,  lie  rejoiced 
most  of  all  for  the  joy  it  would  give  Mrs.  Sprague:  and  when  the 


706  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 

certainty  of  failure  was  made  known  to  him,  his  first  words  were, 
'Dots  Mrs.  Sprague  know?'  When  told  she  did,  'And  how  does  she 
bear  it?1  he  inquired.  He  seemed  more  relieved  to  find  that  the  bad 
news  did  not  overwhelm  her.  When  Mrs.  Sprague  was  told,  she 
manifested  wonderful  self-control,  but  evidently  the  blow  was  severe. 
She  said  little,  but  that  little,  albeit  it  was  calmly  spoken,  showed 
the  violence  of  the  shock  she  had  received." 

Affected  not  a  little,  I  believe,  by  a  conspiracy,  of  which,  up  to 
this  time,  I  know  not  all  that  I  could  wish  to  know,  but  of  which 
I  have  reason  to  expect  to  learn  much  more — a  conspiracy  to  pre- 
vent the  full  and  free  performance  of  the  trust  involved  in  my 
reception  of  the  biographic  matter  furnished  for  the  use  of  this 
work — the  distinguished  lady  more  than  mentioned  in  that  extract 
lias  borne  herself  toward  that  trust,  toward  this  work,  and  toward 
its  author  in  a  very  hostile  fashion.  Yet  there  never  was  an  instant 
when  I  wished  to  use  this  work  in  an  unfriendly  fashion  toward 
her  or  hers. 

On  the  other  hand,  how  could  we  here  avoid  examination  of  such 
statements  as  those  contained  in  that  extract  from  the  correspondence 
of  the  Courier- Journal? 

I  have  heard  quite  curious  accounts  of  Mrs.  Sprague's  relation  to 
her  father's  Presidential  candidature  in  1868.  My  information  on 
that  subject  is  by  no  means  meagre.  Yet  I  do  not  feel  required  to 
offer  a  minute  account  of  what,  it  is  related,  our  hero's  eldest 
daughter  did  and  said,  in  order,  as  she  thought,  to  forward  his 
Presidential  prospects. 

I  felt  bound  to  give  that  anecdote,  related  by  Mr.  Sumner,  to 
which  attention  has  been  drawn  in  Chapter  XLIIL  And  I  feel 
bound  to  say  that  the  information  I  have  had  about  her  seems  to  tend 
to  show  quite  clearly  that  she  was,  indeed,  in  1868,  "  thoroughly 
ambitious,"  and  that  she  very  powerfully  influenced  her  father's 
Presidential  views  and  aspirations.  But  I  do  not  censure  her  on 
that  account.  I  leave  the  subject,  not  reluctantly,  but  gladly.  It  is 
not  to  me  a  pleasant  theme  ;  but  this  is  chiefly  on  account  of  the 
opposition  made  by  Mrs.  Sprague  to  this  endeavor  to  do  justice  to 
the  memory  of  her  famous  father. 

This  telegram  next  asks  attention  : 

"  Washington,  July  7,  P.  M. 

'  To  J.  P.  Ttjcker,v94  Fifth  Avenue,  Xew  York : 

"Am  not  prepared  to  say  till  I  have  seen^  the  whole.  Shall  be 
gratified  personally  if  friends  will  agree  not  to  have  my  name  pre- 
sented to  the  Convention.  S.  P.  C." 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  707 

Below  is  the  memorandum  : 

"  [The  foregoing  telegram  was  in  answer  to  one  from  .!.  P.  T.  giving 
a  portion  of  the  financial  plank  in  the  Democratic  platform,  and 
asking  if  it  was  acceptable.]  " 

And  here  is  an  important  letter: 

"Washington,  July  8,  18G8. 
"My  Dear  Sir:  Have  seen  only  the  telegraphic  abstract  of  the 
platform.  It  is,  in  the  main,  very  good.  1  take  it  for  granted,  how- 
ever, that  it  contemplates  no  action  by  the  General  Government  for 
the  overthrow  of  governments  in  any  States  from  which  senators  and 
representatives  are  admitted  to  scats  in  Congress,  and  i  must  not  be 
understood  as  expressing  an}-  opinion  on  questions  of  Constitutional 
law,  which  ma}-  come  before  the  courts.  I  must  add  that  I  shall  be 
more  gratified  if  the  choice  of  the  Convention  falls  upon  either  of  the 
distinguished  names  before  it,  than  if  it  falls  upon  my  own. 

"Yours,  very  truly,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  Col.  Jno.  D.  Van  Buren, 

"No.  11  West  9th  Street." 

After  much  reflection,  I  have  felt  obliged  to  use  this  memo- 
randum, furnished  me  by  the  Chief  Justice: 

"Mr.  Vallandigham  called  to-day  (July  14,  1868),  and  conversed 
with  great  frankness.  He  said  that  he  had  determined  to  give  Mr. 
Chase  his  support,  in  case  a  favorable  opportunity  should  offer,  in 
the  New  York  Convention.  He  and  other  members  of  the  Ohio 
delegation  were  fixed  in  their  purpose  that  Mr.  Hendricks  should 
not  be  nominated.  When  it  appeared  that  the  vote  of  Hendricks 
had  reached  almost  a  majority,  he  went  to  see  Mr.  Tilden,  Chairman 
of  the  New  York  delegation,  and  assured  him,  as  he  had  previously 
done  just  before  the  vote  was  taken,  that  if  the  vote  of  the  New 
York  delegation  was  changed  to  Mr.  Chase,  the  Ohio  delegation 
would  make  no  difficulty.  He  had  no  doubt  himself  that  a  consid- 
erable number  of  the  delegates  from  Ohio  were  ready  to  vote  for 
Mr.  Chase,  and  that  the  whole  vote  would  have  been  given  rather 
than  see  Hendricks  nominated.  Mr.  Tilden  replied  that  they  could 
not  do  otherwise  than  vote  for  Mr.  Hendricks,  so  long  as  there  was 
no  falling  off  from  him.  Mr.  Vallandigham  then  determined  that  the 
vote  of  Ohio  must  be  cast  for  Seymour  in  order  to  prevent  the  nom- 
ination of  Hendricks.  He  asked  .John  A.  Green,  a  New  York  dele- 
gate, to  get  Mr.  Seymour  out  of  the  Convention.  But  Mr.  Green  was 
not  willing  to  undertake  it.  Mr.  Vallandigham  himself  went  to  Sey- 
mour, and  asked  him  to  go  out  of  the  Convention  with  him.  Mr. 
Seymour  then  relinquished  the  chair  to  General  Price,  and  went  into 
one  of  the  rooms  of  the  building,  and  endeavored  to  get  Mr.  Seymour 
to  withdraw  from  the  Convention  ;  but  Mr.  Seymour  declined,  saying 
it  was  a  critical  time,  and  that  he  could  not  go  away.  He  then  told 
Mr.  Seymour  frankly  what  he  desired;  that  the  Ohio  delegation  had 
determined  he  must  accept  the  nomination.  Mr.  Seymour  positively 
46 


708  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE   AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 

refused;  whereupon  Mr.  Vallandighan  said  he  must  be  nominated 
despite  his  refusal,  that  he  would  make  a  speech  calling  upon  the 
Convention  to  do  so.  Mr.  Seymour  said,  'You  certainly  will  not  do 
that;  for  I  can  not  consent  to  it.'  Mr.  Vallandigham  replied,  'I  cer- 
tainly shall;'  and  Governor  Seymour  said,  'I  shall  refuse  in  the  Con- 
vention ;'  and  thereupon  the}'  parted.  Mr.  Vallandigham  then  went 
again  to  Mr.  Tilden,  and  urged  him  to  nominate  Mr.  Chase,  or  at 
any  rate  hold  off  from  voting  for  Mr.  Hendricks.  The  appeal  had 
no  effect.  He  then  returned  to  the  delegation,  and  Colonel  McCook 
made  the  nomination,  and  the  result  followed  as  detailed  in  the 
proceedings. 

"  Mr.  Vallandigham  said  he  had  taken  his  place  in  the  Ohio  dele- 
gation as  a  friend  of  Mr.  Pendleton,  and  had  adhered  to  him  in  good 
faith  ;  but  had  constantly  stated,  when  asked,  that  Mr.  Chase  would 
carry  Ohio,  if  nominated,  whatever  other  members  of  the  Ohio  dele- 
gation might  say  to  the  contrary.  He  mentioned  particularly  his 
statement,  to  this  effect,  to  the  North  Carolina  delegation.  This  was, 
however,  perhaps,  after  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Pendleton  became 
hopeless.  Mr.  Vallandigham  said  he  had  not  the  least  doubt 
that,  if  the  New  York  delegation  had  refrained  from  voting  for  Mr. 
Hendricks,  Mr.  Chase  would  have  been  nominated.  He  believed  the 
Convention  was  fully  prepared  for  that  result. 

"After  this  relation,  Mr.  Vallandigham  expressed  a  strong  wish 
that  Mr.  Chase  would  in  some  way,  and  with  such  protest  against 
particulars  of  the  platform  as  he  should  feel  bound  to  make,  express 
a  general  preference  for  the  Democratic  party  and  the  election  of 
the  Democratic  nominees.  Mr.  Chase  replied  that  there  were  por- 
tions of  the  platform  to  which  he  could  no  more  assent,  without  self- 
contradiction,  than  Mr.  Vallandigham  could  assent  to  a  platform 
expressly  repudiating  the  doctrine  of  State  rights.  The  most  im- 
portant declaration  from  which  he  dissented  was,  that  the  recon- 
struction acts  were  utterly  null  and  void,  especially  as  interpreted  by 
the  nomination  of  General  Blair,  and  his  letter  declaring  that  all  the 
governments  created  under  them  must  be  null.  Mr.  Chase  added, 
that,  under  the  circumstances,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  say  any 
thing  in  favor  of  either  platform  or  candidates;  and  that  it  was  his 
intention  to  take  no  further  part  in  politics,  but  to  confine  himself 
absolutely  and  entirely  to  his  judicial  duties.  He  said  he  was  a 
democrat  in  principle,  and  expected  to  remain  such,  but  must  act 
independently,  as  he  has  always  done.  He  desired  onl}T  to  be  un- 
derstood as  having  given  no  pledge,  either  to  the  platform  as  made 
or  the  candidates  as  nominated. 

"  This  is  a  brief  abstract  of  a  somewhat  protracted  conversation ; 
but  the  substance  of  it  is  fairly  stated." 

Here  is  another  report  of  interesting  conversation: 

"  Dr.  Pierce,  a  gentleman  from  Indiana  (a  brother-in-law  of  Senator 
Hendricks),  called  upon  Mr.  Chase,  in  the  last  days  of  May,  with  a 
note  of  introduction.  After  some  conversation  of  an  indifferent  char- 
acter, he  mentioned  that  there  was  a  very  cordial  feeling  among  the 
Democrats  of  Indiana  for  Mr.  Chase,  and  referred  particularly  to  a 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  709 

Democratic  meeting,  where,  his  name  being  mentioned,  it  was  very 
warmly  applauded.  There  was,  he  said,  a  strong  preference  felt  in 
Indiana  for  Mr.  Hendricks,  though,  by  adroit  management,  the  friends 

of  Mr.  Pendleton  had  succeeded  m  getting  instructions  from  the  State 
Convention  in  his  favor.  He  observed  that  he  was  going  on  to  N«\v 
York,  and  would  ascertain  the  state  of  feeling  and  opinion  there,  and 
would  let  Mr.  Chase  know  the  result. 

"Dr.  Pierce  to-day  (July  14)  called  again,  not  having  communi- 
cated with  Mr.  Chase  since  the  former  conversation.  He  Bflid  that  he 
went  to  New  York,  as  he  originally  proposed,  and  saw  Colonel  Payne 
and  Mr.  Tilden,  with  the  last  of  whom  he  had  some  business  of  a 
private  character.  Mr.  Tilden  said  to  him  that  the  Democrats  of  New 
York  were  ready  to  support  Mr.  Hendricks,  and  he  had  similar  assur- 
ances from  other  quarters.  He  then  went  to  Utica,  to  sec  Governor 
Se}'iuour,  and  had  a  conversation  with  him  at  his  own  house.  This 
was  earl}*  in  June.  Governor  Seymour  seemed  anxious  to  satisfy  him 
that  he  was  misunderstood  in  the  West,  on  financial  questions,  and 
inquired  of  Dr.  Pierce  in  relation  to  some  prominent  individuals.  Dr. 
Pierce  explained  to  Governor  Seymour  the  management  by  which  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Pendleton  had  secured  the  vote  of  the  Indiana  delega- 
tion, of  which  Mr.  Sc3-mour  expressed  strong  disapproval.  Dr.  Pierce 
was  about  coming  away,  intending  to  leave  Utica  by  the  train  that 
night.  Governor  Seymour  urged  him  to  stay  in  town,  and  said  that  if 
he  would,  he  would  come  in  himself  in  the  evening,  and  see  him  at  the 
hotel.  Dr.  Pierce  assented,  and  Governor  Seymour  came  into  town  ac- 
cordinglj*  from  his  house  in  the  country,  where  the  first  conversation 
had  taken  place.  The  conversation  was  renewed  at  the  hotel.  Gov- 
ernor Seymour  again  said  a  good  deal  upon  financial  topics,  and 
assured  Dr.  Pierce  that  the  New  York  delegation  would  willingly  sup- 
port Mr.  Hendricks,  and  asked  him  particularly  about  Mr.  Wash- 
ington McLean,  who  had  visited  him  a  short  time  previously.  Dr. 
Pierce  gave  his  opinion  of  that  gentleman:  an  'active,  energetic, 
able,  and  not  very  scrupulous  politician  ;  devoted  to  Mr.  Pendleton, 
and  faithful  to  his  interests.'1  Seymour  remarked,  '  I  suppose  Mr. 
McLean  can  be  depended  upon  for  an}-  statement  or  representa- 
tion he  makes.'  To  which  Dr.  Pierce  replied  that  he  had  no  doubt 
of  it.     Governor  Seymour  seemed  to  be  solicitous  on  this  point. 

'•Shortly  afterward,  Governor  Seymour  took  his  leave,  and  on 
the  next  morning  Dr.  Pierce  left  Utica. 

"He  then  visited  Governor  Church  at  his  residence,  and  was  as- 
sured by  him  that  the  New  York  delegation  would  cheerfully  sup- 
port Mr.  Hendricks.  Dr.  P.  then  went  home  to  Indiana,  calling 
upon  several  gentlemen  in  Ohio  on  his  way,  all  of  whom  he  found 
favorable  to  Mr.  Hendricks.  He  remained  at  home  until  near  the 
time  of  the  Convention,  when  he  proceeded  to  New  York.  There' 
he  still  understood  from  Mr.  Church,  Mr.  Tilden,  and  Governor 
Seymour,  that  the  New  York  delegation  were  favorable  to  Mr.  Hen- 
dricks, and  was  surprised  to  learn  of  their  resolution  to  vote  for  Mr. 


1  Of  course,  this  language  is  not  chargeable  to  the  composer  of  this  work. 
Comparing  Mr.  Washington  McLean  with  politicians  generally,  I  do  not  find  myself 
disposed  to  "  call  him  out  of  his  name." 


710  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

Church.  He  thought  little  of  it,  however,  inasmuch  as  after  tho 
first  ballots  the  delegation  voted  for  Mr.  Hendricks.  Just  before 
the  twenty-first  or  twenty-second  ballot,  he  went  to  Mr.  Seymour 
and  told  him  that  the  Pennsylvania  delegation  would  vote  fur  Mr. 
Hendricks,  upon  which  Governor  Seymour  told  him  that  he  must 
see  them  at  once  and  get  them  to  act  quickly.  He  called  upon  the 
chairman  and  other  members  of  the  Pennsylvania  delegation  ac- 
cordingly; but  their  action  was  delayed  for  some  reason,  and  shortly 
afterward,  the  movement  in  the  Ohio  delegation  was  made  for  the 
nomination  of  Mr.  Seymour,  and  was  successful.  Dr.  Pierce  ex- 
pressed much  dissatisfaction  at  the  course  of  the  New  York  delega- 
tion, and  said  that  it  seemed  very  probable  that  McLean  had  an  un- 
derstanding with  Seymour  at  the  time  he  visited  him  in  the  latter 
part  of  May  or  first  of  June.  Dr.  Pierce  said  that  he  had  heard,  on 
the  morning  of  Thursday,  of  the  resolution  of  the  New  York  dele- 
gation to  cast  its  vote  for  Mr.  Chase,  and  was  very  much  surprised 
by  it.  He  was  assured  by  Mr.  Tilden,  Mr.  Church,  and  perhaps  one 
or  two  others,  that  the  delegation  did  not  intend  to  vote  for  any 
other  than  Mr.  Hendricks,  so  long  as  there  was  a  probability  of  his 
nomination.  Dr.  Pierce  was  very  confident  that  Mr.  Hendricks 
would  have  been  nominated  on  the  last  ballot  had  not  the  Ohio 
movement  prevented  it.  Dr.  Pierce  concluded  by  saying  that  Mr. 
Hendricks  had  always  declined  to  come  into  the  field  in  the  char- 
acter of  a  candidate,  though  not  unwilling  to  accept  the  nomination 
should  circumstances  favor  it." 

On  the  same  clay,  July  14,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Murat  Halstead,  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial,  in  the  course 
of  which  he  said: 

"There  is  just  as  much  truth  in  many  of  the  stories  set  afloat 
about  me  in  connection  with  the  New  York  Convention,  as  in  those 
connected  with  the  impeachment  trial." 

The  next  paragraph  contains  the  words: 

"My  name  was  brought  forward  spontaneously,  and,  so  far  as  I 
know,  unexpectedly,  in  various  sections  of  the  country,  some  two 
months  ago,  as  that  of  a  Democrat  in  principle,  not  in  mere  party 
connection,  acceptable  to  great  numbers  outside  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  likely,  therefore,  if  proposed  by  the  Democratic  Conven- 
tion, to  unite  nearly,  if  not  absolutely,  all  who,  for  various  rea- 
sons, are  opposed  to,  or  dissatisfied  with,  the  nomination  made  at 
Chicago." 

On  the  same  day,  also,  he  wrote  as  follows  to  Miss  Susan 
B.  Anthony : 

"Dear  Miss  Anthony:  Your  opinion  of  the  people's  readiness 
for  any  political  movement  whatever,  outside  of  the  two  great  par- 
ties now  arrayed  against  each  other,  does  not  correspond  with  mine. 
I  think  there  is  no  such  readiness.     And  I  fear  you  and  I  would  not 


OF  SALMON  TORTLAND  CHASE.  711 

be  nearly  as  well   agreed  on   financial   questions  as  we  arc  on  the 
question  of  universal  suffrage. 

"At  all  events,  I  have  voted  myself  an  exempt  from  future  polit- 
ical contentions.  I  mean  to  limit  myself  to  the  duties  of  a  quietei 
sphere  of  usefulness." 

Here  is  another  memorandum  furnished  me  by  the  Chief  Justice: 

"  October  12,  1868. 

"This  morning  General  Rosecrans  called  on  me  with  Major  \V  T. 
Southerlin,  of  Danville,  Virginia.  Major  Southerlin  was  a  dovoti  d 
adherent  of  the  .Rebellion  and  of  Jeff.  Davis,  during  the  civil  war. 
He  is  now  a  supporter  of  Seymour  and  Blair. 

"  The  conversation  began  by  an  invitation  from  Major  Southerlin 
to  attend  the  Agricultural  Fair  for  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  to 
be  held  at  Danville  this  week.  It  then  turned  on  political  subjects. 
A  great  deal  was  said  by  each  of  the  three,  but  I  note  only  the  suh- 
stance  of  what  was  said  by  Major  Southerlin.  He  expressed  his 
strong  desire  to  know  what  would  be  the  policy  of  General  Grant  in 
relation  to  universal  amnesty  and  removal  of  disabilities,  in  the 
event  of  his  election.  He  said  that  he  himself,  and  many  others  who 
thought  as  he  did,  were  disposed  to  accept  universal  suffrage,  and  to 
give  to  General  Grant's  administration  a  fair  and  honest  support  if 
they  could  be  assured  of  the  full  enfranchisement  of  themselves  by 
the  removal  of  the  disabilities  imposed  by  the  Fourteenth  Amend- 
ment. I  observed  that  I  could  only  state  my  conclusions,  founded, 
upon  a  general  knowledge  of  General  Grant's  character.  1  had  no 
doubt  that  he  would  feel  himself  bound,  and  would  in  good  faith 
give  full  effect  to  the  Republican  ideas  on  the  subject  of  universal 
suffrage;  but  I  did  not  believe  he  was  animated  by  any  vindic- 
tive, or  even  unkind,  sentiments  toward  those  who  had  been  engaged 
in  the  Rebellion,  and  I  had  no  doubt,  therefore,  that  his  influ- 
ence in  the  event  contemplated  by  Major  Southerlin  would  be 
wholly  in  favor  of  the  removal  of  disabilities,  and  that  his  views 
in  this  respect  would  be  adopted  by  Congress.  I  then  asked  Major 
Southerlin  why  he  and  others  could  not,  in  the  event  of  the  election 
of  Seymour,  take  ground  in  favor  of  universal  suffrage,  as  the  best 
means  of  securing  contented  and  effective  labor,  and  of  the  restora- 
tion, to  lead  in  the  affairs  of  the  Southern  States,  of  their  educated 
and  most  capable  citizens.  He  answered  that  the  election  of  Gen- 
eral Grant  would  be  taken  as  a  sign  that  the  reconstruction  policy 
of  Congress  was  to  be  maintained  in  respect  to  suffrage,  and  thai 
acquiescence  of  himself  and  others  would  be  comparatively  easy  ; 
whereas  the  election  of  Governor  Seymour  would  be  taken  as  proof 
that  the  majority  of  the  Northern  people  were  opposed  to  negro 
suffrage  in  the  South,  and  that  it  would  he  impossible  to  prevent  a 
general  effort  to  overthrow  the  whole  Congressional  reconstruction 
policy.  He  said  that  he  was  himself  opposed  to  negro  suffrage,  and 
was  only  willing  to  acquiesce  in  it  because,  in  case  of  General 
Grant's  election,  it  would  be  impossible  to  prevent  it,  and  he  was 
disposed  to  make  the  best  of  circumstances  instead  of  persisting  in 
a  fruitless  opposition.      He  said  that   the  Democrats  of  the  North 


712  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE   AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

had  been  constantly  urging  Southern  men  to  reject  every  proposi- 
tion for  settlement,  and  had  held  out  to  them  the  hope  that  they 
would  certainly  be  relieved  from  radical  oppression  by  Democratic 
ascendency.  He  said  :  '  They  tell  us  now  that  if  they  do  n't  suc- 
ceed this  year,  to  hold  out  till  1872,  when  they  will  certainly  do  so; 
but,'  he  added,  'we  are  tired  of  waiting  for  unfulfilled  promises.' 
I  observed,  '  Why,  then,  were  you  desirous  of  my  nomination  at 
New  York;  since  I  have  myself  been,  as  you  know,  decidedly  in 
favor  of  universal  suffrage  ?'  He  replied:  '  We  were  willing  to  take 
you,  and  give  up  our  opposition  to  negro  suffrage,  because  we  were 
certain  that  we  should  find  in  you  a  friend  in  all  other  respects, 
and  believed  that  your  nomination  and  election  would  do  a  great 
deal  for  the  restoration  of  peace  and  prosperity  to  the  Southern 
States.  Besides,  while  I  am  opposed  to  negro  suffrage,  I  believe 
that  we  could  get  along  well  enough  with  it  if  we  had  an  adminis- 
tration of  the  General  Government  animated  by  real  good-will 
toward  us,  and  sincerely  desirous  to  promote  our  welfare.' 
"General  Kosecrans  seemed  to  agree  with  me  in  general." 

The  next  documents  to  which  I  ask  attention  are  three  letters 
to  Colonel  William  Brown,  which  I  take  from  the  Cincinnati  Com- 
mercial.     They  read  as  follows : 

"  Narragansett,  September  2,  1868. 

"  My  Dear  Colonel  :  Your  welcome  letter  reached  me  here.  I  thank 
you  most  heartily  for  your  noble  and  generous  defense  of  my  motives 
and  actions.  The  friendship  and  confidence  of  true  and  brave  men 
like  yourself  is  worth  more  to  me  than  any  political  honors. 

"  I  am  sorry  I  do  not  see  the  path  of  political  duty  for  myself  quite 
as  clearly  as  you  have  seen  your  own  ;  and  1  can  not  help  regretting 
your  quotation  of  what  you  understood  me  to  say  of  the  duty  of 
patriots  in  the  event  of  reactionary  ascendency  in  New  York. 

"I  have  no  recollection  of  the  language  used  by  me  in  our  various 
conversations;  but  I  dare  say  that  1  expressed  the  opinion  that 
nearly  all  the  Eepublicans,  and  many  of  the  Conservatives  who  de- 
sired my  nomination,  would  vote  for  General  Grant,  if  the  New  York 
Convention  should  adopt  a  platform  and  make  nominations  indicating 
a  purpose  to  overthrow,  by  national  action,  the  governments  and  con- 
stitutions established  in  the  South  under  the  reconstruction  acts.  In 
this  event,  I  believe  that  this  great  body  of  citizens  would  vote  for 
General  Grant  on  his  own  platform,  'Let  us  have  peace,'  trusting 
and  believing  in  him.  rather  than  in  the  party  which  nominated  him. 

"If  I  said  any  thing  stronger  than  this,  it  was  more  than  I  should 
have  said,  and  more  than  I  was  in  the  habit  of  saying.  And  if  I  ex- 
pressed any  personal  feeling  of  my  own,  it  must  have  been  that,  in 
the  event  referred  to,  I  should  feel  myself  pretty  effectually  separated 
from  both  political  parties,  and  left  free  of  mere  party  obligations. 

"I  believe  and  feel  now  as  I  believed  and  felt  then.  I  am  neither 
disappointed  by  the  course  you  have  determined  on  ibr  yourself,  nor 
dissatisfied  with  it.  Tens  of  thousands,  if  not  hundreds  of  thousands, 
who  sympathized  with  you  in  the  early  days  of  July,  act  with  you 
now.     It  is  the  natural  and  necessary  result  of  the  action  at  New 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  71  3 

York.  But,  on  the  other  band,  I  am  vny  sure  that  tens  of  thousands 
of  Democrats,  who  sympathized  with  you  then,  and  not  a  Few  Repub- 
licans, alarmed  by  the  tendencies  of  their  early,  and  desiring  a 
change,  would  give  their  voles  for  Democratic  electors,  in  the  lull 
confidence  that  if  Governor  Seymour  is  elected,  he  will  give  QO 
countenance  to  reactionary  violence,  or  to  the  subversion  of  the 
Southern  governments. 

"Under  these  circumstances,  I  see  at  present  no  right  or  aseful 
course  for  me  except  that  of  abstaining  wholly  from  political  con 
flicts;  of  performing  faithfully  the  duties  of  my  position  ;  of  adhering 
steadily  to  my  constantly  avowed  principles,  and  of  doing  whatever 
I  properly  can  in  my  proper  sphere  to  recommend  them  to  general 
acceptance  and  practical  application. 

"I  am  sure  that  your  speech  was  intended  to  be  entirely  fair 
toward  Governor  Seymour;  but  is  it  not  somewhat  too  depreciatory 
in  tone?  I  do  not  doubt  that  he  was  a  sincere  friend  to  the  liberal 
side,  and  if  he  yielded  to  the  clamor  of  the  reactionists  and  others 
for  his  own  nomination,  let  us  remember  how  few  are  the  men  who 
would  have  declined  it  under  the  circumstances.  Justice  to  him  is 
a  duty  from  us. 

"One  word  more  that  may  look  like  criticism.  I  regret  that  you 
printed  the  extract  from  my  letter.  Not  that  I  regret  the  printing 
per  se — I  am  not  at  all  sorry  for  that.  But  it  is  a  good  rule  that  no 
private  letter  or  extract  from  one  should  be  published  without  the 
express  consent  of  writer  and  receiver.  I  put  this  in  only  as  a 
caution  from  an  old  man  to  a  young  man. 

"The  fullest  copy  of  your  speech  I  have  seen  was  in  the  Cincinnati 
Commercial,  and  even  that  does  not  contain  what  you  said  of  the  Vice- 
Presidential  nomination.  I  should  like  to  have  a  complete  copy. 
The  Evening  Post  (New  York)  reprinted  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
Commercials  report.  Extracts,  more  or  less  full,  have  been  in  very 
many  other  papers.  It  has  attracted  very  great  attention,  and  has 
given  much  satisfaction,  so  far  as  I  hear,  to  our  friends,  whether  now 
supporting  Grant  or  Seymour. 

"  Faithfully,  your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"Col.  William  Brown, 

"Nicholasville,  Ky." 

"  Washington,  September  29,  1868. 
"My  Dear  Colonel:  On  my  return,  last  night,  I  found  your  two 
letters  of  the  11th  and  14th,  with  the  Letters  and  Blips  from  newspa- 
pers inclosed  with  them,  and  am  much  obliged  to  yon  for  all.  But 
I  must  assure  you  that  I  needed  no  explanation  of  your  motives 
for  making  the  Frankfort  speech.  I  felt  that  it  was  impossible  for 
you  to  actexcept  from  motives  honorable  to  yourself  and  most  kind 
to  me,  and  every  word  I  write  expressing  thanks  and  gratitude  lor 
your  vindication  of  me  against  Republican  misrepresentation  and 
misunderstanding  comes  from  my  heart.  1  regretted  nothing  in 
your  speech  except  its  tone  and  tenor  concerning  Governor  Seymour. 
I  was  sure  when  the  platform  was  adopted  ami  interpreted  on  the 
vital  question  of  the  stability  or  forcible  subversion  of  the  accom- 
plished  work    of  reconstruction    hy    the    letter    and    nomination   of 


714  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

General  Blair,  that  nearly  all  the  Republicans  and  very  many  of 
the  Conservatives,  who  are  anxious  to  unite  with  the  Democrats  in 
opposition  to  the  extreme  measures  of  the  Republican  leaders,  would 
be  constrained  to  the  support  of  General  Grant.  But  it  was  not,  and 
is  not,  my  belief  that  Governor  Seymour  desired  to  have  this  issue 
made,  or  that  he  wished  the  nomination  for  himself.  I  have  seen 
nothing  in  his  action  which  makes  me  question  the  sincerity  of  his 
declared  wishes  for  a  different  issue,  and  for  another  candidate. 
Hardly  any  man  would  have  resisted  the  approaches  made  to  him  by 
a  Convention  which  seemed  to  be,  and  perhaps  was,  unanimous,  or 
nearly  so,  in  demanding  his  consent  to  his  own  nomination.  That 
he  did  not  resist  may  be  deplored  on  public  grounds  ;  but  my  friends 
should  not  complain.  I  had  no  claim  on  a  Democratic  Convention, 
representing  what  may  be  called  the  Old  line  Democracy.  The  nom- 
ination was  proposed  only  as  a  means  of  uniting  in  support  of  the 
ticket  those  in  general  sympathy  with  that  Democracy  on  other  is- 
sues that  have  arisen  since  the  war,  but  who  were  as  much  as  ever  in 
favor  of  securing  to  the  enfranchised  people  all  the  rights  of  men  and 
citizens,  as  the  best,  if  not  the  only  means  of  restoring  order  and 
prosperity  to  the  South.  By  their  action,  and  by  the  Blair  portion 
of  the  platform  especially,  the  Convention  refused  that  union.  This 
refusal  may  be  regretted,  but  it  is  not  matter  of  complaint.  Gov- 
ernor Seymour,  I  am  confident,  desired  it.  I  blame  nobody — no 
Democrat  who  thinks  other  issues  paramount  in  importance  to  that 
of  peace  and  the  universal  suffrage,  for  supporting  Governor  Sey- 
mour ;  and  no  Republican  or  Conservative,  who  thinks  peace  and 
reorganization  on  the  basis  of  justice  for  all,  and  suffrage  to  secure 
justice,  paramount  to  all  other  issues,  for  supporting  General  Grant. 
These  last  can  vindicate  their  position,  and  at  the  same  time  do  full 
justice  to  the  abilities,  statesmanship,  patriotism,  and  pure  private 
character  of  Governor  Seymour.  The  former  can  maintain  theirs 
without  aspersion  upon  General  Grant,  and  with  full  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  services  he  has  rendered  in  his  military  capacity. 

"  Please  take  this  as  a  slight  expression  of  what  I  said  in  my 
former  letter,  and  as  explaining  why  I  can  not  consent  to  have  the 
extract  from  that  letter  which  you  quote  published.  I  know  that 
Governor  Seymour  and  his  friends,  who  were  also  my  friends,  feel 
much  hurt  by  what  you  said  of  him,  and  what  others  of  my  friends 
have  said,  and  are  inclined  to  regard  me  as  in  some  sort  responsible 
for  those  sayings;  and  the  publication  of  that  extract,  disconnected 
from  what  I  wrote  of  him,  would  confirm  that  impression.  So  I  pre- 
fer to  have  nothing  published;  and  you  will,  therefore,  treat  what  I 
have  heretofore  written  and  what  I  now  write  as  strictly  private. 

"  I  hope  that  your  expectations  of  good  results  to  the  people  of  the 
late  Slave  States,  whether  white  or  black,  from  the  election  of  Gen- 
eral Grant,  will  be  realized.  I  think  they  will  be,  at  least  in  part. 
Reconstruction,  in  the  features  which  I  approve,  as  well  as  in  those 
which  I  disapprove,  will  probably  become  fixed  and  permanent  facts 
under  his  administration.  I  incline  to  think,  also,  that  he  will  favor 
the  removal  of  all  disabilities  imposed  by  the  Fourteenth  Amend- 
ment. In  other  respects,  my  fears  of  the  results  of  his  election  are 
stronger  than  my  hopes.     But  it  will  be  a  great  thing  to  have  uni- 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE,  71" 

versal  Buffrage  under  ilic  new  Constitution  assured,  and  all  disabilities 

removed.     In  this  way  only,  and    in    candid    acceptance  of  tins  way, 
can  the  Southern  States,  in  my  judgment,  look  for  sure  prosperity. 

••The  results  in  Vermont  and  .Maine  indicate  reaction  from  the' de- 
pression to  which  ill-advised  measures  had  sunk  Republican  pros- 
pects. I  perceive  no  sufficient  ground  for  thinking  that  this  reaction 
is  local.  If  not,  the  result  is  sure.  General  Grant  will  be  President. 
Two  weeks  from  to-day  will  tell  the  story.  If  the  reaction  brings 
Republican  successes  in  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  the  election  in 
November  will  be  hardly  any  thing  more  than  a  form. 

"  I  had  some  hope  of  finding  you  here  upon  my  return  ;  but  I  see 
that  you  will  be  on  the  stump  in  Kentucky  until  the  3d  of  October  ; 
then  I  suppose  you  will  come  East.  I  expect  to  remain  here  now, 
hard  at  work  on  law  eases,  until  November,  and  shall  be  very  glad  to 
see  you.     Meantime  believe  me,  as  ever, 

"  Faithfully,  your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  Col.  Wm.  Brown/' 

"  Washington,  October  28,  18G8. 

"My  Dear  Colonel  :  You  may  bave  thought  me  negligent  in  not 
answering  your  last  kind  letter  from  New  York.  But  what  could  I 
add  to  what  1  had  said?  I  know  you  honest,  brave,  resolute,  and 
that,  unless  convinced  of  error,  you  will  speak  just  according  to  your 
declared  convictions.  I  am  grateful,  for  I  feel  honored  by  your 
friendship  and  support.  It  is  my  undoubting  belief  that  assaults  on 
Governor  Seymour  do  no  good  to  any  body,  but  are  both  unwise  and 
unjust.  I  have  never  doubted  that  he  erred  in  consenting  to  lie  nomi- 
nated upon  the  platform  of  the  New  York  Convention,  without 
expressing  any  dissent  from  the  dogmas  on  reconstruction  which  it 
put  forth,  and  still  more  in  accepting  that  nomination  without  any 
such  dissent,  after  the  revolutionary  construction  given  to  it  by  the 
nomination  of  Blair,  fresh  from  the  publication  of  his  Brodhead  letter. 
But  the  error  was  one  which  might  easily  be  committed  by  one  in 
Governor  Seymour's  position,  and  I  do  not  think  that  it  warrants 
the  reproaches  which  have  been  directed  against  him. 

"Judge  Pierrepont  has  made  the  true  issue  between  Seymour  and 
Blair  and  Grant  and  Colfax.  He  analyzes  it  well  when  he  says  that 
it  is  an  issue  between  Blair  and  Revolution,  and  Grant  and  Peace, 
leaving  Seymour  and  Colfax  almost  wholly  out  of  sight.  I  inclose 
to  you  with  this,  a  copy  of  Judge  Pierrepont's  speech.  You  will 
doubtless  be  struck,  as  I  was,  with  the  account  of  the  conversation 
between  him  and  Grant,  and  the  declaration  of  Grant  that  'his 
feelings  and  sentiments  are  entirely  opposed  to  negro  suffrage.'  I  hope 
that,  having  made  enough  progress  during  the  war  to  become  'glad 
of  negro  enlistment'  (which  i  certainly  could  never  say),  he  has 
made  progress  enough  sinee,  and  will  make  enough  hereafter,  to  see 
in  'the  South'  the  whole  people  of  the  South  ;  in  -good  citizens,'  all 
good  citizens,  of  whatever  complexion  or  nativity;  and  in  securing 
the  rights  of  all,  by  the  suffrage  of  all,  something  else  than  giving 
them  (t.  e.,  the  white  people  of  the  South)  negro  suffrage. 

"Sincerely,  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  Col.  Wm.  Brown." 


716  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

And  now  I  ask  attention  to  the  following  remarkably  characteristic 

letter  : 

"  Washington,  November  3,  1868. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  Some  months  have  passed  since  I  received  your 
letter  of  May  last.  Man}*  events  have  taken  place  since,  and  the 
greatest,  in  which  the  rest  culminate,  is  taking  place  to-day. 

••It  is  not  my  purpose  to  comment  on  them,  but  simply  to  thank 
you  for  tlie  kind  words  of  your  letter.  Your  anticipations  have  not  been 
realized  ;  and  my  faith  in  the  Good  Providence  which  has  thus  far 
presided  so  graciously  over  our  country's  destiny  is  such,  that  I  can 
not  doubt  that  it  is  best  that  they  have  not  been. 

"  At  the  close  of  to-day's  voting,  I  do  not  doubt  that  General  Grant 
will  be  President  elect.  It  is  ray  earnest  prayer  and  confident  expec- 
tation that  the  country  will  find  peace  in  the  reconciliation  of  races 
and  in  the  recognition  and  protection  of  the  equal  rights  of  all  men. 

"  I  find  my  consolation,  under  the  annoyances  to  which  the  late  use 
of  m}'  name  has  subjected  me,  in  the  thought  that  it  represented  the 
strong  desire  of  many  Democrats  and  Republicans  to  unite  on  higher 
and  better  ideas  than  those  which,  for  years  past  and  this  year,  have 
formed  the  staple  of  Democratic  platforms,  and  has  contributed 
something,  probably,  to  the  realization  of  that  desire  in  the  future. 

"It  will  give  me  great  pleasure  to  hear  from  you  again,  and  mean- 
time I  remain,  very  sincerely,  your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

'•Hon.  E.  B.  Warden.'' 

I  have  shown  already  that  the  words,  "  your  anticipations  have  not 
been  realized,"  indicate  a  misconstruction  of  my  letter  of  May  5th. 
Here  is  a  pleasant  letter  to  conclude  this  chapter: 

"Washington,  November  17,  1868. 

"Dear  Colonel  :  Your  note  is  received,  and  I  thank  you.  Poor 
judges  can  not  vie  with  rich  Clevelamlers  in  horse-buying. 

"  Mr.  Evarts  bought  a  span  in  Xew  York — good  horses,  for  §1,000 — 
which  confirms  your  view.  Can  t  you  take  New  York  in  your  way 
here,  and  see  what  can  be  done  there  as  to  a  single  horse  or  pair,  and 
a  coupe  or  other  carriage.  I  don  't  want  to  go  over  §2,000  for  horses 
and  carriage. 

"Short  wrote  me  a  while  ago,  asking  my  reasons  for  disapproving 
his  reappointment  as  crier,  and  stating  he  was  informed  it  was 
because  of  his  preference  for  Grant.  Of  course  I  did  not  answrer. 
It  is  true  that  I  did  not  like  the  officious  part  he  took  in  working 
machinery  for  the  General's  nomination  ;  but  I  blame  no  man  for 
preferences  or  for  proper  corresponding  action. 

"No  appointment  lasts  beyond  the  term,  except  of  men  continued 
through  vacation.  All  I  ask  of  you,  in  making  up  your  list  of  assist- 
ants, is  lo  select  obliging,  attentive,  gentlemanly,  and  capable  persons. 
I  see  no  reason  for  appointing  a  crier  at  all.  Why  can  not  Eeardon 
or  Archie  Lewis  act? 

"1  suppose  Julia  is  half  German  by  this  time.  Give  my  love  to 
her  when  you  write,  and  to  Mrs.  Parsons  and  Richard,  Jr..  by 
word  of  month.        Sincerely,  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  Col.  E.  C.  Parsons." 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  717 


A 


CHAPTER    XLIX. 

A   GREAT    AFFLICTION — THE    BEGINNING   OF   THE    END. 

MOXG  the  papers  furnished  for  my  biographic  use  by  Chief 
Justice  Chase,  is  one  which  reads  as  follows: 

"Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 

••  Washington,  March  4,  1869. 

"  Memorandum  for  the  Judges  for  Inauguration. 

"  The  judges  to  have  six  tickets  of  admission  to  the  Capitol.  No 
judge  will  require  a  ticket  for  his  own  admission. 

'The  Court  will  control  absolutely   its   own   apartments.     Also, 

the  west  door  of  the  Capitol,  on  the  new  Senate  Terrace'.  The 
judges  and  their  friends  will  enter  at  this  door. 

"No  pei-son  Avill  be  allowed  to  enter  the  Capitol  without  a  ticket 
from  the  seargent-at  arms  of  the  Senate. 

"The  judges  will  furnish  each  person  (number  limited  to  six) 
whom  they  desire  to  allow  in  the  Supreme  Court  room,  a  card  re- 
questing their  admittance  to  the  court-room. 

"When  the  President-elect  and  the  Chief  Justice,  with  the  Court, 
reach  the  platform,  all  the  ladies  in  the  Supreme  Court  room  will 
be  permitted  to  pass  through  the  marshal's  office  to  witness  the 
inauguration. 

"Ladies  desirous  of  witnessing  the  proceedings  in  the  Senate 
Chamber,  can  not,  after  the  close  of  those  proceedings,  be  admitted 
to  the  court-room.  .MARSHAL." 

Happy  marshal !  And  how  was  it  with  our  hero  ?  He,  too, 
after  his  own  fashion,  was  rather  fond  of  pomp  and  pride  and 
circumstance,  in  public  life.  That  was,  indeed,  one  of  his  weak- 
nesses, if  I  did  not  misjudge  him  greatly. 

Among  the  same  papers  is  one  giving  the  form  of  the  oath  ad- 
ministered to  President  Grant.  Though  done  with  a  large  pen,  the 
characters  are  italic,  and  are  marked  off  as  follows  : 

"I  do  solemnly  swear  |  that  I  will  faithfully  execute  \  the  office  of  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States,  |  and  will,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  \  preserve 

protect,  a/ul  defend  \  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  \  So  h<lj> 
me  God!" 


718  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  A>~D  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Under  that  form  are  the  words,  in  the  handwriting  of  the  Chief 

Justice  himself: 

"This  oath,  from  this  paper,  was  administered  to  General  Grant, 
on  the  4th  of  March,  18G9.  S.  P.  C." 

The  next  day  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Grant  as  follows : 

"Dear  Madam:  My  friend,  Colonel  Parsons,  the  Marshal  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  will  place  in  your  hands  the  Bible  on  which  your 
honored  husband  took  the  oath  of  office  yesterday.  His  lips 
pressed  the  121st  Psalm. 

"The  Book  will,  I  am  sure,  be  to  you  a  precious  memorial  of  an 
auspicious  day;  destined,  I  trust,  to  be  ever  associated  in  American 
remembrance  with  the  perfected  restoration  of  peace,  and  with  the 
renewal  and  increase  of  prosperity  throughout  our  land. 

"  With  earnest  desires  that  the  aspirations  of  the  Psalmist  may 
be  fulfilled  to  you,  to  him,  and  to  our  whole  people,  I  remain 

"  Most  respectfully,  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"Mrs.  U.  S.  Grant." 

Below  are  the  words : 

"Copy  of  letter  sent  to  Mrs.  Grant  on  the  morning  of  the  6th 
March,  1869 — intended  to  be  sent  with  the  Bible  on  the  5th,  but 
not  sent  by  reason  of  messenger  being  out  of  the  way.'' 

May  2,  1869,  the  Chief  Justice,  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Smith  Miller,  said  : 

"My  old  affection  for  your  honored  father,  and  sincere  respect 
for  yourself,  requires  me  to  reply  to  your  note,  though  my  time  is 
so  entirely  occupied  by  my  special  duties  that  I  can  not  write  any 
thing  which  I  should  be  willing  to  have  read  in  public.  Besides, 
I  have  an  extreme  repugnance  to  even  seeming  to  have  any  further 
connection  with  political  movements.  I  have  done  my  share  of 
work  of  that  sort,  and  prefer  to  leave  future  events  to  younger 
folk.  But  you  will  not  be  mistaken  if  }-ou  believe  me  heartily  de- 
sirous of  all  things  which  will  really  improve  the  condition  of 
woman.  Among  such  things  I  count  the  increase  of  facilities  for 
moral  and  intellectual  culture  ;  ampler  recognition  and  full  protec- 
tion to  rights  of  property;  and  access  to,  and  peaceful  security  in, 
all  employments  for  which  she  is  qualified  by  strength,  capacity, 
and  integrity.  I  am  also  so  far  in  favor  of  suffrage  for  women 
that  I  should  like  to  see  the  experiment  tried  in  one  or  more  of  the 
States,  and,  if  found  to  work  well,  extended  to  all.  I  am  sufficiently 
confident  of  good  results,  to  be  willing  to  vote  for  it  in  the  State 
where  I  reside." 

Many  letters  written  in  1869  must  be  reserved  for  use  in  my 
Edition  of  the  Speeches  and  Writings  of  our  hero.  I  must  now 
go  forward  rapidly  toward  the  end  of  the  present  work. 


OF  SALMON  POIiTLAM.  0HA8E.  719 

At  Washington,  May  24.  1870,  Chief  Justice  Chase  wrote  as 
follows  to  President  Grant: 

"Deab  Sir:  You  are  doubtless  aware  that  the  bouse  formerly 
occupied  by  Jefferson  Davis,  at  Richmond,  has  boen  occupied,  since 
the  overthrow  of  the  robe]  government,  as  head-quarters  by  the 
general  commanding  in  that  district.  1  understand  that  the  prop- 
erty belongs  to  the  city  of  Richmond  ;  an  intention  to  give  it  to  Mr. 
Davis,  or  in  some  way  appropriate  it  as  an  executive  residence  for 
the  President  ot  the  Confederate  States,  having  never  been  carried 
into  effect.  The  property  has  never  been  confiscated,  and  the  title, 
therefore,  remains,  as  i  Buppose,  unaffected  by  the  Rebellion. 

'•  The  great  calamity  which  has  recently  fallen  upon  Richmond, 
makes  it  necessary  to  provide  a  place  for  the  sittings  of  the  Court 
of  Appeals  and  Chancery  Courts,  formerly  held  in  the  Capitol; 
and  this  house  offers  the  best  location.  Nothing,  I  suppose,  is  neces- 
sary in  order  to  it>  restoration  to  the  city,  except  a  simple  military 
order;  but  of  this  the  War  Department  is  doubtless  besi  informed. 

'•I  have  heen  requested  to  ask  your  favorable  consideration  of  this 
matter;  and  as  Virginia  is  within  my  judicial  circuit,  and  as  n  very 
recent  visit  to  Richmond,  immediately  after  the  recent  terrible  disas- 
ter, has  given  me  a  very  vivid  sense  of  the  necessity  in  which  the 
wish  for  the  restoration  of  the  property  originates,  1  do  so  without 
delay. 

"Your  own  feelings,  I  am  sure,  would  prompt  you,  if  it  were 
possible,  to  anticipate  the  wishes  of  the  citizens. 

••  With  profound  inspect  and  true  regard,  1  remain, 

"  Your  obedient  servant,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  The  President." 

The  next  matter  by  which  attention  is  invited  is  of  deeply  pain- 
ful character.  I  offer  here  the  copy  of  a  letter,  written  through  an 
amanuensis,  to  Hon.  Richard  C.  Parsons,  on  the  26th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1870.  Certainly  among  the  things  which  must  be  carefully 
explained  in  every  biography  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase  are  the 
facts  to  which  that  letter  draws  attention. 

These  are  the  terms  in  which  the  letter  dictated  at  that  time 
referred  to  a  great  affliction  : 

"You  will  see,  by  the  date  of  this,  that  I  am  at  Mrs.  Sprague's. 
I  have  been  here  a  month  with  Nettie.  We  went,  as  we  designed, 
to  St.  Paul  ami  Minneapolis,  and  returned  by  the  way  of  Niagara 
Falls.  On  the  journey  from  the  Falls  to  New  York,  which  we  un- 
dertook to  accomplish  between  2  P.  M.  on  the  16th  and  8  A..  M  on 
the  17th  of  August,  I  was  attacked,  without  warning,  aboul  9 
o'clock,  by  paralysis,  until,  when  J  readied  New  York,1  my  right 
side,  from  the  toe  to  the  scalp,  was  sensibly  affected,  so  that  1  could 
scarcely  speak   intelligibly.     I  could,   however,  get  upstairs  at   the. 

xThe  word  "until"  is  in  the  copy  I  have.     I  have  not  seen  the  original. 


720 


THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 


Hoffman  House  without  very  great  difficulty.  Dr.  Clark  was  imme- 
diately called  in,  and  also  Dr.  Hammond.  Dr.  Clark  was  my  regu- 
lar physician,  and,  of  course,  Dr.  Hammond  was  merely  advised 
with  as  consulting.  They  both  agreed  as  to  the  nature  of  the  at- 
tack— that  it  was  paralysis  of  the  right  side,  but  unusually  moderate. 

"  I  remained  at  the  Hoffman  House  a  week,  arriving  there  Wednes- 
day morning,  and  leaving  Wednesday  noon.  Nettie  was  with 
me,  and  Mrs.  Sprague  and  the  Governor  joined  me  there  AVednesday 
evening.  I  could  write  this  letter  myself,  but  it  would  be  a  great 
labor,  and  the  writing,  though  plainer  than  common,  would  be  a 
great  deal  stiffer.  How  soon  I  shall  get  well,  I  can  not  say.  At 
present,  1  do  not  expect  to  be  able  to  take  my  place  in  court  at  the 
adjourned  term  ;  and  I  doubt  very  much  whether  I  shall  be  ahle  to 
take  it  at  the  regular  term,  though  it  is  quite  possible  that  I  may. 
Of  course,  under  existing  circumstances,  I  shall  want  you  to  be  here 
as  early  as  possible,  and  am  glad  to  know  that  your  return  is  not  to 
be  postponed  beyond  the  middle  of  November. 

"I  have  not  been  alloAved  to  write  or  dictate  until  within  a  day 
or  two.  Mr.  Didier  has  been  with  me  for  that  time.  But  I  have 
been  allowed,  and,  indeed,  required,  to  take  what  exercise  I  could. 
I  have  walked  more  and  more  every  da}r,  until,  at  last,  I  walked 
about  a  mile  without  resting.  I  can  ride,  without  difficulty,  eight 
or  ten  miles.1  So,  too,  in  respect  to  writing;  at  first,  I  could  not 
use  my  right-hand  at  all.  I  have  recovered  so  that  I  write  a  little 
every  day. 

"  I  have  been  thus  particular  because  you  are  at  a  distance,  and 
may  have  heard  incorrect  accounts  ;  besides,  it  is  desirable  that 
you  should  know  the  truth.  I  do  not  take  the  trouble  to  be  as  par- 
ticular with  any  body  else  upon  this  side,  and  perhaps  it  will  be 
well  enough  to  keep  what  I  write  to  yourself." 

Paralysis  is  now  attracting  much  attention,  here  and  in  other 
countries.  Every  body  has  a  theory  about  paralysis,  and  some  in- 
dividuals have  many  theories  about  paralysis.  It  is  paralysis  here 
and  paralysis  there  ;  yet,  after  all,  how  little  do  we  know  about  the 
thing  so  named  ! 

A  few  things  may,  however,  be  set  down  about  such  palsy  as  ap- 
peared in  Salmon  Portland  Chase.  Like  every  other  laming2  of 
the  physical  part  of  our  humanity,  the  thing  which  we  were  once 
content  to  talk  about  under  the  designation  palsy,  more  or  less 
lames  the  mind.  The  body  and  the  mind  of  the  late  Chief  Justice 
were  forever  lamed,  when,  on  the  7th  day  of  August,  1870,  he  was 
first  palsied ;  or,  as  we  have  recently  accustomed  ourselves  to  say, 
paralyzed.  But  lameness  is  not  death.  A  lame  walker  walks,  for 
all  his  halting. 


'  So  in  copy. 

•The  German  name  for  paralysis  is  Lachmung. 


OF  SALMON   POUT  I.  A  M>   CHASE.  Tl'l 

But  of  that  more  must  be  .said  hereafter.  Here  I  Bay  bat  a  few 
words  about  the  sorrow  that  undoubtedly  came  to  the  heart  of 
this   man   of  two-and-sixty   years  when    be  could    no   longer   Bee 

his  own  old  face  reflected  in  his  looking-glass,  and  when  he  saw 
how  others  were  affected  by  the  change  in  his  person,  port,  and 
presence. 

Mr.  Lloyd,  who  was  for  some  time  his  private  secretary,  relates 
that  it  was  with  no  bitterness,  but  with  a  shrewd  and  kindly  smile, 
that  he  sometimes  said,  when  his  health  was  inquired  about:  "I'm 
not  very  well  ;  but  I  'm  a  great  deal  better  than  some  people  wish 
I  was." 

I  must  go  farther  when  I  come  to  relate  some  of  my  own  obser- 
vations when,  as  is  to  be  set  forth,  I  was,  in  the  interest  of  this 
work,  induced  to  act,  for  a  limited  time,  as  Mr.  Lloyd's  successor. 
Often  I  was  unutterably  shocked  by  questions,  and  still  more  by 
looks  of  questioning  significance,  relating  to  health,  addressed  to 
"  my  Chief,"  as  he  rather  liked  to  have  me  call  him. 

Had  our  hero  studied  hygiene  and  medicine — for  I  distinguish 
them — as  every  enlightened  man  and  woman  ought  to  study  them, 
he  might  have  been  in  tolerable  health,  this  day.  He  literally  put 
himself  to  death.  That  is  the  simple  truth.  He  suffered  death  at 
his  own  hands  ;  not  as  a  suicide,  but  as  a  man  whom  no  warning, 
no  persuasion,  nothing  could  induce  to  let  nature  heal  him. 

On  the  loth  of  October,  1870,  he  dictated  a  letter  to  Miss  Nettie 
Chase,  his  "darling  Nettie,"  in  which  he  said: 

"Last  night  I  suffered  a  good  deal  with  pains  in  my  chest,  but 
slept,  on  the  whole,  pretty  well,  and  am  this  morning  much  better. 
I  have  walked  already  in  the  house  about  twenty  minutes,  and 
breakfasted,  and  am  going  out  to  take  a  walk  with  William  as  soon 
as  I  finish  this  letter.     It  is  now  twenty  minutes  past  ten. 

"The  children  are  well,  and  so  is  Katie.  The  baby  grows  in  grace 
and  beanty  day  by  day,  and  1  look  soon  to  sec  her  walking  and 
talking.     Willie  improves  continually. 

"The  Governor,  as  long  as  Katie  was  absent,  was  very  constanl  in 
his  attendance,  coming  down  every  night.  Since  he  went  up  on 
"Wednesday  morning,  he  has  not  returned,  hut  we  expect  him  to-night 
as  usual.     His  place  is  well  supplied  by  Katie. 

"I  am  still  kept  on  my  short  diet  ;  hut  I  suppose  it  is  besl  for  me. 
Please  bring  me  a  bottle  of  cologne  and  a  good  modern  arithmetic." 

On  the  19th  he  dictated  a  remarkable  letter  to  Mr.  Hall,  concern- 
ing his  anxiety  to  clear  away  even  the  smallest  things  in  his  affairs 
which  could  be  a  cause  of  self-reproach.     And  on  the  22d  he  caused 


722 


THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 


to  be  written  to  Mr.  Henry  D.  Cooke,  under  his  dictation,  a  letter 
beginning  as  follows: 

My  Dear  Mr.  Cooke  :  My  health  is  quite  precarious,  and  I  feel  that 
I  ought  to  make  some  permanent  disposition  of  my  property,  and  I 
know  of  no  one  through  whom  I  can  make  it  so  satisfactorily  as 
through  yourself.  I  have,  therefore,  taken  the  great  liberty  of  using 
your  name  in  a  paper  which  I  have  drawn  up  as  my  last  will.  1 
hope  you  will  not  refuse  your  consent." 

Here,  surely,  is  an  indication  to  which  Mr.  Cooke  may  well  point 
with  pride.  It  proves  that,  on  the  22d  of  October,  1870,  Chief 
Justice  Chase  considered  him  entitled  to  respect  and  confidence 
in  a  high  degree.  And  I  desire  that  the  living  interests  of  Mr. 
Cooke,  as  well  as  the  memory  of  our  hero,  may  be  credited  with 
this  indication.  It  is  not  my  wish  to  do  injustice  in  this  work  to 
any  man. 

On  the  24th,  in  a  dictated  letter  to   Mr.   Schuckers,  the  Chief 

Justice  said : 

"It  is  a  long  time  since  I  received  your  letter,  but  really  I  have 
been  in  no  condition  to  rej^ly.  I  am  now  regaining  my  strength 
slowly,  having  lost  a  good  share  of  what  1  had  previously  gained,  by 
imprudence." 

The  elsewhere  mentioned  implication  of  an  article  in  the  New 
York  Herald,  that  I  claimed,  at  some  time,  that  I  was,  for  a  con- 
siderable time,  our  hero's  private  secretary,  is  as  false  as  the  same 
article's  pretended  criticism  of  my  style  and  diction  ;x  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  how  evident  it  has  already  become,  that  it  is  very  vilely 
false  to  pretend,  that  Mr.  Schuckers  was  ever  continuously,  for  any 
considerable  time,  near  the  person  of  Secretary  Chase  or  Chief 
Justice  Chase!     The  same  letter,  however,  goes  on  as  follows: 

"I  am  glad  to  hear  that  your  prospects  of  the  mowing-machine 
are  so  good;  and  I  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  give  you  the  situ- 
ation at  Washington  which  you  desire.  But  I  shall  certainly  not 
be  there  during  the  adjourned  term,  nor  will  Parsons  before  the 
middle  of  it.  1  will  write  to  him  as  soon  as  possible;  but  I  know  of 
no  position  which  will  be  vacant,  even  then,  unless  a  vacancy  is 
made  for  the  purpose  of  accommodating  you. 

"  If  my  own  health  were  good,  so  that  we  could  attend  to  the  work, 
I  should  be  strongly  inclined  to  join  you  in  preparing  the  book;  but 
I  see  no  prospect  of  it." 

The  book  in  question  was,  no  doubt,  an  attempt  to  set  forth  the 
life  of  our  hero  while  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.     On  such  a  life  I 

1  Post,  chapter. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  728 

have  reason  to  believe  Mr.  Schuekcrs  had  made  a  little  progress, 
when  he  laid  it  aside,  and  commenced  a  history  of  paper  money 
in  this  country.     Having  met  him,  having  read  a  certain  letter  of 

his,  and  having  heard  much  of  him,  I  could  not  allow  myself  to 
entertain  a  thought  of  him  as  competent  to  write  a  life  of  Salmon 
Portland  Chase  with  any  aid  whatever.  But,  on  the  2d  of  Novem- 
ber, 1870,  at  Xarragansett,  his  handwriting  reappears  in  the  books 
of  the  Chief  Justice  in  the  first  draught  of  a  letter  to  Colonel 
Dwight  Bannister. 

On  the  26th  of  the  preceding  month,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  as 
follows: 

"My  Dear  Sciiuckers  :  Mr.  Didier  has  resigned,  to  take  effect  on 
the  31st  of  October.  Mrs.  Sprague  wrote  you  to  know  whether  yon 
would  take  the  vacant  place.  I  shall  be  glad  to  have  you  answer  at 
once,  and  to  have  you.  it'  you  conclude  to  take  it,  to  come  at  once. 

•You  will  no  doubt  think  this  a  sudden  change  from  my  letter  of 
the  24th  inst. ;  but  Didier  is  responsible.'' 

Methinks  we  now  begin  to  see  what  notions  of  biographv  were 
entertained  by  Mrs.  Sprague,  whose  implacable  hostility  to  the 
present  work  and  to  its  author,  has  become  a  fact  of  common  noto- 
riety.    Of  that,  however,  I  must  speak  hereafter. 

On  the  24th  of  October,  1870,  Chief  Justice  Chase,  at  Narra- 
gansett,  dictated  a  letter  which  contains  these  words : 

"Thank  you  for  your  sympath}-,  my  old  friend.  I  am  far  from 
thinking  that  when  men  occupying  particular  positions  in  the  public 
mind  are  taken  away,  the  world  sutlers  any  great  loss.  I  am  per- 
suaded that  they  have  done  their  work,  and  that  other  men  are  better 
fitted  for  the  new  circumstances  of  the  world  than  they  were.     .     . 

"  For  myself,  I  look  upon  the  work  which  I  had  to  do  as  nearly  done. 
It  would  have  been  a  gratification  to  me  to  have  finished  the  cur- 
rency according  to  my  own  ideas;  but  very  likely  the  ideas  of  others 
are  better.  I  refer  particularly  to  the  restoration  of  specie  payments, 
and  to  the  declaration,  as  Constitutional  law.  that  Congress  lias  no 
power  to  make  any  thing  else  than  gold  and  silver  a  legal  tender  in 
payment  of  debts.  Whether  1  shall  live  to  see  this  or  the  reverse. 
is  for  the  Divine  wisdom  to  determine.  I  shall  not  be  at  Washington 
during  the  adjourned  term,  and  perhaps  not  during  the  regular  term 
which  follows,  though  I  am  slowly  regaining  my  strength,  so  far  a^ 
I  can  see.  I  desire  to  com  in  it  the  future,  in  this  respect,  as  in  all 
others,  to  Him  who  has  graciously  cared  for  me. 

"Yours,  very  truly,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  Hon.  N.  Sargent, 

''Washington,  D.  C." 
47 


724  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Marked  "The  Democratic  Movement"  is  a  little  paper  book, 
which  was  among  the  papers  furnished  for  my  biographic  use  by 
the  man  I  have  to  name  so  often.  The  first  article  that  it  contains 
is  taken  from  the  Commoner  of  May  20,  1871,  and  it  bears  the  title, 
"  The  False  Departure."  The  next  is  from  the  Cincinnati  Com- 
mercial of  May  19,  1871,  and  has  the  head-lines:  "Another  New 
Departure.  Vallandigham  Takes  the  Responsibility.  The  Consti- 
tution as  it  is.  All  Amendments  acquiesced  in.  Strict  Construction 
called  for.  An  Important  Movement."  There  are  other  articles ; 
but  I  mention,  in  addition  to  those  already  mentioned,  only  one. 
That  one  is  from  the  (Washington)  Daily  Patriot,  May  22,  1871, 
and  has  the  head-lines:  "True  Course  of  the  Democracy  in  the 
Present  Crisis  of  the  Country.  The  Constitution  as  it  is.  A  Letter 
from  John  Quincy  Adams." 

August  4,  1871,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  to  Mr.  Alexander  Mitchell, 
President  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  Railroad,  as  follows : 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  thank  you  very  sincerely  for  your  intended 
courtesy,  and  for  the  pass  and  kind  offer  which  accompanies  it.  I  do 
not  know  that  I  shall  [go]  any  farther  than  this  place,  where  I  am 
glad  to  say  my  health  seems  to  be  steadily  improving,  and,  if  I  can 
rely  upon  the  assurances  of  my  friend  Colonel  Dunbar,  will  be  speedily 
restored.  Should  business  call  you  to  Waukesha,  while  I  am  here,  I 
shall  be  very  glad  to  see  you. 

"  Yours,  very  sincerely." 

On  the  same  day,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  to  Judge  Dickson,  then 
at  Oakland,  Maryland : 

"My  Dear  Judge:  I  received  your  letter  forwarded  to  me  from 
St.  Louis,  on  Saturday,  and  answer  it  on  Monday,  no  mail  going  out 
on  Sunday.  I  wish  I  could  give  you  more  definite  information  in 
regard  to  the  springs  at  St.  Louis.  They  are  esteemed  the  best  in 
the  State,  though  probably  the  waters  at  Eaton  Rapids  and  at  Lansing, 
both  of  which  are  more  accessible,  are  nearly,  it  not  quite  as  effect- 
ive. As  far  as  I  could  observe,  the  waters  at  St.  Louis  have  more 
control  over  paralytic  and  rheumatic  affections  than  any  other. 
During  July  and  August,  and  probably  the  greater  part  of  September, 
the  climate  is  malarious,  and  the  people  are  liable  to  attacks  of  fever 
and  ague.  A  slight  touch  of  that  disorder  induced  me  to  leave  when 
1  did.  I  came  here,  where  the  climate  is  much  better,  and  the  waters, 
so  far  as  troubles  of  the  kidneys  and  liver  are  concerned,  are  more 
effective.     I  do  not  regret  that  1  came,  and  hope  for  the  best  results. 

"I  most  sincerely  sympathize  with  you  in  your  troubles.  I  am 
afraid  you  work  too  hard  and  pay  too  little  attention  to  your  stomach. 
This,  as  I  have  learned,  can  not  be  done  with  impunity.  My  impres- 
sion is,  that  you  would  derive  more  benefit  from  a  visit  to  this  place, 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  725 

than  from  any  of  the  Michigan  springs,  foil  might,  if  so  inclined, 
however,  visit  Lansing  or  Baton  Rapids,  and  if  imi  satisfied  with 
them,  come  here.  You  will  be  almosl  in  the  direcl  Line  by  railroad 
to  Grand  Haven,  and  by  boal  from  thence  to  Milwaukee,  from  which 
this  place  is  distant  by  railroad  aboul  twenty-three  miles.  You  will 
find  the  boat  from  Grand  Haven  to  Milwaukee  very  pleasant,  and  you 
can  take  the  ears  from  Milwaukee  here  at  7.15  or  LO  A.  M. 

"  Very  sincerely,  your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE.' 

Five  days  afterwards,  he  wrote  to  Colonel  Parsons: 

"  My  Dear  Colonel  :  Your  letter  from  London  was  duly  received, 
though    it    had  to  be  forwarded   from   Washington   to  St.  Louis   in 

Michigan,  where  I  then  was.  at  the  Magnetic  Springs.  I  was  glad  to 
learn  that  your  wife  and  children  were  in  good  health.  It  would  give 
me  much  pleasure  to  see  them  all  again,  and  I  suppose  that  you  will 
beat  home  with  them  some  time  next  month. 

'•I  spent  several  weeks  at  St.  Louis,  and  enjoyed  the  baths  there 
very  much.  The  waters  equal  those  of  the  most  celebrated  springs 
in  Europe,  but  the  climate  is  not  good  in  the  months  of  July,  August, 
and  perhaps  September.  I  had  a  touch  of  fever  and  ague,  which 
induced  me  to  depart  rather  sooner  than  I  intended  at  first.  I  am 
thankful  that  it  was  only  a  touch.  I  had  but  two  serious  chills,  with 
fever  following,  and  since  have  had  none.  With  these  exceptions 
my  improvement  has  been  steady,  though  not  rapid  since  January. 
Every  body  says,  and  I  agree,  that  I  have  not  been  so  nearly  well  as  I 
am  now,  since  I  was  taken  sick.  I  begin  to  gain  in  flesh  somewhat, 
having  run  down  to  145.  Just  before  leaving  St.  Louis,  I  weighed 
146;  here,  eight  days  later,  1  weighed  153.  and  hope  that  I  shall 
continue  to  gain;  so  that,  by  the  time  you  return,  I  may  make  quite 
a  respectable  appearance. 

"I  am  delightfully  situated  here  at  Waukesha.  The  waters  work 
wonders  in  cases  of  prostration  from  disorders  from  the  liver  and 
kidneys,  and  bid  fair  to  become  quite  celebrated.  Such  men  as  Dr. 
Willard  Parker,  of  New  York,  Dr.  Smith,  of  Columbus,  and  Dr. 
Wolcott,  of  Milwaukee — all  of  whom  I  suppose  you  know — give  the 
springs,  in  these  respects,  their  unqualified  indorsement.  My  own 
troubles,  as  you  are  aware,  proceed,  in  great  part,  from  disorders  of 
these  organs.     But  I  must  not  run  on  about   myself  in  this  way. 

"Mrs.  Sprague  is  at  Narragansctt,  with  a  house  full  of  company. 
Mrs.  Hoyt,  at  the  date  of  her  Last  letter,  was  in  Munich.  This  was 
about  a  month  ago.  Where  she  is  now,  1  do  not  know  ;  but  she  will 
probably  return  with   her  husband    in  October. 

"Give  my  love  to  Mrs.  Parsons,  and  to  .Julia  and  Richie.  I  sup- 
pose Julia  is  a  young  lady,  and  Richie  a  young  gentleman,  by  this 
time.  Yours,  faithfully,  S.  P.  CHASB." 

The  next  day,  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  as  follows: 

"It  Dear  Doctor:  I  am  steadily  improving  in  health.  Some- 
times, indeed,  I  feel  quite  well,  until  i  undertake  to  walk,  or  otherwise 
exercise.     Then  I  find  myself  weak.     I  walk,  however,  without  any 


726 


THE  PRIVATE  LIFE   AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 


great  effort,  about  two  miles.  Probably,  I  sball  take  my  seat  in 
October,  at  the  adjourned  session,  though  I  may  not  before  the  reg- 
ular session,  in  December.  I  am  very  regular  in  my  meals;  break- 
fasting at  half-past  seven,  dining  at  one,  and  taking  my  tea  at  half- 
past  six.  1  observe  that  3-011  advise  the  last  meal  at  an  hour  not 
later  than  five  o'clock.  Would  not  this  leave  too  little  time  between 
the  dinner  and  tea?" 

One  of  the  worst  things  about  our  hero's  relation  to  medicine  was, 
his  old  way  of  taking  advice,  and  then  going  his  own  way.  But 
medicine  and  medical  treatment,  after  some  fashion,  he  would  have, 
it  seems.  Indeed,  every  bod)r  seemed  disposed  to  suggest  some  new 
remedy,  some  new  experiment  in  treatment.  He  received  numerous 
letters,  even  from  mere  strangers,  on  this  subject,  and  he  was  dis- 
posed to  pay  a  necessarily  confused  attention  to  all  that  was  said  to 
him,  orally  or  in  writing,  touching  hygiene  and  medicine. 

He  had  not  read,  and  I  tried  in  vain  to  have  him  take  time  to 
read,  before  it  should  be  too  late,  the  admirably  scientific  little  book 
by  Sir  John  Forbes,  Of  Nature  and  Art  in  the  Cure  of  Disease. 
The  reading  of  that  single  work,  with  due  attention  to  its  warn- 
ings, might  have  saved  his  life  till  now. 

He  went  on  as  follows,  in  the  last  cited  letter: 


"My  digestion  has  been  pretty  good.  No  daj-  has  passed,  except 
perhaps  one,  without  an  evacuation.  The  cold  weather  affected  me 
injuriously  at  St.  Louis,  in  consequence  of  my  imprudence  in  wearing 
too  thin  clothes.  I  had  a  touch  of  chills  and  fever  there,  and  left,  in 
consequence,  for  this  place.  The  waters  here  have  a  great  and  in- 
creasing reputation  in  disorders  of  the  liver,  and.  I  think,  have  been 
useful  to  me. 

"As  we  are  onl3'  five  hours  from  Chicago,  and  about  twelve  from 
Detroit,  may  I  not  hope  to  see  you  when  3Tou  come  West? 

'•  Truly,  vour  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"Dr.  D.  W.  Bliss,  Washington." 

August  19,  he  wrote  to  his  old  friend,  Mr.  Plumley: 

"My  Dear  Friend:  I  was  glad  to  get  3'our  letter,  and  to  learn 
that  3Tou  were  in  good  health.  It  would  give  me  a  great  deal  of 
pleasure  to  visit  you  at  3Tour  son's;  but  I  fear  it  will  not  be  in  my 
power.  I  will  take  3-our  advice  as  to  taking  care  of  nyself,  and  in 
avoiding  the  '  teasing  of  politicians.'  For  my  improved  health,  some 
credit  is  doubtless  due  to  the  waters  I  have  visited,  both  at  St.  Louis 
and  at  this  place,  but  more,  perhaps,  to  fresh  air,  simple  diet,  and 
exercise.  With  God's  blessing,  I  think  I  may  hope  for  as  perfect 
restoration  as  is  compatible  with  1113-  years." 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  7J7 

To  General  Ashley,  also  at  Waukesha,  on  the  5th  of  September, 

he  wrote: 

"Dear  General:  Thanks  for  your  kind  note.  1  pay  no  atten- 
tion to  polities,  except  to  form  ray  own  opinions  and  give  my  own 
votes.  I  am  a  democratic  Democrat,  as  yon  know,  and  have  nevor 
asked  of  the  Democratic  party  any  thing  except  fidelity  to  demo- 
cratic principles. 

•My  health  is  much  improved;  hotter,  indeed,  than  for  a  year 
prior  to  my  attack,  a  year  ago.  But  1  think  the  correspondent  you 
refer  to  saw  my  case  too  much  in  rose-color." 

On  the  23d  of  October,  1871,  a  gentleman  I  shall  not  name,  wrote 
a  long  letter  to  Chief  Justice  Chase.  At  one  time  I  felt  that  the 
performance  of  my  biographic  duty  could  not  be  complete  without 
the  presentation  of  that  letter,  and  of  others,  emanating  from  the 
same  pen.  But,  on  applying  to  the  writer  of  those  letters  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  how  he  would  regard  their  publication,  I 
received  from  him  a  most  earnest  protest  against  their  use  herein. 
On  reflection,  my  decision  was,  that  it  was  not  essential  to  present 
them  fully  to  the  readers  of  this  volume.  But  I  must  refer  to  some 
of  their  contents. 

For  example,  one  of  those  letters  (that  of  October  23)  says  that 
Mr.  Groesbeck,  unlike  Mr.  Pendleton,  is  an  honest,  confiding,  open- 
hearted,  outspoken  man,  who  conceals  nothing  from  his  friends,  but 
speaks  frankly  his  convictions  on  all  subjects,  not  even  excepting 
the  Presidency.  In  the  same  letter  the  Chief  Justice  is  informed 
that  Mr.  Groesbeck's  conviction  is,  that  neither  himself,  nor  any  one 
else  fully  identified  with  the  Democratic  party,  can  succeed  as 
against  Grant,  and  that  the  Chief  Justice  is  the  only  man  who  can 
defeat  Grant's  re-election,  provided  the  Chief  Justice's  health  and 
physical  constitution  will  admit  of  his  being  a  candidate. 

But  the  same  letter  has  another  intimation,  which  must  not  be 
overlooked.     It  is  expressed  as  follows: 

"Should  you  succeed,  that  which  Mr.  Groesbeck  would  desire,  un- 
der your  administration,  would  be  to  go  abroad,  remain  out  of  the 
country  for  a  time,  and  return  home  to  take  his  chances  in  L876." 

Et  tu,  Groesbeck  !     Then  we  have  the  words  ■ 

"  The  result  of  the  recent  elections  in  this  State  and  Pennsylvania 

has  added  greath*  to  your  prospects  tor  the  nomination,  and  the  del- 
egation from  tins  State  to  the  next  National  Convention — unlike  that 
of  1868,  pledged  in  advance,  and  prejudiced  against  you — will,  unless 
I  greatly  mistake  the  signs  of  the  times,  be  in  your  favor." 


728  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

Was  that  letter  answered  ?  I  have  reason  to  believe  it  was,  bnt  I  find 
no  copy  of  an  answer  to  it ;  nor  have  I  found  answers  to  the  oth- 
ers written  by  the  same  pen  in  relation  to  the  same  absurd  design. 

Mere  justice  to  the  memory  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  how- 
ever, with  a  due  regard  to  public  interests  of  great  concern  to 
the  whole  people,  ordered  me,  I  judged,  to  offer  the  foregoing  ex- 
tracts to  the  readers  of  this  work.  That  judgment  may  have  been 
erroneous,  as  many  others  of  my  judgments  in  the  course  of  the 
present  work  may  have  been  ;  but  the  only  fear  that  I  have  had, 
the  only  fear  I  can  have,  is  the  fear  of  failing  to  perform  the  fear- 
fully difficult  and  indescribably  delicate  trust,  accepted  when  I  un- 
dertook to  make  proper  use  of  the  biographic  matter  furuished  by 
the  hero  of  these  pages.  That,  indeed,  has  been  a  great  fear  from 
the  first ;  and  it  must  try  my  heart  even  to  the  end.  God  knows 
how  deeply  I  have  felt  it  as  this  work  has  progressed. 

March  26,  1872,  Chief  Justice  Chase  wrote  as  follows  to  Judge 
M.  C.  C.  Church,  about  a  paper  prepared  by  the  latter  : 

"  Its  first  sentence  seems  to  place  me  in  the  position  of  a  man  de- 
siring a  nomination  for  the  Presidency.  I  do  not  desire  it.  There 
has  been  a  time  when  I  did.  I  say  this  frankly,  and  say  just  as 
frankly  that  I  have  no  such  desire.  If  those  who  agree  with  me  in 
principle  think  that  my  nomination  will  promote  the  interests  of  the 
country,  I  shall  not  refuse  the  use  of  my  name.  But  I  shall  not  seek 
a  nomination,  nor  am  I  willing  to  seem  to  seek  it.  I  said  this  to  you 
when  you  did  me  the  honor  to  call  upon  me. 

"  I  doubt  the  expediency  of  the  remark  in  regard  to  the  tendency 
of  the  Liberal  Republican  movement.  Nothing  that  I  have  seen 
seems  to  warrant  a  doubt  of  the  patriotism  of  its  promoters. 

c' Nor  am  I  willing  to  be  put  in  the  attitude  of  rivaling  Judge 
Davis.  He  is  my  friend,  and  I  hold  him  in  the  highest  esteem  as  a 
man  of  honor  and  ability.  I  differ  from  him  on  some  important 
points  of  principle,  but  do  not  question  the  integrity  of  his  convic- 
tions ;  nor,  I  think,  does  he  question  mine. 

"And,  finally,  I  doubt  the  expediency  of  suggesting  any  name  for 
the  second  office.  Let  this  be  left  to  the  Convention.  Many  will 
agree  with  j-ou  as  to  your  first  choice  who  will  not  agree  with  you  as 
to  your  second. 

"I  inclose  a  draft,  which  will  show  more  clearly  my  views. 

"  I  have  just  been  to  New  York  ;  or,  rather,  to  my  daughter's,  in 
Astoria.  My  visit  was  entirely  to  her,  but  three  gentlemen  found  their 
way  out  to  see  me.  Two  of  these  were  Republicans,  and  one  was  a 
Democrat.  The  Republicans  were  very  much  of  your  mind,  and 
seemed  sanguine  that  l heir  convictions  were  general.  I  learned  from 
one  of  them  that  a  call  recommending  attendance  at  the  Cincinnati 
Convention  was  in  preparation,  and  already  signed  by  some  of  the 
Republican  electors  at  the  last  Presidential  election." 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  729 

On  the  8th  of  April,  he  wrote  thus  to  Mr.  Ball  : 

"My  Dear  Mr.  Ball  :  I  was  delighted  to  receive  your  Letter,  and 
to  have  your  assurance  lhal  yoy  are  well  again.  My  convictions  are 
the  same  as  yours,  that  sickness,  rightly  improved,  is  among  the 
greatest  blessings  onr  Heavenly  Father  vouchsafes  to  us.    It  reclaims 

US   from   sin,  and    stimulates   to    duty.     1   gratefully    thank    God    for 
sickness.     .     .     . 

••  My  views  as  to  the  proposed  Cincinnati  Convent  ion.  which  VOtl 
ask  for,  are  not  very  clear.  My  impression  is,  that  they  ought  to  in- 
dicate their  preferences,  at  least — perhaps  to  nominate.  They  Bhould 
act  so  as  to  insure  Democratic  co-operation. 

"You  ask  whether,  under  any  circumstances,  I  would  accept  a 
nomination.  1  answer  that  I  should  not  decline,  but  I  do  not  seek 
it.  If  the  nomination  is  thought,  by  those  entitled  to  judge,  the  host 
means  of  uniting  the  friends  of  reform  and  amnesty,  whether  Repub- 
licans or  Democrats,  I  shall  have  no  right  to  decline  it.  If  not,  I  do 
not  want  it. 

"  Faithfully,  your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  Flamen  Ball,  Esq." 

I  watched  that  Convention  very  closely.  I  plead  guilty  to  having 
worked  somewhat  in  favor  of  the  cause  I  once  expected  it  to  repre- 
sent. But  it  is  with  heart-sickness  that  I  remember  the  effect  of 
the  inner  knowledge  that  I  gained  of  the  movement,  which  finally 
assembled  the  members  of  that  "Liberal  Republican  Convention." 

I  have  mentioned,  passingly,  the  speech  I  felt  obliged  to  make  at 
Covington,  on  finding,  most  unexpectedly,  that  quite  singularly,  as 
it  seemed  to  me,  my  name  had  been  placed  on  the  list  of  delegates 
to  the  Louisville  Convention,  itself  destined  to  nominate  delegates 
to  the  National  Convention  of  the  so-called  "Regular  Republicans." 
I  am  not  vain  enough  to  wish  to  set  forth  here  the  body  of  that  per- 
fectly extemporaneous  and  undeniably  most  imperfect  speech.  But 
it  is  proper,  I  conceive,  to  draw,  as  follows,  a  few  extracts  from  a 
report  given  in  the  Cincinnati  Commercial.  Here  is  one  of  the 
extracts  it  seems  proper  to  present  to  readers  of  these  pages : 

"Now  you  have  done  me  the  honor,  totally  unexpected,  of  placing 
my  name  upon  the  list  of  your  delegates  :  whether  I  should  act 
upon  it  or  not,  is  another  question." 

Then  I  proceeded  to  respond  to  a  very  fulsome  eulogy  of  the 
President,  which  had  just  been  pronounced  by  Hon.  John  F.  Fisk. 
In  the  course  of  my  remarks,  which — being,  as  already  intimated, 
wholly  off-hand — were  quite  too  numerous,  I  said  : 

"Fellow-citizens,  let  us  remember  that  we  are  citizens  and  feltow- 
citizens,  and  that  we  owe  it  to  each  other  to  speak  plainly  about  this 
matter,  and  all  matters  of  its  class." 


780  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

I  also  felt  constrained  to  say,  with  special  reference  to  the  assaults 
that  had  been  made  on  Hon.  Stanley  Matthews,  Hon.  Jacob  Dol- 
son  Cox,  Hon.  George  Hoadly,  Hon.  John  B.  Stallo,  and  others  by 
"Little  Mack,"  of  the  St.  Louis  Democrat: 

"All  the  power  of  the  press  ma}-  be  used  in  favor  of  that  way  of 
characterizing  opposition  to  the  continuance  in  power  of  the  present 
Administration;  and  if  any  man  knows  what  the  power  of  the  press 
is.  I  believe  I  have  learned  the  lesson.  But  I  have  this  to  say,  that, 
until  the  last  spark  of  self-respect  expires  in  the  bosom  of  any  true 
man,  he  will  not  be  intimidated  by  the  example  of  libels,  such  as  this 
to  which  I  have  referred,  when  the  question  is  whether  or  not  he 
shall  vote  for  continuing  in  power  one  whose  title  for  continuance  is 
even  doubtful  in  his  regard." 

Now,  let  us  go  to  the  Convention,  soon  after  held  at  Louisville. 
I  forget  the  exact  date,  but  I  am  not  likely  soon  to  forget  the  fact. 

In  that  mob-like,  at  least  eminently  unstatesmanlike,  Convention, 
Hon.  W.  C.  Goodloe,  of  Fayette,  offered  the  following  resolution  : 

"  Whereas,  this  Convention  was  called  for  the  purpose  of  nominat- 
ing delegates  to  the  National  Kepublican  Convention,  to  be  held  in 
Philadelphia,  to  present  candidates  for  President  and  Vice-President 
of  the  United  States;  therefore,  be  it 

"Resolved,  That  all  delegates  taking  part  in  the  deliberations  of  this 
Convention  will  give  a  full  and  zealous  support  to  the  nominees  of 
said  Philadelphia  Convention,  and  none  others  are  entitled  to  have  a 
seat  or  voice  on  this  floor." 

The  telegraphic  report  of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial,  having  shown 
this  resolution,  states  as  follows  : 

"E.  B.  Warden,  of  Kenton,  claimed  that  it  was  not  competent  for 
this  Convention  to  thus  disqualify  any  member.  He  claimed  that  it 
was  out  of  order." 

From  further  report,  it  appears  that 

"Mr.  Warden  denied  the  right  of  any  party  to  whip  him  into  a 
slavish  devotion.  He  had  resolved  before  God  that  he  would  pledge 
himself  to  no  such  slavery,  and  he  had  so  declared  himself  to  his 
constituents,  and  they  had  overwhelmingly  ratified  that  declaration. 
He  would  not  betray  the  trust  that  had  placed  him  on  that  floor.  He 
was  not  present  to  discuss  the  merits  of  General  Grant.  The  Phila- 
delphia Convention  was  the  place  for  that." 

The  point  of  order  being  overruled, 

"Mr.  Warden  spoke  again,  warning  the  majority  to  judge  not  lest 
they  should  be  judged.  "He  challenged  comparison  of  service  to  the 
party.      The  question  now  was  whether  the  pernicious  rule  which 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  731 

was  (lie  bane  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  rained  it.  should  now 
prevail  in  the  Republican  party,  to  its  ruin  also,  ll>'  hoped  the 
Philadelphia  ('(invention  would  make  a  platform  lhat  he  could 
approve  and  vote  for.  There  was  but  one  Church  that  claimed  Infal- 
libility, and  here  was  a  party  claiming  this  attribute. 

•■  Voice.    Will  you  voir  for  Grant  if  he  is  nominated. 

"Warden  (with  a  slap  of  his  hands).    I  will  not  ! 

"  Great  uproar."  l 

The  Goodloe  resolution  was  adopted,  and  the  Kenton  delegation 
left  the  Convention,  in  good  order. 

Next  I  have  to  call  attention  to  the  so-called  "Liberal  Move- 
ment." For  a  while  that  movement  seemed  to  me  of  patriotic 
inspiration  and  of  patriotic  promise.  It  was  I  who  wrote  the  two 
circulars  representing  that  phenomenon  in  Kentucky,  lint  I  found 
out  that  I  was  quite  mistaken,  as  the  time  for  the  meeting  of  the 
Convention  at  Cincinnati  approached,  and  the  stuff  of  which  that 
body  was  to  be  composed  became  foreshadowed.  I  retired  from 
the  movement  altogether,  and  took  part  in  the  "  lleform  and 
Reunion"  organization. 

Let  me  now  invite  attention  to  the  address  of  Hon.  Stanley 
Matthews  in  the  May  Convention : 

"He  said  :  It  is  no  affectation  on  my  part  when  I  say  to  you  that 
it  is  impossible  to  express  the  deep  sensibility  with  which  I  have" 
received  this  unexpected  and  most  distinguished  mark  of  your  con- 
sideration. The  honor  of  temporarily  discharging  the  duties  of  the 
Chair  in  the  preliminary  organization  of  a  body  which.  I  believe 
and  trust,  is  to  be  memorable  in  the  history  of  party  and  politics  in 
this  country,  is  altogether  undeserved,  and  I  am  altogether  unpre- 
pared, by  the  suddenness  of  the  invitation,  to  assume  those  duties 
properly,  or  to  preface  them  with  remarks  which,  under  other  cir- 
cumstances, might  be  considered  in  proper  conformity  to  the  usual 
custom;  nevertheless  the  occasion,  the  circumstances,  this  admirable 
and  wonderful  presence,  inspire  a  thought  or  two  which  perhaps  I  will 
not  be  trespassing  too  much  upon  your  attention  and  your  time,  if  I 
venture  to  suggest."     [Applause.] 

Among  the  thoughts  so  "  inspired,"  and  thereupon  "  suggested," 
one  found  this  expression,  which  I  heard  and  took  to  heart,  in  spite 
of  a  distrust  of  the  distinguished  speaker  which  had  come  to  be 
habitual: 

"And  now,  gentlemen,  one  of  the  deep  and  earnest  convictions 
which  has  spread  universally  almost  through  the  hearts  of  the 
American  people,    and   out  of  which   this  movement  originates,  is 


1  Commercial,  Thursday,  March  14,  1872. 


732 


THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 


this,  that  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  is  ended,  and  that  peace  has  come 
[applause],  and  that,  as  the  war  has  ended,  so  ought  military  rule 
and  military  principles.     [Cries  of  Good,  Good,  and  loud  cheers.]" 

Another  thought,  or  another  part  of  the  same  thought,  was 
expressed  as  follows  : 

"We  have  the  example  of  so-called  civil  governments  bank- 
rupting the  communities  they  affect  to  represent — power  usurped  by 
strangers,  and  not  conferred  by  the  voice  of  the  people;  and  not  for 
the  purpose  of  restoring  the  prosperity  of  those  battle-grazed  fields, 
but  for  corruptly  enriching  the  men  who  think  that  power  and  office 
belong  to  them  as  properly,  and  not  as  a  trust;  and  so,  gentlemen, 
in  every  department  of  the  Government,  the  slow  poison  of  corruption, 
only  not  sufficiently  slow,  seems  to  have  pervaded  the  whole  civil  and 
political  administration  of  the  country,  from  the  head  to  the  foot. 
[Applause.]" 

But  soon  I  read,  in  the  same  journal,  these  remarkably  suggestive 
paragraphs : 

"The  following  private  letter  from  Judge  Matthews  to  a  friend  in 
Washington,  appears  in  the  newspapers: 

"Cincinnati,  May  6,  1872. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  :  Nothing  connected  with  the  recent  disgraced  and 
disgraceful  Convention  at  this  place  has  given  me  so  much  pain  as 
j-our  note,  calling  my  attention  to  a  statement,  taken  from  a  speech 
of  mine,  pointed  with  the  interpretation  you  evidently  put  upon  it. 
Allow  me,  in  the  first  place,  to  say  that  I  was  put  forward  as  tempo- 
rary chairman  of  that  Convention  without  an  hour's  notice,  and  that, 
consequently,  what  I  said  was  totally  unpremeditated  ;  and,  in  the 
next  place,  that  the  extract  you  make,  and  which,  if  I  had  intended 
to  be  taken  in  its  literal  sense,  would  be  justly  a  matter  of  regret 
that  it  had  been  uttei-ed,  does  not  represent  the  truth  of  my  senti- 
ments. On  the  contrary,  I  have  no  reason  to  believe,  and  never  have 
believed,  that,  personally,  the  present  Administration  were  guilty  of 
corrupt  conduct  or  motives;  and  I  ought  to  have  expressed  mj-self  so 
as  to  have  avoided  an}'  such  charge.  What  I  was  striving  to  s:^  had 
reference  to  the  general  corruption  of  our  political  life,  pervading 
every  department,  whereby  personal  and  party  ends  seemed  to  be 
substituted  for  public  good,  and  the  latest  and  best  illustration  of 
which,  I  am  free  to  say,  is  now  to  be  found  in  the  action  of  the  very 
Convention,  in  the  presence  of  which  this  declaration  was  made.  I  am 
greatly  chagrined  at  the  whole  matter,  my  own  participation  in  it 
included  ;  and  have  concluded,  perhaps  not  sufficiently  soon,  that,  as 
a  politician  and  a  President-maker,  I  am  not  a  success.  I  greatly 
regret  that  I  have  given  offense  to  you.  and  to  many  other  personal 
friends,  whose  integrity  I  may  have  seemed  to  have  questioned,  but 
which,  I  can  assure  you,  was  farthest  from  my  thought.  I  hope  you 
will  be  able  to  regard  it  as  though  it  had  never  been  said. 
"  Very  respectfully,  your  friend, 

"STANLEY  MATTHEWS." 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  733 

Much  might  have  boon  relevantly  Baid,  in  this  work,  of  thai  "dis- 
graced and  disgraceful ,J  May  Convention,  and  of  the  public  course 
and  character  of  its  temporary  chairman,  who  was  <>ihv  a  trusted 
friend  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase.  But  I  have  thought  proper  to 
say  little  of  Judge  Matthews,  and  almost  as  little  of  the  body, 
which,  in  spite  of  his  remarkable  admiration  of  it  on  one  day,  and 
his  equally  remarkable  denunciation  of  it  on  another  day,  quickly 
following  on  the  heels  of  the  first,  appears  to  me  to  have  been  quite 
as  worthy  of  respect  and  confidence  as  the  man  who,  having  made 
that  speech,  could  write  that  letter. 

Nor  have  I  a  word  to  say  in  admiration  or  in  praise  of  the 
Grantites  whose  Convention  nominated  Grant.  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  only  Convention  hold  that  year  which  deserves  to  be  remembered 
with  respect,  was  the  Cincinnati  Convention,  representing  the  too 
early  fated  Reform  and  Reunion  movement. 

It  is  possible  that  the  ill-regulated  mind  of  Horace  Greeley  had 
begun  to  feel  the  touch  of  madness  before  a  foolish  body  nominated 
him  as  a  candidate  for  the  Chief  Magistracy.  I  would  speak  as 
mildly  as  I  may  of  that  strange  nominee;  but  of  the  nomination  I 
must  ever  speak  without  respect. 

The  evil  done  by  Horace  Greeley,  by  example,  to  the  journalism 
of  this  country,  is  incalculable.  It  is  at  least  entirely  certain  that 
he  was  an  eminently  reckless  journalist ;  and  an  eminently  reckless 
journalist  could  not  have  been  well  trusted  with  the  Presidency  of 
the  United  States. 

On  the  10th  of  May,  1872,  our  hero  wrote  as  follows: 

"My  Dear  Judge:  It  would  be  unpardonable  if  I  should  neg- 
lect to  thank  you  for  the  interest  you  manifested  in  my  behalf. 
on  a  recent  occasion.  It  does  not  diminish  at  all  1113-  sense  of  ob- 
ligation that  1  know  you  were  influenced  in  your  action  more  b}' 
public  than  by  private  considerations.  Confidence  in  my  personal 
character,  and  appreciation  of  my  public  services,  formed  the  basis 
of  your  belief  that  the  greatest  number  of  Liberal  Republicans  and 
earnest  Democrats  would  unite  in  my  support  :  and  for  this  con- 
fidence and  this  appreciation  I  can  never  be  sufficiently  grateful. 

••It  does  not  at  all  surprise  me  that  a  majority  of  the  Conven- 
tion did  not  agree  with  you.  1  shall  be  glad  it  the  necessary  union 
can  be  secured  by  the  nominations  actually  made.  I  am,  as  you 
are  aware,  a  Democrat,  separated  in  nothing  from  the  Democrats  of 
the  Jackson  and  Benton  school,  except  by  my  convictions  on  the  slavery 
question,  in  times  past ;  and  note,  by  nothing.1    But.  especially  since  wo 

1The  emphasis  is  put  on  the  words  by  the  author. 


734  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

came  together  in  support  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Mr.  Greeley  has  given 
me  a  strong  and  generous  support.  He  advocated  my  nomination 
as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  sustained  my  financial  measures. 
After  I  retired  from  the  Cabinet,  be  urged  my  appointment  as  Chief 
Justice.  He  agrees  with  me  now  on  the  questions  of  finance  and 
amnesty — more  important,  as  I  verily  believe,  than  any  now  before 
the  country.  Why  should  I  not.  then,  though  a  Democrat,  and  cer- 
tainly not  much  of  a  Protectionist,  give  him  the  support  which  I 
believe  he  would  have  given  me,  had  I  received  the  nomination? 

uAnd  why  should  you  not  support  him?  Why  should  not  all 
Democrats  support  him?  The}*  will  be  sure  of  agreement  upon  the 
great  questions  of  amnesty  and  currency,  and  may  rely  with  con- 
fidence, from  just  consideration,  upon  the  impulses  of  gratitude,  for 
generous  support  given  to  an  old  antagonist.     Division  is  defeat. 

"Are  you  coming  to  Washington?  I  need  not  say  how  much 
pleasure  it  will  give  me  to  receive  you  at  Edgewood. 

"  I  am  in  veiy  good  condition  now,  and,  as  I  hope,  constantly 
improving. 

"  Remember  me  very  kindly  to  Judge  Jackson  and  Mrs.  Jackson, 
and  believe  me  cordially,  yours,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  Hon.  M.  E.  Church." 

I  must  not  fail  to  add,  that  in  a  letter  to  Murat  Halstead,  Esq., 
of  the  Cincinnati  Commercial,  the  Chief  Justice,  on  the  20th  of 
May,  expressed  himself  as  follows : 

"I  wish  the  Democrats  could  be  persuaded  to  elect  Greeley. 
Doubtless,  your  ticket  of  Adams  and  Trumbull  would  have  been 
best  for  the  country,  but  it  would  have  been  less  popular  than 
Greeley  and  Brown;  and  the  Democrats  don't  seem  likely  to  accept 
that  with  unanimity  sufficient  to  induce  the  Convention  to  nominate 
it,  or  to,  recommend  its  support." 


OF  SALMnN    PORTLAND  CHASE. 


CHAPTER     L. 


PROPHETIC     JOURNALISM — CHASE     AND     HALSTEAD — TABLE-TALK      WITH 
THE    CHIEF    JUSTICE. 


0 


X  the  30th  of  May,  the  Chief  Justice  felt  induced  bo  write  as 
follows  : 


"  My  Dear  Mr.  Halstead  :  Your  telegrapic  correspondent  is  '  at  it 
again'  in  the  Commercial  of  the  18th  inst.,  and.  I  bog  you  to  insert 
the  inclosed,  or  its  equivalent." 

The  inclosed  reads  as  follows  : 

"  We  are  authorized  to  say,  in  reference  to  so  much  of  our  special 
Washington  telegram  of  the  17th  instant  as  relates  to  Chief  Justice 
Chase,  that  he  has  no  recollection  of  an}-  conversation  with  any  sen- 
ator or  representative  about  the  bill  authorizing  the  President  to 
accept  the  resignations  of  United  States  Judges,  by  reason  of  disabil- 
ity. He  certainly  has  expressed  no  intention  of  resigning  on  the 
passage  of  such  bill. 

"It  is  true  that,  nearly  two  years  ago,  when  suffering  from  severe 
and  protracted  illness,  he  desired  the  pas-age  of  a  bill  <>f  thai  char- 
acter, concerning  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court;  but.  having  so 
far  regained  his  health  as  to  resume  his  seat  upon  the  bench  last  Octo- 
ber, and  attend  daily,  during  laborious  and  protracted  terms,  per- 
forming a  reasonable  share  of  judicial  duty,  not  only  without  loss, 
but  with  steady  improvement  of  his  health,  he  has  ceased  to  take  any 
personal  interest  in  such  legislation." 

On  the  7th  of  November,  1872,  the  Chief  Justice,  at  Washington., 
dictated  and  signed  this  touching  letter : 

"Dear  Mr.  Hat.stead :  The  Commercial  has  the  repute  of  gener- 
ally supplying  its  readers  with  the  earliest  news.     It>  Washington 

COrreS] dent,    Mr.     Bamsdell,    however,    seems  to    have    the  gin  of 

prophecy,  as  well  as  a  genius  lor  manufacturing  intelligence  out  of 
his  own  fancies;  how  inspired  or  motived,  1  can  not  say.  1  inclose  a 
specimen  clipped  from  tin-  issue  of  the  5th,  ami  also  a  paragraph  from 
your  editorial  columns,  which  1  fancy  would  nol  have  been  written 
had  you  not  been  misled  by  a  letter  from  the  same  person,  which  was 
printed  a  tew  days  ago. 

"  Last  spring  the  same  writer,  as  J  suppose,  made  the  Commercial 
the  vehicle  of  the  same  >ort  of  news  concerning  me,  only  he  was  kind 
enough  then  to    omit   his    prediction  of  my  approaching   death.     I 


736  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

wrote  you  on  the  subject  at  that  time  ;  and  I  have  noticed  nothing  on 
the  subject  of  my  illness  since,  till  recently.  You  will  not  blame 
me,  I  hope,  if  I  express  some  surprise  that  }"ou  have  not  more 
guarded  the  Commercial  against  the  introduction  of  such  paragraphs. 
No  other  paper  has  had  the  news — at  least,  I  have  noticed  it  in  no 
other.  I  am  sure  it  must  have  been  printed  in  yours  through  inad- 
vertence. I  have  ever  felt  grateful  for  your  friendship,  and  never 
doubted  its  reality.  I  am  sure  that  mine  for  you  has  been  real  and 
steadfast. 

'•As  to  my  work  in  court  last  winter  and  spring,  the  13th  volume 
of  Wallace's  Eeports  speaks  for  itself.  At  this  adjourned  term  I 
have  been  absent  but  one  day,  attending  then  the  wedding  of  a 
friend's  son,  in  Baltimore.  My  health  is,  indeed,  not  fully  re- 
stored—  perhaps  will  never  be;  but  I  am  thankful  that  I  can  say 
that  it  is  better  than  it  was  last  winter,  and  my  friends  and  brother 
judges  congratulate  me  on  my  improvement.  Certainly,  I  had  no 
intention  of  taking  a  trip  to  California  nor  to  any  other  coast,  Nor 
do  1  believe  that  my  '  nearest  associates '  have  made  any  such  repre- 
sentations as  are  ascribed  to  them. 

"  Seriously,  is  it  not  a  shame  that  I  should  be  pursued  with  such 
statements?  I  hope  I  am  not  immodest;  but  I  think  that  I  have 
rendered  some  service  to  my  country,  and  that  it  ought  to  protect 
me  from  them. 

"  Sincerely,  your  friend,  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"  Murat  Halsiead,  Esq." 

Mr.  Halstead's  answer  to  the  last  quoted  letter  is  as  follows: 

"  Dear  Judge  :  I  am  pained  to  know  that  3-011  have  cause  to  feel 
that  the  Commercial  has  heen  the  medium  for  conveying  to  the 
country  representations  that  are  without  warrant.  And  I  am  glad 
to  know  that  you  are  improved  ;  for  I  had  been  myself  deceived, 
owing  to  reports  that  were  spread  abroad  while  you  were  at  Nar- 
ragansett.  I  do  have  the  highest  estimation  of  your  public  service, 
and  the  keenest  appreciation  of  your  friendly  regard,  and  of  the  fact 
that  you  are  entitled  to  the  best  consideration  at  the  hands  of  your 
countrymen.  I  am  sure  that  you  will  not  be  again  annoyed  in  the 
matter  of  the  publication  of  unfounded  reports  in  this  quarter  ;  and 
I  hope  to  record  manv  years  vet  of  your  strength  and  usefulness. 
"  Yery  respectfully,  ^  M.  HALSTEAD." 

Generally  speaking,  I  have  not  felt  free  to  use  the  letters  written 
to  the  hero  of  this  work.  In  mere  adherence  to  that  general  rule, 
I  might  have  failed  to  give  that  note  from  Mr.  Halstead.  But  the 
very  fact  that  it  tends  somewhat  to  mitigate  the  sentence  he  can 
not  escape,  induces  me,  in  spite  of  his  vile  behavior  toward  the 
composer  of  this  work,  and,  above  all,  toward  the  work  itself,  to 
lay  before  the  readers  of  these  pages  the  response  in  question. 

I  shall  not  compromise  my  self-respect,  I  shall  not  fail  to  do 
justice  even  to  the  meanest  of  the  enemies  that  I  have  made  by  my 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  7:17 

endeavors  to  perform  what  has  appeared  to  be  my  proper  part  in 
public  service.  But  it  is  of  decided  interest  to  US  to  kimw  what 
was  the  real  state  of  the  Chief  Justice  when  he  wrote  thai  touching 
letter  to  a  ruthless  man.      I  must  anticipate  a  Little  at  this  point. 

It  is  from  the  Washington  correspondence  of  the  New  Fork 
Herald  that  I  clip  this  paragraph  : 

"  Washington,  May  7,  1873. 

'•Mr.  Justice  Field,  who  is  still  in  the  city,  was  deeply  moved  by 
the  tidings,  being  wholly  unprepared  for  such  news.  II,'  states  thai 
at  the  last  conference  of  the  Court,  the  faculties  of  the  Chief  Justice 
were  as  clear  and  unimpaired  as  ever,  and  that  he  parted  with  him 
in  the  enjoyment  of  his  usual  health  since  the  first  attack,  and  with 
promise  of  continued  improvement.  He  had,  however,  retained  his 
cheerful  disposition,  and  in  his  family  and  official  relations  there 
was  no  change.  There  were  no  traces  of  that  disappointed  ambi- 
tion which  many  have  assigned  as  the  cause  of  his  decay.  On 
the  contrary,  he  has  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  with  all  the 
application  and  labor  which  could  be  expected  of  one  in  broken 
health,  and  has  seemed  just  as  much  interested  in  the  ultimate  set- 
tlement of  the  vexed  questions  of  government  which  have  arisen  in 
consequence  of  the  war,  by  the  adjudications  of  the  Court,  as  when 
in  the  vigor  of  life." 

And  the  same  journalist  reports  Mr.  Gushing  thus  : 

"  Washington,  May  7,  1873. 

"Mr.  dishing,  whose  long  knowledge  of  Mr.  Chase  in  public  life 
gives  weight  to  his  opinion  in  this  respect,  said  to  your  correspond- 
ent, in  announcing  to  him  the  news  of  Mr.  Chase's  death,  that  he 
deeply  and  sincerely  regretted  the  death  of  the  Chief  Justice.  Al- 
though it  was  an  event  that  might  have  been  expected  at  any  time, 
it  came  now  as  a  painful  surprise.  In  losing  him.  we  lose  one  of 
the  most  eminent  men  of  our  country.  His  high  rank  as  a  lawyer, 
his  legislative  experience  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  Iiis 
administrative  experience  as  Governor  of  Ohio  and  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  of  the  United  States,  his  high  intellectual  qualities  and 
accomplished  education,  rendered  him  particularly  fit,  for  the  office 
of  Chief  Justice,  which  he  filled  with  great  dignity,  and  had  the 
respect  and  confidence  of  the  bar.  Although  his  failing  health  had 
been  apparent  in  his  wasted  frame,  and  especially  in  the  enfeeble- 
in  ent  of  bis  voice,  there  has  been  no  trace  of  infirmity  in  his  judi- 
cial opinions,  which  have  been  conceived  and  written  with  superior 
merited  vigor  and  elegance  of  language,  and  have  Wren,  in  all  re- 
spects, worthy  of  his  elevated  position  as  head  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States." 

From  the  Washington  correspondence  of  the  New  York  World 

I  cut  the  following  : 

"Judge  Chase's  last  interview  with  any  leading  statesman  in 
Washington    was    with    Senator    Sumner,    of    Massachusetts.      Mr. 


738  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Sumner  is  himself  an  invalid,  and  unable  to  make  calls  ;  but,  learning 
that  the  Chief  Justice  was  about  to  leave  the  city,  he  made  an  extra 
effort,  and  called  upon  him  Friday  afternoon.  The  interview  was 
brief  continuing  for  about  half  an  hour.  Mr.  Sumner  says  it  was 
exceedingly  pleasant,  and  the  Chief  Justice  discussed  public  affairs 
witli  his  accustomed  clearness  and  ability.  There  was  nothing  to 
indicate  any  impaired  condition  of  the  mental  faculties.  'You 
know,'  said  Mr.  Sumner  to  day,  in  relating  the  circumstances  of 
the  interview,  'Judge  Chase  and  I  were  always  warm  friends;  I 
had  a  great  respect  for  him,  not  more  on  account  of  his  abilities  as 
a  statesman  than  because  of  his  patriotism.  We  sat  together  in 
the  Senate  in  the  days  when  the  principles  of  the  Republican  party 
were  not  as  popular  as  they  are  now,  and  I  always  found  him  faith- 
ful.' Mr.  Sumner  says  they  talked  over  the  old  times,  and  then 
reverted  lo  current  topics,  among  others  the  condition  of  affairs  in 
Louisiana.  The  Chief  Justice  was  of  opinion  that  Congress  com- 
mitted a  great  blunder  in  failing  to  act  upon  that  question  when  it 
was  presented  lo  them.  Such  scenes  as  are  being  enacted  in  Louis- 
iana were  calculated,  he  thought,  to  destroy  the  faith  of  the  people 
in  a  republican  form  of  government.  His  criticisms  of  public  men 
were  free  and  candid  ;  but,  of  course,  these  were  not  intended  for 
the  public.  When  he  heard  of  the  death  of  the  Chief  Justice  to- 
day, Mr.  Sumner  was  much  affected.  He  expressed  great  gratifica- 
tion that  he  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  him  so  recently." 

The  7th  of  December,  1872,  is  for  me  an  ever-memorable  day. 

It  was  a  day  to  be  remembered,  even  if  it  had  not  been  marked 
by  a  casual  meeting  with  Chief  Justice  Chase,  with  whom  I  had  not 
talked  for  several  years.  Too  warm  for  winter  and  too  cold  for 
summer,  it  was  yet  neither  like  a  spring  day,  nor  just  like  a  day  of 
autumn.  It  was  not  a  day  of  Indian  summer.  In  a  word,  it  was 
itself  alone. 

It  was  beyond  description  lustrous.  The  observations  of  a  walk, 
extending  from  the  residence  of  Colonel  Donn  Piatt,  at  the  corner 
of  F  and  Eighteenth  Streets,  to  the  Capitol,  via  Pennsylvania 
Avenue,  constantly  reminded  me  of  Lyell's  comparison  of  the  at- 
mosphere at  New  York  with  the  atmosphere  at  Naples,  in  point 
of  luminous  clearness.  Every  object  that  could  ever  wear  a  noble 
aspect  seemed  as  if  transfigured  in  that  morning  sunshine.  All  the 
shapes  and  hues  of  landscape,  all  the  forms  and  colors  of  the  mov- 
ing objects  then  and  there  revealed  to  observation,  seemed  invested 
with  new  invitations  to  the  sense  of  vision. 

Not  an  object,  fixed  or  moving,  from  the  statues  to  the  living 
human  shapes  encountered  in  that  walk,  seemed  finer  than  had  been 
the  presence  of  Chief  Justice  Chase. 

It  abundantly  appears,  indeed,  that   there  "was  a  time  when  the 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  739 

exterior  of  our  hero  was  not  prepossessing.1  Then,  it  seems,  he  had 
the  person,  port,  and  presence  of  ungainliness   and  awkwardness. 

Mr.  Trowbridge,  following  an  autobiographic  letter  addressed  to 
him  by  Secretary  Chase,  relates  that  the  latter  for  some  time 
walked  with  "  ungainly  stoop,  his  hat  carelessly  slouched,  his  neck 
stretched  forward,  and  his  eyes  on  the  ground."  But  the  same 
writer,  informed  in  the  same  manner,  also  relates  that  his  hero 
"  had  grown  up  a  tall,  lean,  consumptive-looking  young  man, 
when,  as  he  was,  one  morning,  going  through  with  an  exercise  de- 
signed to  bring  his  shoulders  in  and  his  chest  out,  he  suddenly  felt 
something  give  way  in  his  side.  A  faintness  came  over  him,  and  he 
became  alarmed  ;  but  from  that  day  he  began  to  grow  erect  and 
strong."  Mr.  Trowbridge  adds:  "Those  who  knew  him  in  later 
years,  when  he  was  more  than  six  feet  tall,  and  large  in  pro- 
portion, straight  as  a  pillar — one  of  the  noblest  figures,  in  short, 
that  ever  stood  in  the  halls  of  our  National  Congress — could  not 
easily  believe  that  this  magnificent  man  was  ever  a  bent,  consump- 
tive boy." 

Nothing  could  be  truer.  My  own  remembrance  as  to  Mr.  Chase's 
personal  appearance  goes  back  more  than  five-and-thirty  years ;  and 
I  remember  well  how  he  reminded  me,  when  I  first  saw  his  tall, 
shapely  figure,  and  his  proud  erectness,  of  the  man  whom  I  had 
been  led  by  conversation,  reading,  and  reflection  to  consider  as  the 
type  of  physical  and  psychical  perfection  in  America;  of  course  I  can 
mean  none  other  than  George  Washington. 

In  the  days  of  our  hero's  highest  health,  every  body  spoke  of  his 
tall,  stately  form,  his  noble  face  and  head,  his  imposing  presence.  It 
wras  only  such  observers  as  the  growling  Gurowski  who  could  speak 
of  him  as  the  "  pompous  and  passive  Chase."  Why  did  Ave  say  so 
much,  thinking  even  more  than  we  said,  about  the  fine  jrfiysique  of 
the  man  whose  name  occurs  so  often  in  this  work? 

Not  every  great  man  is  great  corporeally  as  well  as  incorporeal!  v. 
But  when  we  see  a  man  whose  inward  greatness  has  an  outward  ex- 
pression, such  as  the  physique  of  Chase  presented  to  admiration,  he 
who  does  not  wonder,  and  almost  worship,  in  the  presence  of  that 
harmony  of  faculty  and  function,  is  in  a  bad  mood,  or  of  abnormal 
constitution.  Yet  who  can  inform  us  just  how  much  we  ought  to 
think  of  physical  perfection? 


lAnte,  Chapter  XV 
48 


740  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 

Port  and  person  seem  to  constitute  what  we  call  presence.  Neither 
port,  nor  air,  nor  demeanor,  seems  to  me  an  equivalent  expression. 

Port  is  bearing,  carriage,  mien.  Perhaps  it  is  the  thing  intended 
by  the  word  station,  in  these  words  of  Shakespeare : 

"See.  what  a  grace  was  seated  on  this  brow ! 
Hyperion's  curls;   the  front  of  Jove  himself; 
An  eye  like  Mars,  to  threaten  and  commaud; 
A  station  like  the  herald  Mercury. 
New-lighted  on  a  heaven-kissing  hill!"' 

The  power  of  mere  presence  has  not  yet  been  accurately  measured. 
It  is  like  hope,  if,  indeed,  it  is  well  said  of  hope,  that 

"Kings  it  makes  gods,  and  meaner  creatures  kings." 

"What  was  the  color  of  our  hero's  eyes?  About  the  color  of  men's 
eves  their  nearest  friends  are  often  not  agreed.  I  have  interrogated 
several  acquaintances  of  Mr.  Chase  about  the  color  of  his  eyes. 
Some  had  forgotten,  some  had  never  noticed.  Others  told  me,  with- 
out hesitation,  that  his  eyes  were  blue;  and  so,  as  I  remember  now, 
they  were. 

At  Cincinnati,  at  Columbus,  and  at  Washington,  I  often  had,  and 
used,  fine  opportunities  cf  eyeing  him  "  right  in  the  eyes."  On  one 
occasion  he  addressed  me  for  at  least  three  hours,  sans  intermission. 
Many  were  the  other  opportunities  I  had  of  noticing  the  color  of 
his  eyes.  That  they  were  not  dark,  is  very  certain ;  and  I  find  that 
I  most  frequently  remember  them  as  of  a  steel-blue  color;  but  my 
memory  is  often  puzzled  in  endeavoring  to  fix  their  color-  I  could 
read  their  language;  but  I  can  not  be  quite  certain,  even  now,  about 
their  color. 

"As  are  the  lips,  so  is  the  character,"  according  to  Lavater.  And 
we  learn  from  the  same  teacher  that  "a  lipless  mouth,  resembling  a 
single  line,  denotes  coldness,  industry,  a  lover  of  order,  precision, 
housewifery ;  and  if  it  be  drawn  upward  at  the  two  ends,  affectation, 
pretension,  vanity ;  and  which  may  even  be  the  production  of  cool 
vanity,  malice." 

Is  the  reader  lauo-hiiio-?  Mark  :  it  is  Lavater,  not  the  author  of 
this  volume,  who  is  giving  this  instruction. 

Nearly  every  body,  however,  seems  disposed  to  say  with  that  great 
luminary  of  the  science  he  calls  Physiognomony  :  "Firm  lips,  firm 
character ;  weak  lips,     .     .     .     weak  and  wavering  character." 

The  lips  of  Mr.  Chase,  in  his  best  days,  were  far  from  weak. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  ~  [} 

I  know  not  what  the  physiognomists  would  have  said,  or  what 
the  craniologists,  about  his  tendency  to  be  religious.  What  I  know 
is,  that  he  was  remarkably  religious. 

His  clear  gaze  but  seldom  spoke  of  humor.  Yet  he  laughed,  from 
time  to  time,  and  he  loved  the  laughter  of  his  friends  when  it  had 
taste  and  sense  and  delicacy  in  its  cachinations.  Mr.  Lloyd  '  appears 
to  me  mistaken  in  supposing  that  "humor  was  a  little  developed 
characteristic  with  him."  He  who  could  so  sorrow  could  not  be 
remarkably  insensible  to  the  comic,  in  the  scenery  and  characters 
of  the  life  in  which  his  observation  and  experience  were  so  various. 
Mr.  Lloyd  is  also  quite  in  error  when  he  says  that  "  it  was  never 
an  easy  matter  to  make  him  laugh ;"  but  he  is  right  in  saying  that, 
"at  the  same  time,  his  enjoyment  of  broad  humor  was  often  hearty 
and  genuine." 

Was  not  "Joe  Geiger,"  of  Ohio,  one  of  his  most  intimate  acquaint- 
ances?    Who  could  be  intimate  with  Joe  without  loving  laughter? 

Mr.  Lloyd  still  farther  errs,  I  think,  in  saying  that  Mr.  Chase 
"  seldom  told  a  story  without  spoiling  it."  He  seldom  told  a  story 
without  making  those  who  listened  wonder  that  he  did  not  oftener 
indulge  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  favorite  diversion. 

Yet  the  truth  remains  that  tragedy  was  apt  to  interest  him  more 
than  comedy.  And,  between  the  comic  and  the  tragic,  he  preferred 
the  grave  to  the  gay,  the  sublime  to  the  lively,  the  demure  to  its 
opposite. 

I  have  been  writing  of  him  as  he  was  before  that  visitation  of 
paralysis.  How  was  it  with  him  after  that?  After  that,  he  was  a 
venerable  ruin  in  the  body;  but,  as  we  have  seen,  his  intellectual 
condition  furnished  a  new  illustration  of  the  vitally  important  truth, 
that  mind  is  mightier  than  matter. 

Yet  I  fairly  shuddered  the  first  time  I  saw  him,  after  he  had  been 
so  ruined  in  the  body.  That  was  when,  for  the  first  time,  I  saw 
him  take  his  place  in  court. 

I  did  not  even  wish  to  meet  him  privately.  I  had  been  urged, 
indeed,  to  write  his  history,  with  much  of  which  I  had  had  intimate 
acquaintance;  and  I  thought  of  doing  as  advised  in  that  behalf;  but 
I  fairly  dreaded  talking  with  him  and  comparing  his  present  state 
with  my  remembrance  of  his  state  in  other  years. 

On  that  to  me  forever-memorable  seventh  of  December,  the  Chief 


Home  Life  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  in  Atlantic  Monthly. 


742  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

Justice,  ascending  Capitol  Hill,  on  his  way  to  the  Saturday  confer- 
ence of  the  Supreme  Court,  or  rather  of  its  judges,  paused  with  a 
companion — not  to  rest,  but  to  point  out  some  features  of  the  view 
which  could  be  enjoyed  at  that  halting-place.  He  was  accompanied 
by  Mr.  Parish,  of  Ohio,  one  of  his  old  friends  and  clients.  As  he 
resumed  his  upward  way,  I  had  almost  overtaken  him.  As  he 
began  to  move,  I  reached  him,  and,  of  course,  accosted  him  with 
salutation. 

It  appeared  to  me  at  first  that  he  did  not  remember  me.  But  he 
did,  it  seems.  He  knew  my  voice,  he  said,  at  once,  though  at  first 
he  did  not  recognize  my  face,  which,  he  said,  was  more  bearded  than 
it  was  when  he  last  met  me.  That  was  true ;  and  I  breathed  more 
freely  when  I  heard  him  say  so,  since  it  tended  to  prove  that  his 
memory  had  not  been  much  affected,  if  at  all. 

I  had  been  reading  about  him,  in  the  library  of  Colonel  Piatt.  I 
had  read,  in  Men  of  the  Time,  A  Dictionary  of  Eminent  Living  Char- 
acters, edited  and  given  to  the  world  at  London,  this  account : 

"  Chase,  Samuel  P.,  an  American  statesman,  was  born  in  the  year 
1808,  at  Washington,  in  Ohio.  He  received  his  early  education  at 
Cincinnati  College,  of  which  his  uncle,  Bishop  Chase,  was  president. 
Chase  left  that  institution  to  proceed  to  New  Hampshire,  where  his 
mother's  family  was  settled,  and  he  finished  his  studies  at  Dartmouth 
College.  Having  passed  his  examination  in  1821,  he  removed  to 
Washington,  where  he  studied  the  laAv  under  the  auspices  of  William 
Wirt,  then  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States.  He  practiced  at 
the  bar  in  Cincinnati,  and  afterward  became  a  senator  of  the  United 
States.  He  twice  had  the  honor  of  being  elected  Governor  of  Ohio. 
In  1861,  he  was  nominated  Finance  Minister  (Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury), in  the  Cabinet  of  President  Lincoln." 

I  had  also  just  read,  in  the  same  library,  the  brief  biography  of 
Salmon  Portland  Chase  in  Vapereau's  Dictionnaire  Universel  des 
Contemporains.  Of  these  biographic  sketches  I  spoke  to  the  Chief 
Justice.  He  laughed  lightly,  and  seemed  not  a  whit  annoyed, 
remarking  that  the  sketches  were,  no  doubt,  about  as  accurate  as 
our  American  accounts  of  public  characters  were  apt  to  be.  I  did 
not  quite  agree  with  him.  It  occurred  to  me  that  we  Americans 
take  more  pains  to  inform  ourselves  about  European  men  and  measures 
than  Europeans  take  to  make  themselves  acquainted  with  the  men  and 
measures  of  this  country.  And  I  could,  and  in  other  circumstances, 
no  doubt,  would,  have  assigned  other  reasons  for  my  judgment  in 
that  respect.     Europe  and  Europeans  are  revealed  to  us  better  than 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  743 

we  reveal  ourselves  to  Europe  and  the  Europeans.  But  there  wan 
no  time  for  discussion.  He  was  on  his  way  to  the  customary  Satur- 
day morning  conference  of  the  judges,  and  I  had  professional  engage- 
ments to  fulfill.     But  he  said  to  me,  in  his  old  manner: 

"Judge,  can't  you  dine  with  me  this  afternoon?  I  would  very 
much  like  to  have  you  do  so,  so  that  we  may  have  a  talk  about  "Id 
times  in  Ohio." 

There  were  difficulties  in  the  way  of  accepting  that  most  cordial 
invitation.  We  had  dined  together  more  than  once,  but  never  at 
his  table  or  at  my  own  board.  He  had  never  crossed  my  threshold  ; 
I  had  been  with  him  but  once  at  his  hearth-stone.  In  a  word, 
his  way  of  life  had  been  most  different  from  mine.  "  Society,"  which  he 
had  somehow  come  to  love,  had  long  appeared  to  me  no  better  than 
a  cultivated  savagism.  But,  on  that  7th  of  December,  it  occurred 
to  me  that  if  I  dined  with  him  I  might  do  him  real  service.  I 
had  known  him  intimately,  and  in  circumstances  very  favorable  to 
a  correct  conception  of  his  intellectual  and  moral  traits  and  tend- 
encies. I  could  compare  him  with  himself.  If  he  appeared  to  me 
as  broken  as  he  had  been  represented,  I  could  manage  somehow  to 
make  him  read  or  listen  to  the  counsel  to  lay  down  his  office.  This 
I  thought,  with  confidence.  I  knew  that  he  had  allowed  me  to  say 
much  to  him  that  he  would  not  allow  many  other  persons  even  to 
suggest.  In  short,  in  spite  of  my  defects  and  imperfections,  he  had 
shown  a  very  great  regard  for  me  and  for  my  straightforward  wav 
of  saying,  on  occasion,  things  that  it  is  hard  to  utter.  On  the 
other  hand,  able  as  I  was  to  compare  him  with  himself,  if  I  found 
that  he  had  been  misrepresented;  if  he  seemed  to  me  as  much  him- 
self as  I  could  wish  to  find  him,  my  relation  to  the  Washington  cor- 
respondents of  a  widely  circulated  journal  of  high  character1  might 
enable  me  to  get  before  the  public  a  true  account  of  his  physical 
and  psychical  condition. 

Therefore  I  accepted  that  invitation  of  the  Chief  Justice  to  dine 
with  him,  although  I  saw  that  my  momentary  hesitation  had  not 
been  unmarked  by  him. 

I  need  not  say  that  the  engagement  so  formed  was  punctu- 
ally kept,  At  601  E  Street,  Washington  City,  at  5  o'clock 
P.  M.,  I   was   received   by  the    Chief  Justice   in   the  house  of  his 


JI  refer  to  my  nephew,  Mr.  Clifford  Warden,  of  the  Boston  Post,  and  to  my  brother, 
Mr.  Wallace  Warden. 


744  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

(laughter,  Mrs.  Sprague,  and  there  dined  with  him,  according  to  his 
invitation. 

It  is,  I  trust,  with  real  delicacy  that  I  add  the  explanation  that 
there  were  two  ladies  present — both  relatives  of  the  Chief  Justice. 
One  of  them  was  Mrs.  Carrie  Chase  Moulton,  and  the  other  Miss 
Amy  Auld.     Mrs.  Sprague  was  not  then  in  Washington. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  make  full  report,  in  any  place;  of  all 
that  the  Chief  Justice  said  to  me  before  dinner,  or  in  table-talk,  or 
after  dinner,  on  that  to  me  forever-memorable  evening.  Part  of 
the  time,  on  that  occasion,  my  illustrious  host  appeared  to  talk  sim- 
ply as  a  bird  sings ;  though  not  so  freely,  I  need  hardly  say.  He 
never  was  a  fluent  talker.  He  could  never  chat  as  can  some  men 
and  women  of  fine  intellectual  endowments  and  fine  culture.  What 
the  French  call  causerie  was  quite  impossible  to  him.  At  least,  the 
thing  called  badinage  not  often  marked  his  conversation. 

There  was  a  considerable  wait  before  dinner,  and,  therefore,  there 
was  considerable  preprandial  talk.  I  managed  to  direct  this  talk  so 
as  to  draw  out  my  distinguished  entertainer  on  test  topics,  and  I 
was  pleased  beyond  expression  to  find  him  so  clear,  so  strong,  so 
like  his  own  old  self. 

In  the  course  of  the  conversation,  I  referred  to  certain  things  in 
the  action  of  the  Cincinnatians,  whom  I  supposed  to  be  his  political 
friends ;  especially  to  some  things  I  had  observed  in  the  action 
of  Messrs.  Halstead,  of  the  Commercial,  and  Hassaurek,  of  the 
Volksblatt. 

Both  these  journalists  had  seemed  to  me  to  take  pains  to  prevent 
the  happening  of  any  thing  that  might  tend  to  bring  him  before  the 
public  as  a  Presidential  candidate,  in  1872.  One  thing  I  spoke  of 
was  the  suppression  of  a  passage  of  my  Covington  speech,  men- 
tioned in  a  foregoing  chapter.  In  that  speech,  I  had  paid  what  the 
Commercial  called  (if  I  remember  rightly)  a  glowing  tribute  to 
Chief  Justice  Chase.  In  point  of  fact,  that  "  glowing  tribute"  was 
a  simple  statement  of  certain  facts,  which  have  elsewhere  been  pre- 
sented to  the  readers  of  this  work.1  But  I  had  said  to  the  colored 
portion  of  my  hearers — and  they  had  applauded  me  quite  loudly  for 
saying — that  when  they  forgot  their  special  obligations  to  Chief 
Justice  Chase,  if,  indeed,  they  knew  them,  I  would  tell  them  that 
their  hearts  were  blacker  than  their  faces. 


1  I  refer  to  conversations  in  1857,  1858,  1859. 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  74.3 

The  Commercial  was  too  delicate,  perhaps,  to  jMiblish  this.  How- 
ever, the  Chief  Justice  spoke  most  kindly — as,  indeed,  he  continued 
while  he  lived  to  speak — of  Mr.  Halstead.  He  said  nothing  of 
Mr.  Hassaurek,  except  in  saying  very  calmly,  and  in  an  eminently 
patient  tone,  that  the  things  that  I  had  mentioned  touchiug  those 
two  journalists,  were,  no  doubt,  to  be  ascribed  to  the  judgment  they 
had  formed  as  to  his  health  of  body  and  of  mind. 

And  then  he  sweetly,  patiently,  and  philosophically  talked  about 
his  physical  condition.  He  explained  that  he  did  not  know  what 
was  the  matter  with  him,  but  that  to  himself  he  seemed  Less  broken 
than,  apparently,  he  seemed  to  others.  But  he  said  those  who 
thought  that  he  was  in  May,  1872,  too  much  out  of  health  to  be  a 
Presidential  candidate,  had  been,  perhaps,  right  in  so  considering. 
There  was,  he  explained,  no  doubt  in  his  own  mind  that  he  could 
no  longer  labor  so  continuously  as  he  could  before  the  attack  of 
paralysis  in  1870. 

Nothing  could  have  been  calmer,  milder,  or  more  patient  than 
the  tone  in  which  he  spoke  about  that  political  matter  and  about  his 
health.  I  felt  unutterably  touched  by  the  manner  in  which  he 
spoke  of  a  theme  so  trying. 

The  talk  at  table  also  took  a  hygienic  turn.  In  other  words,  it 
took  such  a  turn,  that  hygiene  and  medicine  became  subjects  not 
exactly  of  discussion,  but  of  conversation. 

Many  years  before,  I  had  closely  attended  to  a  trial  in  which 
medical  experts  were  examined  as  to  the  differences  between  home- 
opathy and  the  school  of  medicine  that,  perhaps  justly,  claims  to  have, 
if  I  may  so  express  myself,  a  kind  of  apostolical  succession.  I  was 
not  of  counsel  in  the  case ;  but  I  took  great  interest  in  it.  It  was  be- 
tween Stephen  Woodruff  and  Dr.  Joseph  H.  Pulte,  and  was  tried  at 
Cincinnati,  many  years  ago.  Woodruff  was  a  master-builder,  and 
had  built  for  Pulte  a  row  of  houses,  while  Pulte  "doctored"  Wood- 
ruff's family.  They  "  fell  out,"  and  Pulte  complained  of  Woodruff's 
building,  Woodruff  of  Pulte's  doctoring.  A  jury  had  to  be  called 
to  settle  the  controversy  between  them.  Before  this  jury,  Wood- 
ruff's counsel  set  up  that  homeopathy  was  a  deceit,  which  Pulte 
must  have  known  to  be  a  false  pretense;  for  Pulte  was  a  regularly 
educated  "  old-school  doctor  "  when  he  was  converted  to  the  school, 
and  became  a  follower,  of  Hahnemann.  The  medical  experts  already 
mentioned  were  called  in  to  deliver  lectures,  under  oath,  for  or 
against  that  theory  of  Woodruff's  counsel,  who  was  a  type  of  man 


746  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 

fast  disappearing  from  the  country.  He  was  what  is  called  a  self- 
made  man,  and  self-made  men  were  not  then  deemed  so  ill-made  as 
it  is  at  present  the  fashion  to  consider  them.  Then  it  was  at  least 
the  Western  fashion  to  attribute  to  a  self-made  character  a  practical- 
ness, a  solidity,  a  shrewdness,  greater  than  " collegians"  were 
thought  apt  to  bring  to  the  professions.  Certainly,  the  lawyer 
Woodruff  chose  had  been  remarkably  successful.  His  docket  was 
a  massive  thing.  He  had  been  a  tailor,  then  a  student  of  medicine, 
teaching  school  while  preparing  himself  to  be  a  "doctor;"  then  he 
went  back  to  the  bench  on  which  he  had  before  attended  to  suits; 
but,  after  all,  he  turned  to  the  law  with  characteristic  energy. 
Among  his  peculiarities  was  the  pronunciation  of  the  word  prodig- 
ious, as  though  spelled  prodidious  ;  with  reference  to  which,  a  medical 
wag  of  the  neighborhood  from  which  he  went  to  the  reading  of 
Blackstone,  rhymed  as  follows  : 

"  You  've  heard  of  late  of  Dr.  Strait, 
Who's  growing  quite  fastidious; 
From  gallipot  to  tailor-shop 
He  made  a  hop  prodidious." 

At  the  bar,  as  already  intimated,  he  was  quite  successful ;  and  per- 
haps there  were  few  men  more  formidable  than  he  was  in  his  best 
days.  I  think  he  became  quite  a  reader,  and  he  always  was  a 
shrewd,  energetic,  thoughtful  man.  His  prejudices,  however, 
remained  strong,  and  his  client,  Woodruff,  had  the  benefit  of  those 
prejudices  in  the  contest  with  Dr.  Pulte.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
lawyer  chosen  to  defend  homeopathy  and  Dr.  Pulte  was  a  very 
different  type.  His  name  was  Daniel  Van  Matre.  He,  too,  had 
been  successful  in  his  way ;  and  it  was  said  that,  in  a  slander  case, 
his  very  aspect  made  him  irresistible.  But  his  legal  studies  had 
been  narrow,  and  he  knew  next  to  nothing  of  medicine.  I  need  not 
say  that,  of  the  parties,  Pulte  only  could  be  supposed  to  know  the 
difference  between  the  theory  of  homeopathy  and  that  of  allopathy. 
But  witnesses  were  to  be  called,  on  the  one  hand,  to  show  that 
homeopathy  was  not  legitimate;  on  the  other  hand,  to  prove  that 
it  was  a  great  betterment  of  the  healing  art.  I  heard  those  wit- 
nesses testify.  For  Woodruff,  some  of  the  most  eminent  physicians 
of  the  place  appeared  as  witnesses,  and,  under  oath,  told  the  jury — 
also  under  oath — that  homeopathy  was  wholly  fallacious,  and  that 
the  true  school  of  medicine,  the  only  one  deserving  public  confidence, 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  747 

was  that  which  Hahnemann  had  vainly  attempted  to  overthrow. 
Some  of  the  witnesses  produced  by  Woodruff  went  much  farther. 
One  of  them,  Dr.  J.  P.  Harrison,  ridiculed  the  homeopathic  theory 
beyond  measure.  Any  one  who  heard  and  saw  him  while  he  BO 
put  in  his  testimony  in  the  form  of  an  ornamented  and  remarkably 
effective  lecture,  must  have  understood  him  to  deny  the  possibility 
that  any  sana  mens  in  oorpore  sa>io  could  be  found  accepting  home- 
opathy, after  competent  examination  of  its  tenets  and  its  tendencies. 
Indeed,  the  tone  of  all  the  witnesses  on  that  side  was  ;it  least  :i^ 
contemptuous  toward  homeopathy  as  is  the  following  language  of  a 
medical  writer : 

"Homeopathy,  Homaiopathia.  Ars  Homceopathica,  Homeopathy — 
from  6/iotoq  'like,'  and  -aftoq,  'affection.'  A  fanciful  doctrine,  which 
maintains  that  disordered  actions  in  the  human  body  are  I"  be  cured 
by  inducing  other  disordered  actions  of  the  same  kind,  and  this  to 
be  accomplished  by  infinitesimally  small  doses,  often  of  apparently 
inert  agents.  The  decillionth  part  of  a  grain  of  charcoal,  tor  example, 
is  an  authorized  dose."  1 

The  Chief  Justice  listened  with  interest  to  my  account  of  that 
trial ;  the  result  of  which  was  insignificant,  indeed,  for  reasons  I  need 
not  explain;  but  the  course  of  which  I  had  remembered,  on  account 
of  the  views  advanced  by  some  of  the  expert  witnesses.  He  put 
some  questions  which  led  to  my  referring  to  the  already  mentioned 
admirable  little  book,  entitled,  "Of  Nature  and  Art  in  the  Oure 
of  Disease,  by  Sir  John  Forbes,  M.  D.,  D.  C.  L.,  (Oxon,)  F.  R. 
S.,  Fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  Physician  to  the 
Queen's  Household,"  etc.;  for  I  feared  that  he  was  having  rather 
too  much  cure  from  art — more  medicine  than  medicinal  benefit; 
and  having,  as  already  intimated,  studied  hygiene  and  medicine, 
not  as  a  mere  dilettante,  but  with  method,  perseverance,  and  deter- 
mination to  arrive,  if  possible,  at  certainty  respecting  the  divisions 
of  the  schools  of  medicine,  I  had  found  in  the  little  book  just  named 
what  seemed  to  me  rich  treasure. 

Then  the  conversation  turned  on  fruit.  That  led  to  some  account 
of  a  trip  to  the  wine  islands  of  Lake  Erie,  in  18G6,  and  of  the 
acquaintance  I  there  formed  with  one  of  the  wine-growers,  who  was 
also  a  surveyor — Captain  John  Brown,  Jr.,  son  of  him  whose  name 
will    always   be   connected    with    the   name  of  Harper's  Ferry.     I 


Dunglison,  Med.  Die,  art.  "  Homeopathy. 


748  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

described  four  pictures  which  were  shown  to  rue  id  the  house  of  Mr. 
Jay  Cooke,  at  Gibraltar,  by  Captain  Brown,  the  new  acquaintance 
just  referred  to — one  of  the  pictures  being  that  of  John  Brown,  Sr., 
and  another  that  of  the  Chief  Justice  himself.  This  brought  out  ray 
host  as  I  desired.  His  talk  about  "old  times  in  Ohio"  showed 
me  clearly  that  his  will,  his  memory,  his  understanding,  had  not 
suffered,  as  I  had  heard;  that  they  were  merely  altered,  not  impaired. 

After  dinner,  while  taking  tea  in  the  parlor,  my  illustrious  enter- 
tainer and  myself  compared  opinions  touching  principles  and  par- 
ties. I  disclosed  the  fact  that  I  had  not  voted  at  all  at  the  late 
election.  He  explained  his  preference  for  Greeley  ;  for  whom,  had  I 
voted  at  all,  my  ballot,  I  avow,  would  have  been  cast,  most  doubt- 
fully.    Then  he  said,  in  substance  : 

"  I  am  like  you  in  still  adhering  to  the  Jeffersonian  Democracy, 
in  principle;  but  I  confess  that  I  don't  know  just  where  to  find 
the  Democrats  who  are  such  in  principle.  I  think  they  are  divided 
between  the  Democratic  party  and  the  Republican  party,  and  I 
hardly  know  in  which  party  to  look  for  the  greatest  number  of 
them." 

I  own  this  seemed  to  me  a  vitally  important  explanation.  Not 
till  I  had  heard  it,  did  I  distinctly  form  the  purpose  to  make 
known  to  the  Chief  Justice  my  conditional  willingness  to  under- 
take a  work  devoted  to  his  life  and  times. 

What  did  he  then  know  of  me?  I  have  reason  to  believe  that 
he  had  knowledge  of  me  when,  in  boyhood,  I  edited,  as  well  as 
printed,  at  Cincinnati,  a  boy's  paper.  That  was  in  1839.  Of  the 
paper  edited  by  Donn Piatt  and  published  by  me,  in  1840,  in  Logan 
County,  Ohio,  he  may  have  known  little ;  but  he  must  have  known, 
at  least,  a  little  of  that  paper,  otherwise  than  through  the  rather 
fanciful  accounts  of  it  long  afterward  given  by  Colonel  Piatt,  first 
in  the  Mac-a-cheek  Press,  and  then  in  the  Washington  Capital  But 
from  the  time  that  I  began  to  study  law,  in  1840,  at  Cincinnati, 
down  to  the  very  last  day  of  his  life,  he  had  more  or  less  intercourse 
with  me.  Perhaps  he  knew  as  much  as  any  person  other  than  my- 
self has  ever  been  allowed  to  know  of  my  avowed  and  unavowed 
contributions  to  the  public  press.  A  book  of  mine  drew  us  together 
far  more  closely  than  we  had  ever  been  drawn  before.  That  book 
was,  in  one  sense,  a  failure.  It  was  most  imperfectly  presented  to 
the  public  ;  though  it  was,  as  to  printing  and  binding,  unexception- 
able.     It  was,  however,  very  highly  praised  in  very  many  truly 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  749 

critical  reviews  of  its  contents,  East  as  well  as  \\'e-t  ;  and  it  had, 
perhaps,  no  more  interested  or  appreciative  nadir  than  it  found  in 
Salmon  Portland  Chase.  A  like  statement  as  to  his  interest  in  my 
brief  biography  of  Stephen  Arnold  Douglas  might  be  justified.  In 
1863,  he  read  passages  of  a  work  of  mine,  entitled  Ernest  and  the 
Flag  he  Followed.1  "We  have  seen  how  he  characterized  an  article 
of  mine  in  1861. 2  In  other  places,  indications  have  appeared  of 
occasions  that  he  had  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  my  character 
and  my  abilities,  if  I  had  any. 

In  pretended  criticism  of  pretended  advance  pages  of  this  work, 
a  writer — or,  perhaps,  a  pair  of  writers — in  the  New  York  Herald 
of  March  16,  1874,  elegantly  said  : 

"  Even  before  Mr.  Chase's  death,  it  was  a  question  who  should 
become  his  biographer.  Immediately  upon  the  death  of  the  Chief 
Justice,  it  became  a  very  grave  question  ;  for  it  was  then  discovered 
that  Mr.  Chase's  diaries  were  in  the  possession  of  one  R.  B.  Warden, 
a  man  who  practised  the  profession  of  the  law  in  many  Ohio  towns, 
and,  while  still  very  young,  had  sat  upon  the  Supreme  Bench  of 
the  State." 

Now,  of  the  whole  public  life  of  this  "one  R.  B.  Warden" 
Salmon  Portland  Chase  had  perfect  knowledge.  If  it  was  a  crime 
to  commission  a  man  so  young  as  a  judge — perhaps  it  was  a  folly — 
Salmon  Portland  Chase  never  seemed  to  discern  that  folly  or  that 
crime. 

But  that  pretended  criticism  thus  continues  : 

"Judge  Warden  had  never  given  evidence  of  great  literary  talent, 
or  comprehensive  statesmanship,  and  it  Avas  a  surprise  when  it  was 
announced  that  he  was  Chase's  chosen  biographer.  Still  Judge 
Warden  apparently  had  qualifications  for  the  task  which  could  not 
be  easily  gainsaid  ;  at  least,  in  advance  of  the  publication  of  his 
book.  He  put  himself  forward  as  private  secretary  to  the  Chief 
Justice,  as  well  as  Mr.  Chase's  old-time  personal  friend,  and  thus 
seemed,  in  some  important  respects,  the  very  person  tor  the  under- 
taking." 

I  refer  to  this  tissue  of  absurdity  and  falsehood,  solely  as  assist- 
ing me  to  make  what  seems  to  me  a  necessary  explanation.  I  do 
not  deny  that  "Judge  Warden  had  never  given  evidence  of  great 
literary  talent."  I  do  not  deny  that  Judge  Warden  had  never 
given  evidence  of  "  comprehensive  statesmanship."    I  do  deny  that 


lAnte,  p.  531.  2  Ante,  p.  389. 


750  THE  PEIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

"  it  was  a  surprise  when  it  was  announced  that  he  was  Chase's 
chosen  biographer.''  I  do  deny  that  it  was  after  the  death  of  our 
hero  that  it  was  "discovered  that  Mr.  Chase's  diaries  were  in  the 
possession  of  one  R.  B.  Warden."  What  the  truth  was  as  to  the 
matters  touching  which  I  make  denials,  as  just  indicated,  shall  be 
shown  as  we  go  forward.  But  I  wish  to  say  at  once  that  it  was 
never  my  opinion — that  it  is  not  now  my  judgment — that  having 
been  private  secretary  to  the  Chief  Justice  fitted  me,  or  could  have 
fitted  any  other  man,  to  write  his  life. 

The  same  absurd,  but  wicked,  false  pretense  of  criticism  states, 
I  know  not  on  what  information  or  suggestion  : 

"Mr.  Chase's  more  intimate  friends  knew,  however,  that  during 
the  most  important  epoch  of  his  life — while  he  was  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  under  Mr.  Lincoln — that  another  person  had  officiated  in 
the  double  capacity  '  which  Judge  Warden  claimed  ;  and  that  the 
personal  relations  between  the  Chief  Justice  and  his  former  private 
secretary  were  not  broken  off  till  Mr.  Chase's  death." 

Now,  let  it  be  distinctly  understood  that  I  do  not  claim  that  I 
ever  "officiated"  as  the  old-time  friend  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase; 
and  that  though  I  did,  for  a  short  time,  reluctantly  "  officiate"  as 
his  private  secretary,  that  officiation  was  occasioned  by  my  having 
become  his  biographer.  How  that  happened  is  elsewhere  sufficiently 
set  forth.2  I  deeply  regret  that  it  ever  happened  at  all.  And  now 
let  me  say  a  word  about  my  old-time  friendship  for  our  hero. 

In  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Sprague,  dated  March  28th,  I  told  that  lady — 
eldest  daughter  to  our  hero — how  it  happened  that  I  was  advised 
to  write  at  least  a  biographic  sketch  of  her  illustrious  father.  I  did 
not  pretend  that  he  and  I  had  ever  been  close  friends.  I  never 
have  pretended  that  our  friendship  was  at  any  time  like  that  of 
Damon  and   Pythias.       I    explained    that    alternate    conflict    and 


1  Will  it.  be  believed  that  the  writer  of  this  wretched  stuff  has  had  the  cheek  to 
criticise  my  style  and  diction  ?  Of  my  style  he,  she,  or  they,  declare  that  it  is 
"  gawky  and  obscure ;"  and  that  "  the  imagery  is  abundant,  but  it  has  the  same 
relation  to  literary  art  that  the  Cardiff  Giant  bears  to  Phidian  sculpture."  Then 
we  are  told  that  "Judge  Warden  mistakes  a  liberal  use  of  the  dictionary  for  the 
splendors  of  diction,  and  he  prefers  the  sunflowers  to  the  flowers  of  rhetoric.  He 
can  neither  paint  a  portrait  with  distinctness  of  outline,  nor  state  a  fact  with  clear- 
ness of  expression."  I  am  more  than  willing  to  allow  the  readers  of  this  work 
to  have  that  false  pretense  of  criticism  to  assist  fair  judgment  of  my  style  and 
diction. 

»  Chapter  LI. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE. 


7.1 


co-operation  with  her  father  had  made  me  acquainted  with  bis  lift 
and  character. 

My  judgment  is,  that  neither  a  familiar  friend  nor  a  relative  ia  to 
be  expected  to  produce  a  faithful  and  impartial  life  of  the  man  who 

is  the  object  of  that  near  and  dear  regard. 

As  for  Mr.  Sehuckers,  notwithstanding  his  too  great  weakness  for 
that  trunk  of  mine,1  I  can  almost  find  it  in  my  heart  to  pity  him. 
We  have  seen  that  it  was  as  long  ago  as  186-4  that  he  somehow 
"  felt  to"  fancy  that  he  could  compose  a  life  of  Secretary  ( lhase,  or 
some  part  of  a  life  of  that  distinguished  financier.2  I  will  in  it  here 
set  forth  the  funny  stories  I  have  heard  about  the  final  failure  of 
that  biographic  enterprise  of  the  aspiring  Sehuckers — Phoebus!  what 
a  name  for  a  biographer!  It  is  enough  to  state  that  the  Chief 
Justice  asked  me  to  assist  Mr.  Sehuckers  in  collecting  matter  for  a 
work  about  the  issues  of  paper  money  in  the  early  days  of  the  Re- 
public ;  and  that  I  not  only  engaged  to  do  so,  but  performed  my 
promise.  Neither  Mr.  Sehuckers  himself,  nor  Mrs.  Sprague,  nor  the 
Chief  Justice,  nor  any  other  person,  hinted  to  me  that  Mr.  Sehuck- 
ers was  going  on  with  his  biography.  Had  any  such  hint  been 
given  to  me  on  the  7th  of  December  by  Chief  Justice  Chase,  I 
would  have  said  at  once,  "  I  shall  not  interfere  with  Mr.  Sehuckers." 
Not  to  say  a  word  about  Mr.  Sehuckers  at  that  time,  had  the  fact 
been  as  now  pretended,  would  have  been,  on  the  part  of  the  Chief 
Justice,  a  mean  fraud  on  Mr.  Sehuckers  as  well  as  on  the  author 
of  this  work.  Yet  that  wretched,  false  pretense  of  criticism  thus 
proceeds : 

"It  was  known,  besides,  that  Judge  Warden  had  not  lived  in 
Washington  more  than  six  months  previous  to  that  event.  It  \\  as 
no  wonder,  then,  that  some  surprise  should  be  expressed  that  War- 
den was  Chase's  chosen  biographer;  but  it  was  to  be  hoped  that  the 
Chief  Justice's  choice  was  a  good  one,  though  it  was  known  lie  had 
different  views  until  within  a  tew  weeks  of  his  demise." 

How  false  that  is,  must  be  shown  as  we  go  forward,  lint  we 
have  this  farther  statement  in  the  same  pretended  criticism  : 

"It  must  be  remembered  in  this  connection  that,  during  his  life- 
time, Mr.  Chase  spoke  freely  on  the  subject  of  his  future  biographer, 

and  it  is  said  that,  a  year  or  two  previous  to  his  decease,  he  deelared 
to  his  family  that,  while  he    did    not    know  what  Mr.  Schuckers's 


i  Ante. 


2  Ante,  p.  722. 


752  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

literary  qualifications  -would  be,  Mr.  Sehuekers  was,  of  all  men,  best 
fitted  for  the  task." 

If  the  Chief  Justice  said  that,  he  was  an  ass.  But  he  was  not  an 
ass:  ergo,  he  never  could  have  said  a  thing  so  asinine.  The  notion 
that  he  had  not  opportunity  to  learn  Mr.  Schuckers's  fitness  or 
unfitness,  in  point  of  literary  skill,  is  as  absurd  as  the  statement  I 
am  now  about  to  offer  is  untrue. 

"Mr.  Sehuekers  is  the  man  who  occupied  the  relations  toward  Mr. 
Chase  which  Judge  Warden  claimed." 

I  never  claimed  any  such  position  as  that  hinted  in  that  wretched 
violation  of  the  truth.  I  would  have  preferred  any  form  of  toil 
whatever  to  such  a  "  position."  But  the  truth  is,  Mr.  Chase  had 
many  private  secretaries.  Mr.  Plantz  made  the  entries  in  the 
"  locked  diary."  Mr.  Didier  was  private  secretary  for  some  time. 
So  was  Mr.  Lloyd. 

But  enough  of  this.  Let  me  now  declare  that,  on  the  7th  of 
December,  1872,  I  had  little  reason  to  expect  the  writing  of  a  work 
devoted  to  the  life  and  times  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase  to  prove  a 
profitable  use  of  time,  in  a  pecuniary  sense. 

The  public,  at  that  time,  regarded  the  Chief  Justice  far  from 
favorably.  I  was  moved  to  undertake  this  work  as  much  by  sym- 
pathy as  by  admiration.  And  I  felt  indignant  in  remembering  how 
he  had  been  treated,  even  in  such  papers  as  the  Commercial.  l 

I  desired  to  do  him  justice.  I  desired  to  do  justice  to  some  of  his 
contemporaries.  I  did  not  desire  to  glorify  myself,  or  otherwise 
to  make  the  contemplated  work  subservient  to  selfish  objects. 

Then  I  had  no  notion  of  the  wealth  of  matter  that  was  soon  to 
be  placed  at  my  command. 

But  the  meanest  thing  in  that  pretended  criticism  of  this  work 
appears  in  the  following  sentence : 

"As  a  matter  of  course,  the  scope  of  the  purposed  work  would  have 
to  be  as  artfully  presented  as  the  other  encroachments  upon  the 
enfeebled  intellect  of  this  enfeebled  giant." 

There  it  is,  at  last!  A  ghoul  would  seem  a  very  angel  of  light  in 
comparison  with  the  writer  or  with  the  inspirer  of  that  hideously 
false  suggestion. 

1  Ante,  p.  735. 


OF  SALMON  POUT  LAND   CHASE.  758 

AVill  the  reader  jilea.se  turn  back  t<>  the  evidence  I  have  pre- 
sented touching  the  condition  of  our  hero's  intellect  during  the  last 
months  of  his  life? '     But  I  must  quit  a  subject  bo  repugnant. 

Let  me  say,  then,  simply,  that  if,  on  the  7th  of  December,  1872, 
I  understood  at  all,  and  if  I  now  remember,  in  (he  least,  the 
nature  of  the  willingness  I  then  felt  to  undertake  a  work  of  this 
description,  there  was  little  egotism,  little  selfishness  <>f  any  kind,  in 
that  feeling.  There  was  nothing  eager,  nothing  anxious  in  that 
willingness,  if  I  did  not  deceive  myself  more  grossly  than  1  ever 
had,  up  to  that  time,  been  self-deceived. 

There  was,  then,  no  reason  to  expect  what  it  is  now,  perhaps,  but 
reasonable  to  anticipate  about  the  public  interest  in  a  work  devoted 
to  the  life  and  times  of  the  Chief  Justice.  And  it  is  but  right  to 
repeat  that  I  had  a  most  imperfect  notion  of  the  riches  in  the  way 
of  material  that  were  in  store  for  these  pages. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  was  no  excitement  on  the  part  of  the 
Chief  Justice  when  he  learned  that  I  had  been  advised  to  write  his 
life.  He  appeared,  indeed,  not  in  the  least  surprised  that  I  was 
conditionally  willing  to  undertake  the  work  that  had  been  suggested 
to  me;  and,  though  he  was  evidently  pleased  that  I  had  thought  of 
such  an  undertaking,  it  was  very  calmly,  though  quite  promptly, 
that  he  promised  to  assist  that  undertaking  as  much  as  his  official 
occupations  and  his  health  should  permit. 

On  that  evening  he  was  to  hear  Professor  Tyndall,  at  Lincoln 
Hall.  He  asked  me  to  go  with  him.  I  could  not,  then,  have 
listened  to  the  finest  lectin er  that  ever  faced  an  audience.  I  de- 
clined the  invitation,  but  walked  with  him  on  the  way  to  the  place 
where  the  lecture  was  to  be  delivered.  Ere  we  left  the  house,  I 
had  begun  to  sound  him  on  the  subject  of  my  undertaking  such  a 
work  as  the  present. 

I  began  by  asking  him  whether  he  remembered  what  it  was  that 
Lord  Brougham  was  reported  to  have  said  on  learning  that  his  life 
was  to  be  added  to  Lord  Campbell's  Lives  of  the  Lord  Chancellors .' 
He  said  he  did  not.  I  had  to  acknowledge  that  I  did  not,  dis- 
tinctly; that  I  did  not  remember  whether  Brougham  was  reported 
to  have  said,  "If  he  writes  my  life,  I'll  take  his,"  or  whether  the 
reported  utterance  of  his,  on  that  occasion,  sounded,  "  If  he  write* 
my  life,  he'll  take  it."    Then  I  went  on  to  make  known  that,  though 

1  Ante,  p.  736. 


754  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

I  had  no  designs  against  the  life  of  the  Chief  Justice,  I  had  been 
induced  to  think  that  it  might  be  well  for  rue  to  write  his  life,  if  he 
would  only  aid  me  to  his  utmost  in  the  matter. 

He  had  not   the  slightest   hesitation   in  engaging  to  assist  me  as 
desired,  if  I  thought    fit   to  undertake  a  work  which,  he  thought 
might  prove  to  be  so  thankless.     He  began  to  make  this  known  to 
me  by  saying,  as  I  now  remember,  in  words  quoted  in  the  Intro- 
duction : 

"  I  can  only  say  to  you  what  was  said  to  me  by  Mr.  Wirt  on  a 
similar  occasion,  'If  it  is  to  be  done  at  all,  I  should  prefer  to  have 
it  done  by  such  a  friend  as  you. '  " 

Before  we  parted — he  to  go  to  Lincoln  Hall,  where  Professor 
Tyndall  was  to  lecture,  I  to  keep  an  engagement  elsewhere — I 
explained  to  him  that  the  book  referred  to  in  two  of  his  letters 
to  me  had  finally  appeared  to  me  too  full  of  a  feeling  which  the 
public  could  not  be  expected  to  participate,  to  warrant  me  in  pub- 
lishing its  contents.  But  I  said  that  I  "  was  not  ashamed  of  that 
feeling." 

"  You  ought  not  to  feel  ashamed  of  it,"  said  the  Chief  Justice. 
"  On  the  contrary,  you  ought  rather  to  be  proud  of  it ;  though  I 
confess  there  was  a  time  when  I  feared  that  it  might  destroy  your 
usefulness." 

He  added  a  few  words  which  I  must  not  repeat.  I  had  not  heard 
such  words  from  him  before.  While  I  remember  them,  I  must 
dispose  myself  to  judge  him  favorably,  even  in  the  presence  of  most 
formidable  difficulties,  raised  by  facts  apparently  tending  to  make 
out  a  case  against  his  memory. 

I  have  been  greatly  tried  by  difficulties  of  that  nature,  even  since 
I  wrote  the  Introduction  and  the  earlier  chapters  of  this  work.  But 
my  remembrance  of  the  7th  of  December,  1872,  still  bids  me  pre- 
sume in  favor  of  our  hero's  rectitude  of  purpose. 

Certain  other  explanations  were  made  before  we  reached  the 
point  where  we  must  separate.  They  were  received  with  sympathetic 
interest,  and  the  Chief  Justice  even  tenderly  commented  on  them,  in 
a  few  fit  words,  in  his  best  manner. 

So  we  parted,  for  the  time  ;  and  very  soon  I  left  Washington, 
not  to  return  for  about  a  month.  But  the  work  I  had  engaged  to 
write  began  at  once  to  seek  its  method  and  to  gather  its  material. 
No  time  was  to  be  lost;  and  none  was  wasted.  Such  a  work  de- 
manded all  that  any  man  not  more  gifted  than   myself  was  able  to 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  7,". 

devote  to  it,  in  time,  in  labor,  or  in  skill.  Mv  ohief  regret  was, 
that  my  pen  was  not  more  capable  of  its  gnat  enterprise  ;  for  I  Felt 
very  certain  that  I  would  not  fail  to  give  to  it  the  necessary  time 
and  toil. 

It  was,  I  think,  about  the  10th  of  January,  1873,  that  I  next 
saw  Chief  Justice  Chase,  at  Washington.  My  brother  Wallace 
and  I  called  on  him  that  evening,  and  had  a  very  pleasant  inter- 
view, the  conversation  being  chiefly  between  him  and  my  brother, 
and  on  topics  more  interesting  to  them  than  to  me. 

Again  I  paid  close  attention  to  the  mental  state  of  the  Chief 
Justice.  He  was  in  good  spirits,  and  he  conversed  with  freedom 
and  with  force.  I  remember  particularly  the  clearness  and  strength 
with  which  he  explained  to  my  brother  certain  facts  connected  with 
the  Louisiana  imbroglio,  as  it  then  was,  or  seemed  to  him  to  be. 

No  communication  of  any  kind  had  taken  place  between  the 
Chief  Justice  and  myself  since  the  7th  of  the  preceding  December  ; 
but  before  we  parted  I  reported  progress  in  the  composition  of  this 
work,  and  said,  in  substance  : 

"  So  you  see  that  I  must  now  hold  you  to  your  promise  to  assist 
me  all  you  can  in  gathering  material." 

To  which  he  answered,  as  I  now  remember,  in  substance : 

"  You  know  I  always  keep  my  promises.  But  you  must  bear  in 
mind  that  the  Court  is  still  in  session.  I  don't  know  that  I  can 
do  much  for  you  until  the  Court  shall  have  finally  adjourned." 

49 


"56  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER    LI. 

A   BIRTHDAY    OFFERING THE    ANSWER. 

A  CONSIDERABLE  part  of  an  intended  introduction  to  this 
work  was  thrown  into  epistolary  form  on  the  12th  day  of 
January,  1873,  the  package  that  contained  the  necessarily  long  let- 
ter being  marked  :  "  To  be  opened  January  13,  1873,  in  memory  of 
January  13, 1808."  In  the  actual  Introduction  '  to  the  present  work 
is  given  an  extract  from  that  birthday  offering.  Here  I  offer  the 
remainder,  first  remarking,  however,  that  the  method  indicated  in 
that  letter  has  not  been  observed,  for  reasons  which  are  to  be 
stated. 

Part  of  that,   perhaps,  too  hurriedly  composed  epistle  reads   as 

follows : 

"  "Washington,  January  13,  1873. 

"Dear  Sir:  Allow  me  to  salute  you  on  occasion  of  your  birthday 
anniversary.  Allow  me  to  congratulate  your  family,  your  country, 
and  your  times,  that  you  have  this  day  to  mark  with  recollec- 
tions of  a  life  so  busy,  so  distinguished,  and  so  useful.  Five-and- 
sixty  years  of  a  life  like  that  can  not  be  without  a  rich  possession  of 
delightful  memories,  however  much  of  sad  remembrance  it  may 
have  to  blend  with  gladness,  in  making  up  the  panorama  of  its  won- 
derfully various  experience  and  observation. 

"  In  some  versions  of  the  Book  so  venerated  throughout  the  most 
interesting  regions  of  this  globe  of  ours,  with  its  investing  '  circum- 
ambient air,'  this  life  is  not  described  as  in  the  sadly  musing  utter- 
ances of  the  man  that  so  moralized  on  meeting  a  'rare  fool,  a  motley 
fool,  i'  the  forest,'  who  discoursed  philosophy.  According  to  the  mel- 
ancholy Jaques,  '  all  the  world's  a  stage,  and  all  the  men  and  women 
merely  players.'  In  those  versions  of  the  Bible,  life  is  pictured  as  a 
battle. 

"  How  is  it  in  the  version  you  prefer?  Some  curious  idiomatic 
variations  may  be  studied  in  a  comparison  of  different  translations. 

'•I  have  not  at  hand  the  books,  used  by  some  English,  French,  and 
German  studies,  which  amused,  as  well  as  taught,  a  portion  of  the 
leisure  hours,  devoted,  some  years  ago,  to  home-teaching  in  my 
house.     But,  assuredly,  without  forgetting  how  this  day  should  be 

1  Ante,  p.  11. 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND   ■   IIASR. 


<•>( 


observed — not  mat  h  propos — I  can  invite  your  attention  to  two 
French,  two  German  and  two  English  idiomatic  expressions  of 
another  life-thought  of  the  Bible— a  conception  well  deserving  to  be 

deeply  studied,  but  too  often  utterly  unknown,  and  seldom  well  con- 
sidered. 

"Find  below  the  work  of  three  Protestant   translators  and   the 
"work    of  three  Catholic    translators,    rendering    verse   eleventh    of 

Ecclesiastes,  chapter  ninth: 


''Protestant  and  Catholic 
English . 
"'I  returned,  and  saw 
under  the  sun,  that  the  race 
is  not  to  the  swift,  nor  the 
battle  to  the  strong,  neither 
yet  bread  to  the  wise,  nor 
yet  riches  to  men  of  under- 
standing, nor  yet  favor  to 
men  of  skill;  but  time  and 
chance  happeneth  to  them 
all.' 


"  '  I  turned  me  to  another 
thing;  and  I  saw  that  un- 
der the  sun  the  race  is  not 
to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle 
to  the  strong,  nor  bread 
to  the  wise,   nor  riches   to 


"  Protestant  and  Catholic 
< !(  rman. 
"'  Ich  wandte  mich  and 
sahe,  wiees  unterder  Bonne 
zugehet,  dass  zum  Laufen 
nicht  hilft  schnell  sein. 
sum  Streit  hilft  nicht  stark 
sein,  zur  Nahrung  hilft 
nicht  geschickt  sein,  zum 
Ilcicliiliuin  liilft  nicht  king 
sein;  dass  Einer  angenelim 
sei,  hilft  nicht,  dass  er  ein 
Ding  wohlkonne;  sondern 
Alles  liegt  es  an  der  Zeit 
and  Gliick.' 

"  '  Ich  habe  mich  zu  an- 
dern  Gegenstiinden  gewen- 
det,  and  sah  unter  der 
Sonne,  dass  zum  Laufen 
nicht  genug  sei,  schnell  zu 
sein;     noch    zum    Kriege, 


"Protestant    and    ■ 
French. 

"  '  Je  me  suis   lomne  ail- 

lenrs,  et  j'ai  to  sous  le  soleil 
que  In   course  n'esl   point 

aux  legcrs,  ni   nux  forts  la 
balaille,    ni    aux   Bag< 

pain,     ni     aux    prudei 
richesses,   ni   la   grace  aux 
Bayans;  maie  <\u?  le  temps 
et  1' occasion  ddcident  de  ce 
qui  arrive  a  tous.' 


"  '  Je  me  suis  tourne  ail- 
leurs,  et  j'ni  vu  sous  le  soleil 
que  le  prix  de  la  course 
a'eBl  ]>as  aux  plus  rites,  La 
victoire  aux  forts,  le  pain 
aux  sages,  les  richesses  aux 
doctes,  la  faveur  aux  ha- 
biles  ;  mais  en  toutes  choses 
le  temps  et  le  hasard  font 
tout.' 


the  learned,  nor  favor  to  j  wenn  man  tapfer  ist;  noch 
the  skillful,  but  time  and  zum  Gewinne  des  Lebens- 
chauce  iu  all.'  unterhaltes,      wenn      man 

weise  ist;   noch  zum  Sam- 

meln       der       Reichthiimer 

wenn  man  gelehrt  ist  ;  noch 

zum  Erlangen    der    Gunst, 

wenn  man  ein  Kiinstler  ist ; 

sondern  dass  die  Zeit  und 

das   Gliick    in  Allem    gilt.' 

"I  have  at  home  a  Latin  version.  I  regret  that  I  can  not  put  it 
beside  the  foregoing. 

"Do  you  read  Hebrew?  I  do  not.  Once,  I  read  at  it,  'as  it  were,' 
a  little,  in  a  course  of  such  linguistics  as  appeared  to  me  appropriate 
to  a  legist's  culture,  not  for  pleasure  only,  hut  for  daily  use;  but, 
Were  the  original  of  the  just-cited  versions  now  at  hand.  1  could  not 
compare  them  with  it.  as  I  would  desire  to  do,  in  order,  if  possible, 
to  make  demonstration  perfect,  touching  my  reading  of  the  life-phi- 
losophy now  under  notice. 

"Demonstration  only  less  than  perfect  is.  however,  effected  by  the 
quoted  versions. 

"In  the  version  you  prefer,  we  have  the  expression,  'Time  and 
chance  happeneth  to  all.'  In  the  translation  /  prefer,  we  have  just, 
'Time  anil  chance  in  all.1  The  German,  l  Alles  lie0  es  m  der  Zeit 
und  Gliick,'  may  be  freely  Englished,  '  All  depends  on  time  and  lucky 
chance  ;'  and  the  German,  '  Die  Zeit  und  da*  Gliick  in  Allem  gilt,'  ma\  be 


758  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

translated,  'Time  and  chance  counts  in  (or  runs  through)  all.' 
Every  French-English  scholar  knows  that  one  may  render  'Le  temps 
et  I  'occasion  decident  de  ce  qui  arrive  a  tous'  with  'Time  and  occasion 
decide  of  that  (or  determine  that)  which  happeneth  to  all ;'  and  that 
the  French, '  Le  temps  et  le  hasard  font  tout,'  may  be  literally  Englished, 
'  Time  and  hazard  (chance)  make  (or  do)  all." 

"This  little  lingual  lesson  may  not  seem  to  call  upon  you,  my  dear 
sir,  on  this,  your  birthday,  to  lay  to  your  soul  a  flattering  unction; 
and,  indeed,  I  know  not  how  to  flatter.  But  have  patience — I  will 
pay  you  all.  You  shall  not  fail  to  find  that  J  remember  that,  to  me, 
indeed,  forever-  memorable  letter,1  which  you  wrote  to  a  freshly 
broken  heart,  almost  ten  years  ago,  when  you  were  at  your  busiest 
in  the  financial  service  of  the  countiy,  in  the  Cabinet  of  Lincoln. 
You  shall  see,  moreover  that  if  1  refuse  to  glorify  yon  on  account  of 
any  mere  success  of  your  past  life,  or  on  account  of  the  high  office 
you  so  honor  and  adorn  by  the  manner  in  which  you  discharge  its 
duties,  I  know  how  to  prize  your  merit,  while  I  even  solemnly 
remind  you  that  success  can  never  be  a  test  of  merit. 

"A  disputable  assumption  of  the  seemingly  essential  poicer  called 
for  by  a  given  action,  is,  indeed,  raised  by  the  seemingly  or  really 
successful  performance  of  that  action.  This  presumption  is,  of 
course,  exalted  or  lowered  by  apparent  or  supposed  ascertainment 
of  the  measure  in  which  action  wras  made  difficult  or  rendered  easy 
by  the  circumstances  and  conditions  in  which  it  took  place,  the  aid 
extended  to  it,  or  the  opposition  it  encountered. 

"Need  I  say  that  such  considerations  had  much  influence  on  my 
determination  to  prepare  for  possible  publication  some  account  of 
the  studies  I  have  made  of  your  past  life,  in  its  relation  to  your 
countiy  and  your  times? 

••  I  have  begun  to  give  a  portion  of  my  leisure  labors  to  the  work 
designed  by  that  determination.  The  divisions  of  the  book  may  be 
here  specified.     The}-  are  as  follows: 

"  Part  First. —  The  Life  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  in  its  Relation 
to  his  Country  and  his  Times. 

"Part  Second. —  The  Student,  the  Teacher,  and  the  Writer. 

"Part  Third. —  The  Lawyer,  the  Political  Speaker,  and  the  Senator. 

"Part  Fourth. —  The  Governor  and  the  Cabinet  Officer. 

"Part  Fifth. —  The  Chief  Justice." 

When  I  caused  to  be  printed,  for  private  circulation,  the  matter 
which  the  already  noticed  pretended  criticism  of  the  New  York 
Herald2  affected  to  treat  as  advance  sheets  of  the  present  work,  I 
still  felt  bound  to  observe  the  just  indicated  method.  But,  on  full 
consideration,  I  considered  that  that  method  was  no  longer  neces- 
sary, and  that  it  would  prove  decidedly  inconvenient.  It  was 
designed  with  reference  to  the  seeming  necessity  of  demonstrating, 
in  the  first  division   of  the  volume,  the  propriety  of  paying  the 

1  Ante.  *  Ante,  Chapter  L. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  759 

intended  biographic  honors  to  allying  man,  in  very  high  position — 
the  Chief  Justice  of  a  Court  in  which  it  was  my  expectation  to 
appear  at  bar  for  clients. 

In  that  birthday  offering  were  also  the  paragraphs: 

"May  I  have  the  happiness  of  offering  a  copy  of  the  printed  book, 
next  year,  on  occasion  of  an  auspicious  repetition  of  this  interesting 
anniversary,    and   may   that   birthday   offering    prove    worthy    ol 

acceptance!     May   you    have   many   other    returns   of  occasion    to 

remember  the  beginning  of  your  days,  and  may  your  country  long 
enjoy  the  benefit  of  your  example  and  your  counsels! 

"In  view  of  the  presumptions  I  have  mentioned,  and  the  true  laws 
of  success  and  failure,  what  a  monument  the  bare  statement  ol  the 
parts  into  which  the  volume  that  this  letter  introduces  is  divided, 
necessarily  creates,  for  all  who  know  what  difficulties  and  resistance 
you  have  met  and  overcome!  Here  is  no  fancy  Bketch;  the  Btory 
told  by  that  un gilded  statement  is  no  fiction  ;  it  is  not  a  eulogy. 
No  panegyric  ever  equaled  it  in  brevity  or  in  simplicity,  yet  no 
encomium  ever  surpassed  it  in  reality  and  truth. 

"  "Were  the  pen  that  has  just  composed  it  without  effort,  were 
that  little  instrument  the  pencil  of  a  master-painter,  or  the  chisel 
of  a  master-sculptor,  it  might  make  a  very  different  work  of  art. 
Were  it  the  pencil  of  a  great  painter,  it  might  otter  to  the  country 
an  elaborately  formed  and  colored  '  counterfeit  presentment  '  of  your 
face  and  figure,  and  demand  that  that  production  of  its  genius  be 
associated,  in  the  Capitol,  with  the  likenesses  of  other  worthies, 
never  to  be  forgotten  while  this  nation  has  a  'local  habitation  and 
a  name.'  Were  it  the  chisel  of  a  noble  sculptor,  it  might  shape  your 
image  in  the  best  that  it  could  do  in  marble,  and  present  that  mas- 
terpiece for  fit  association  with  the  statues  now  exposed  to  admira- 
tion or  to  criticism  in  the  same  basilica-like  building,  the  grand  tem- 
ple which  at  once  commands  and  gives  character  to  all  the  views  of 
landscape  visible  at  the  Capital  of  the  Republic.  After  all,  however, 
the  painting  might  be.  like  the  likenesses  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  too 
ideal  to  be  faithful  ;  or  the  statue  might,  like  many  other  products 
of  the  sculptor's  cunning,  be  a  flattered  image. 

"The  division  of  this  book  into  parts  is,  also,  in  a  certain  sense,  a 
work  of  art;  but  it  is  rather  one  of  ait  and  science,  each  ami  both. 
It  tells,  at  least  allusively,  the  story  of  the  many  public  services  that 
you  have  rendered;  and  it  is,  at  least  in  outline,  a  brief  history  of 
the  public  honors  paid  you  by  your  fellow-citizens. 

"  A.8  faithful  in  design,  and  as  accurate,  J  trust,  in  execution,  shall 
be  at  least  the  great  body  of  the  book,  whose  general  intentions  ami 
anticipations,  that  bare  statement  must  enable  you  and  other  read- 
ears  to  discern.  There  may  he  weak  places  here  and  there;  hut  I 
engage  that  the  totality  shall  he  entirely  free  from  aught  resembling 
sycophancy,  or  the  disposition  to  idealize  a  real  ami  a  living  man. 
""Allow  me  to  return  a  little  to  the  subject  of  success  and  failure 
as  no  test  of  merit. 

"One-and-thirty  years  and  more  have  passed,  since  a  shop-window 
offered  to  my  passing  curiosity  a  little  book,  with  others.     Yielding, 


760  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

partly,  to  the  Hollel  lege!'  of  that  presentation,  I  became  the  buyer 
of  that  little  book,  went  home  without  delay,  and  read  my  new 
purchase,  which  proved  to  be  as  lively  as  a  book  of  Dickens,  as 
didactic  as  a  dictionary,  as  methodic  as  the  multiplication -table. 

"About  nine-and-twenty  years  had  elapsed  after  that  reading, 
when  I  j-ielded  to  a  like  appeal  made  by  a  book-stall,  bought  a  lit- 
tle volume,  took  it  home,  and  made  myself  acquainted  with  its  con- 
tents, as  one  reads  a  splendid  poem,  and  yet  found  in  it  the  very 
depths  of  a  profound  philosophy. 

'•  Both  the  books  were,  as  we  say,  translations,  though,  selon  moi, 
complete  translation  of  a  whole  book  of  any  magnitude — nay,  of 
even  a  score  or  so  of  pages  in  a  book — would  be  a  very  miracle. 
The  first  was  a  fine  Englishing  of  Cicero's  immortal  work,  De  Ora- 
tore;  in  the  second  was  a  not  less  admirable  Frenching  of  Plato's 
Republic  (or  The  State). 

■I  need  not  say  to  you  that  the  former  is  entirely  worthy  of  the 
genius  whose  embracing  studies  comprehended  jurisprudence  and 
philosophy  and  arms,  as  well  as  orator}'.  "Without  prescribing  uni- 
versality of  study  to  an  intending  orator,  it  demonstrates  the  neces- 
sity of  a  wide  range  and  an  almost  appalling  variety  of  learning  to 
a  legist-orator.  No  American  law  student  ought  to  fail  to  study  it. 
and  to  avail  himself  of  its  remarkably  suggestive  contents,  while 
determining  the  necessary  method  and  extent  of  his  own  reading, 
thinking,  and  acting;  the  first,  without  the  two  others,  being  rather 
worse  than  worthless. 

"But  let  no  intending  legist,  no  intending  statesman,  no  intend- 
ing orator  of  any  order,  read  that  book  of  Cicero  with  the  assurance 
that  the  method  it  proposes,  modified  in  any  manner,  or  that  any 
other  method,  can  enable  study,  in  association  even  with  the  best 
behavior,  to  command  success.  Eemember  Cicero's  own  story,  so 
eventful ;  finally  so  tragic. 

"The  French  book,  to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  bears  on 
its  title-page  these  words:  '•ISEtat  on  la  Republique  de  Platon, 
traduction  de  Grou ;  revue  et  corrigee  sur  le  texte  grec  d 'Emm.  Bekker* 
Turning  to  the  '  Avis  de  VEditeur'  we  discover  that  the  '  Introduc- 
tion' is  derived  from  an  interesting  work,  crowned  bj;  the  French 
Academy,  and  having  for  its  elevated  subject,  ^'Education  des 
meres  de  famille,  ou  la  Civilisation  du  genre  humain  par  les  femmes' 
the  author  being  M.  Aime-Martin.  This  Introduction  is  among 
the  most  animated  and  effective  pieces  of  didactic  morals  I  have 
ever  met — I,  who  ought,  perhaps,  to  be  ashamed  of  having  read  so 
much  and  learned  so  little;  and  among  the  passages  of  it  which 
most  deseiwe  to  be  singled  out  for  special  recognition  is  that  in 
which  remark  is  made  on  something  like  a  foreshadowing  of  the 
tragedy  on  Calvary. 

"  Let  us  attempt  a  free  translation  of  that  passage : 

"'At  that  epoch  it  was  a  wide-spread  doctrine,  that  nothing  is 
more  onerous  and  cumbersome  than  wisdom,  and  nothing  is  more 
useful  than  injustice.  Seeing  virtue  feeble  and  indigent,  men  judged 
it  to  be  unhappy;  seeing  crime  rich  and  powerful,  men  judged  it  to 
be  happy;  and  from   this  double  spectacle   (which   does   not  afflict 


OF   SALMON    l'OKTLAM)   CHASE.  761 

republics  only)  they  had  deduced  this  principle,  thai  injustice  ii 
more  favorable  to  happiness  than  virtue. 

'"Far  from  weakening  this  picture,  Plato  consecrates  it  in  creat- 
ing an  imaginary  just  man  and  an  imaginary  bad  man,  whom  he 
places  in  the  highest  degrees  of  crime  and  wisdom.  Bis  jusl  man 
shall  not  only  be  subjected  to  misery;  be  shall  be  subjected  to  in- 
famy and  the  torture,  lie  shall  be  calumniated,  whipped,  cursed,  loaded 
icith  irons,  drawn  in  ignominy,  then  </<  livered  to  the  execution*  r,  and  nailed 
to  the  cross.1 

'""We  have  here  as  a  presentiment,  as  a  revelation,  of  the  life  and 
of  the  death  of  the  Christ. 

"  'His  bad  man  ■  shall  not  be  merely  a  devotee  of  ambition,  without 
shame;  he  shall  be  a  hypocrite,  the  hideous  type  to  which  Bffoliere 
shall  go  for  his  Tartuffe;  happy  in  his  riches,  powerful  through  his 
alliances,  drawing  from  all  things  advantage,  because  no  crime 
affrights  him;  conciliating  by  simulation  of  virtue  the  good-will  of 
the  people,  and  by  his  .sacrifices  the  protection  of  the  gods.  Con- 
summate villain,  whom  fortune  crowns,  and  whom  men   honor  I 

"'Well!  it  is  in  presence  of  this  suffering  and  of  these  prosper- 
ities, it  is  in  contradiction  to  the  general  voice  of  the  nations,  that 
Plato,  in  the  second  book  of  the  Republic,  solemnly  proclaims  the 
just  man  happy  because  he  is  just,  the  bad  man  unhappy  because  he 
is  bad.     Admirable  revelation  of  the  conscience  of  Socrates!' 

"Assuredly,  success  is  not  a  test  of  merit !  Not  alone  have  'time 
and  chance'  to  be  considered,  but  some  things  of  deeper  mystery. 
of  darker  d}"e. 

"Where  Ecclesiastes  teaches  that  the  battle  is  not  to  the  strong, 
it  can  not  mean  that  the  strong  are  always  beaten  b}'  the  weak,  or 
the  good  b}'  the  wicked.  Where  it  teaches  that  the  race  is  not  to 
the  swift,  it  can  not  mean  that  the  slow  are  always  first  at  the  goal. 
The  lesson  really  intended  must  be,  that  a  good,  strong  man  must 
not  expect,  in  spite  of  'time  and  chance,'  to  win  the  battle,  just  lie- 
cause  he  is  so  strong;  and  that  the  swiftest  feet  must  not  expect  to 
win  the  race  because  of  their  velocity,  in  spite  of  circumstances — 
that,  'under  the  sun,'  things  are  so  ordered  that  what  we  call  acci- 
dent, and  what,  perhaps,  we  may  allow  ourselves  to  call  interfering 
causes — not  to  speak  of  what  men  often  call  •  mysterious  provi- 
dence'— must  be  largely  taken  into  view  in  trying  to  forecast  BUCO  SB 

"Whoever  has  not  read  Mill's  Logic  of  the  Moral  Sciences,  partic- 
ularly where  lie  turns  attention  on  what  he  proposes  to  denominate 
Ethology — the  science,  namely,  of  the  formation  of  character — should 
now7  peruse  that  part  of  his  great  work  on  Logic  at  large.  The 
doctrine  of  tendencies  is  there  finely  explicated.  Such  or  such  a 
course  of*  conduct,  such  or  such  a  bearing,  may  be  said  to  tend  to 
make  a  man  successful,  popular,  renowned;  but,  while  what  we  call 
accident — while  what  may  be  well  designated  interfering  causes — 
while  what,  in   religion,    bears   the   name   of  Providence — must   be 


ll'Il  sera  calomnie.  fouette,  mnudit,  charge  de  fen,  traine  dans  l'ignoiainie,  puis 
livre  au  bourreau  et  cloue  sur  le  croix." 

*  So  I  translate  "son  meclmnt." 


762  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

considered  in  all  sober  calculations,  we  ought  not  to  teach  our 
children  that  success  of  any  kind  can  be  commanded  or  secured  by 
any  way  of  life  whatever." 

Now  and  then,  as  I  have  found  some  new  difficulty  in  the  way  of 
recognizing  Salmon  Portland  Chase  as  one  of  the  true  worthies 
of  the  world,  my  heart  has  almost  died  with  apprehension  that, 
after  all,  I  would  be  forced,  by  love  of  truth,  to  own  my  judgment 
that  he  was  a  trickster  and  a  trimmer.  But  I  have,  without  known 
violation  of  veracity,  been  able  to  proclaim,  throughout,  my  confi- 
dence in  the  general  rectitude  of  the  man  to  whom  I  made  that 
birthday  offering. 

I  scorn  to  answer  the  miserable  intimation  in  the  .New  York 
Herald,  that  that  letter  was  an  artful  blending  of  flattery  with  fair- 
ness. During  the  month  and  more  that  had  elapsed  between  the 
day  when  I  began  to  write  this  work  and  the  day  when  I  com- 
posed that  birthday  letter,  I  had  studied  deeply  what  I  could  then 
ascertain  about  the  life  of  the  Chief  Justice,  with  what  I  had  long 
known  of  him.  Indignant  at  the  treatment  he  had  received  in  the 
Cincinnati  Commercial  and  in  other  papers,  and  affected  not  a  little 
also  by  what  1  had  heard  about  alleged  sayings  of  the  Attorney- 
General,1  I  had  perhaps  been  led  to  idealize  the  life  and  character 
of  the  Chief  Justice.  We  shall  see,  however,  after  all,  that  what  I 
said  in  praise  of  him,  in  that  birthday  offering,  needs  little  qualifi- 
cation, in  the  presence  of  all  due  considerations. 

But  of  this,  more  must  be  said  hereafter.  Let  me  now  invite 
attention  to  this  farther  extract  from  the  same  birthday  offering : 

"  In  a  biographic  sketch  of  Yolney,  whom  the  sketcher  curiously 
paints  as  few  would  think  that  somber  soul  could  be  portrayed, 
notice  is  taken  of  the  far  from  philosophic  notion  that  the  life  of  a 
man  of  letters  may  be  found  complete  in  the  productions  of  his 
pen.  Rejecting  that  idea,  the  not  very  genial  biographer  of  Yolney 
falls  into  an  error  at  the  opposite  extreme.  According  to  him,  the 
life  of  a  man  of  letters  ought  to  be  an  histoire  raisonee  of  the  con- 
tradictions between  his  avowed  principles  and  his  actual  behavior. 
Instances,  Rousseau  coldly  exposing  his  own  offspring,  while  his 
pen  so  tenderly  provides  for  the  nurture  and  education  of  the  little 
ones  in  general;  Lord  Bacon, 

'  Wisest,  brightest,  meanest  of  mankind,' 


1  The  matter  here  alluded  to  was  information  given  to  me  by  my  nephew,  Mr. 
Clifford  Warden,  as  to  information  he  had  received  from  Mr.  Knowlton,  telegraphic 
correspondent  of  the  Commercial  and  other  papers,  on  the  7th  of  December,  1872. 


OF    SALMON    TORTLAND  CHASE.  768 

perfecting  a  philosophy  and  selling  justice;  and  :i  few  others, 
hardly  less  remarkable,  are  given,  not  precisely  :is  here  stair. I, 
but  not  very  differently;  while  the  Bketcher  finds  in  Volney's  pen  a 

true  reflection  of  his  inmost  soul. 

'•Poetic  as  the  prose  of  Volney  is — inspired  wi*h  all  the  bigotry 
of  unbelief,  so  frequently  more  fearful  than  the  bigotry  of  the  most 
superstitious  faith — it  may  be  simply  a  reflection  of  the  average 
condition  and  characteristic  tone  and  temper  of  its  composer.  But, 
in  my  opinion,  much  the  greater  number  of  good  book 8  must  be 
much  better  than  their  authors. 

"Are  they,  therefore,  merely  sentimental,  or  affected,  or  half- 
hypocritical?  Xot  at  all.  One's  life  is  tempted  by  itself,  and  by  all 
that  is  within  it  and  without;-  one's  book  is  not  so  tempted.  When 
one  ceases  to  write  at  night,  how  knows  he  that  lie  has  not  put  on 
paper  his  last  words  of  real  or  pretended  aspiration?  Even  if  that 
thought  be  absent,  or,  being  present,  be  but  little  attended  to,  what 
a  brief  space  of  time  is  to  elapse  before  one's  time  to  sink  into  the 
tomb  must  come;  and,  if  his  pen-work  is  to  live  beyond  his  little 
span  of  life,  how  soon  it  must  be  as  a  voice  from  the  realm  of 
spiritual  shades! 

••  Even  so,  the  book  ma}'  be  at  once  as  gay  and  soaring  as  a  sky- 
lark at  the  choicest  hour  of  that  bird's  musical  delight.  The  very 
thought  of  speaking,  alter  death,  to  loving  hearts,  may  have  in  it 
a  very  rapture  of  enchantment;  but  that  rapture  ought  to  be  as 
conscientious  as  if  it  were  soberest  sadness. 

"He  who  does  not  wish  to  make  his  book  much  better  than  its 
author,  is  unfit  to  be  an  author. 

"Certainly,  as  I  began  this  letter,  I  was  clearly  conscious  of  a  wish 
that  almost  ventured  to  express  itself  as  invocation.  That  my  book 
about  your  life,  your  country,  and  your  times,  may  more  or  less 
idealize  itself,  as  well  as  him  whose  speaking,  writing,  ami  other 
modes  of  public  service,  it  endeavors  to  set  forth  in  their  true  shapes 
and  colors,  can  not  greatly  trouble  me,  if  only  I  can  satisty  myself 
that  my  present  work  observes,  with  energy  and  earnestness,  the 
law  just  recognized  ;  the  law,  namely,  which  requires  a  book  to  bo 
better  than  its  author. 

"That  a  writing  of  this  nature  may  be  better  than  the  life  of 
which  it  is  a  labor,  is  not  difficult  to  show. 

"What  is  a  book?  Is  it  a  pure  creation,  or  a  mere  product  inn? 
Does  it  issue  from  a  single  brain,  or  is  it  always  what  might  be 
distinguished  as  a  guiltless  plagiarism?  M.  de  Tocqueville,  and  BOme 
other  censors  of  our  manners,"  have  accused  us  of  an  overfondness 
for  quotation — us  Americans,  I  mean,  of  the  description  sometimes 
designated  Stock-Americans.  Lf  these  observers  had  been  more  fa- 
miliar with  the  English  people,  and  with  the  productions  of  the 
English  press,  for  a  century  or  so  past,  they  would  not,  perhaps,  find 
our  proclivity  to  quote  so  notable.  But,  be  that  as  it  may.  whether 
one's  book  formally  quotes,  or  carefully  transforms  all  that  it  con- 
sciously derives  from  other  works,  it  represents,  in  greater  measure 
or  in  less,  not  one  man's  thoughts  and  feelings  only,  but  the  thoughts 
and  feelings  of  unnumbered  "books  and  men,  the  predecessors  and 
precursors  of  itself  and  of  its  author. 


764  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 

"  May  this  book  be  infinitely  bettor  than  its  author !  May  it  seem 
to  him  so  infinitely,  better  than  its  author,  that,  acknowledging  his 
fallibility,  and  feeling  that  he  may  attribute  to  the  life  his  volume 
is  subjecting  to  a  free  and  fair  examination,  an  ideal  interest,  or,  on 
the  other  hand,  deny  to  it  the  elevation  really  belonging  to  it,  he 
may  }Tet  feel  that  the  absolute  requirements  of  his  book  forbid  him 
to  indulge  in  any  childish  vanity  about  the  views  of  other  persons." 

That  excitement  marks  this  language,  is  not  to  be  denied.  I  was 
excited — I  do  not  conceal  it — when  those  words  were  written.  I  had 
just  discerned -new  illustration  of  the  truth  that,  at  the  best,  this  life 
must  be  a  battle.  I  did  not  foresee  the  fearful  battle  that  this  work 
would  have  to  deliver  to  all  manner  of  desperate  opposition;  but  I 
did  foresee  that  the  then  designed  account  of  our  hero's  life  and  times 
would  be  obliged  to  face  innumerable  prejudices. 

I  adhere  to  those  excited  words,  however.  They  were  warmly 
written ;  they  were  very  earnest.  After  all,  however,  it  appears 
to  me,  their  ouly  inspiration  was  an  unaffected  love  of  truth  and 
justice. 

I  am  told  that  one  of  the  maligners  of  this  work — one  of  its 
prophetic  censors  (Mr.  Halstead,  namely) — dissented  from  the  pre- 
tended judgment  of  another  (Mr.  Whitelaw  Reid),  who  had  stooped 
so  low  as  to  describe  me  to  the  public  as  a  blackguard.  Mr.  Hal- 
stead,  I  am  told,  has  pronounced  that  I  am  not  a  blackguard,  but 
only  a  fanatic.  I  thank  Heaven  for  the  fanaticism  that  has 
made  this  book  so  faithful,  so  veracious,  so  determined — at  all  haz- 
ards, and  in  spite  of  every  form  of  at  least  attempted  persecution — 
to  perform  its  holy  office,  without  fear  or  favor! 

In  the  Introduction  is  an  extract  from  that  birthday  letter,  indi- 
cating, at  once,  my  desire  of  autobiographic  contributions  and  my 
purpose  to  preserve,  throughout,  due  biographic  independence.  The 
conclusion  of  the  letter  reads  as  follows: 

"At  present,  let  me  say  a  word  or  two,  by  way  of  farther  salu- 
tation. 

"  Five-and-sixty  years  ago,  this  day,  began  the  life  to  which  my 
book  is  to  devote  its  chief  attention.  If  one  open  with  that  life  a 
double-entry  system  of  Debit  and  Credit,  moral,  intellectual,  and 
physical,  one  must  put  down  on  the  Debit  side  a  certain  harmony 
of  machine  and  of  mechanics,  of  faculty  and  function,  of  corporeal  and 
incorporeal  possibilities  and  capabilities.  Such  was  the  trust  that 
you  received  from  nature,  and  the  trust  was  much  increased  by 
education. 

"  How  is  it  with  the  Credit  side  of  that  account?     Success,  again  I 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND  «  \i.\-\  .  765 

say,  is  not  a  test  of  merit.     I  do  bono*  bo  do  man  on  account  of  bis 
position  or  of  his  successes.     Have  not  I,  myself;  with  all  my  foibles, 
ami  in  spite  of  my  mistakes,  held  places  of  high  trust,  snd  delii  I 
as  well  as  great  ami  various,  responsibility  7     Assuredly,  I   bans  do 
morbid  feeling  on  the  subject  of  success  ami  failure.     Y.  t.  air,  if  1 
very  highly  honor  and  felicitate  you,  as  yoa  know  1  do,  this  day. 
not  on  account  of  your  position,  or  of  any  of  your  ]>a>t  distinctii 
and  successes. 

"Truly  meritorious  and  very  various  use  of  your  original  endow- 
ment and  acquired  ability,  has  made  the  Credit  side  of  that  account 
a  crowd  of  items  you  may  well  regard,  on   this  interesting  anni\ 
sary,  with  grateful  eyes,  and  all    the    pride  that   may   become  self- 
contemplation. 

"As  for  your  successes,  one  may  say  that  some  id'  them  arc  sim- 
ply wonderful,  in  view  of  the  relation  to  them  of  the  people,  the 
great  mass  of  voters,  with  their  leaders;  many  ol  the  latter,  faith- 
less demagogues. 

"Five  and- thirty  years,  I  think,  have  passed  since  the  writer  of 
this  letter  began  to  see,  without  hearing,  him  to  whom  it  is  addressed. 
And  the  lapse  of  nearly  three-and-thirty  years  lies  between  the 
present  writing  and  the  time  when  I  began  to  hear  as  weli 
to  see  you,  and  commenced  to  study  your  characteristic  traits  ^nd 
tendencies,  as  I  supposed  that  1  discerned  them.  But,  in  common 
with  vast  numbers  of  the  dwellers  in  the  Cincinnati  valley,  on  both 
sides  of  the  river,  I  was  made,  b}T  unconscious  prejudices,  quite  inca- 
pable of  justly  judging  your  ideas  and  your  disposition. 

"You  were  then  represented  as  an  Abolitionist.  In  common  with 
so  many  of  my  fellow-citizens,  I  looked  on  an  Abolitionist  as  either 
of  disordered  intellect  or  morbid  morals. 

"Were  you,  really,  an  Abolitionist  at  any  time?  To  answer  DOW, 
would  be  an  ill-advised  anticipation,  and  would  be  impossible,  with- 
out a  very  careful  definition  I  am  not  disposed  to  undertake  at  pi 
ent.1  Let  the  answer  be  reserved.  However  that  may  turn  out, 
the  entirely  certain  facts  are,  that  you  were  denounced  and  hated  as 
an  Abolitionist,  and  that  the  gnat  bod}*  of  the  people,  at  the  period 
referred  to,  hated  and  denounced  all  real  or  imagined  Abolitionists. 
About  these  facts  there  ought  to  be  no  question. 

"Yet  you  are,  this  day.  and  have  been,  for  more  than  eight  years, 
Chief  Justice,  and  you  would  have  been  Chief  Magistrate,  more  than 
eight  years  ago,  had  you  been  less  in  earnest,  le>s  devoted  to  your 
principles,  less  proud,  and  vainer. 

"This  distinction  between  pride  and  vanity  must  he  explained 
with  some  care.  It  is  not  the  distinction  made  by  Montesquieu  ami 
other  writers;  but  I  feel  quite  ready  to  defend  it,  as  1  shall  define 
it,  as  well  taken  and  substantial. 

"Let   me    hold  the  contemplated   explanation   for  the  letter  in 
which  I  propose  to  indicate  the  sources  and  the  claims  of  my  d( 
to  have  you  make  some  autobiographic  contributions  to  tin-  volume 
which  this  open  letter,  aided  by  one  <>r  two  others,  is  designed  to 
introduce  to  other  readers;   in  short,  to  the  public.'' 

«  Post. 


766  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

January  18,  I  received  this  answer : 

"  "Washington,  January  17,  1873. 

"My  Dear  Judge:  I  was  surprised  and  gratified  by  your  letter, 
on  the  occasion  of  my  birthday.  Should  you  pursue  the  purpose 
you  indicate,  I  shall  be  happy  to  afford  you  all  the  aid — not  much — 
in  my  power. 

"  You  are  right  in  repeating  that  success  does  not  argue  merit. 
It  has  phased  Divine  Providence  to  make  [?ne]  instrumental  in  the  pro- 
motion of  two  great  Reforms,  both  political — one  social,  and  the  other 
financial.     But  I  claim  no  merit  in  either. 

"  The  difficulty  I  find  in  writing,  must  be  my  excuse  for  brevity. 
But  I  shall  always  be  glad  to  see  you. 

"Meanwhile,  I  am,  gratefully  and  faithfully,  yours, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE. 

"Hon.  E.  B.  Warden." 

Did  the  writer  of  that  letter  comprehend  his  true  relation  to  his 
country  and  his  times?  Could  he  behold  himself  as  he  was  seen 
by  others?     Did  he  know  himself? 

The  sentence  on  which  special  stress  has  just  been  laid,  points 
out,  I  think,  the  chief  relations  of  the  life  we  study  to  the  coun- 
try and  the  times.  But,  in  my  judgment,  precedence  in  point  of 
glory,  as  in  time,  belongs  to  the  work  done  in  promotion  of  the 
social  reform,  though  I  have  endeavored,  in  order,  to  display  a  due 
appreciation  of  the  work  done  in  promotion  of  a  real  or  supposed 
financial  reform. 


OF  SAI.Mon   PORTLAND  CHASE,  767 


CHAPTER    LII  . 

SUPPLY    OF    MATTER    FOR   THIS    WORK — NEW    RELATIONS. 

MY  views  of  the  necessities  of  biographic  composition,  in  the 
month  of  January,  1873,  did  not  induce  me  to  call  frequently 
on  the  Chief  Justice.  I  did  not  desire  again  to  meet  him  :it  his 
table,  or  in  the  society  of  his  near  relatives,  whose  way  of  life  so 
differed  from  my  own,  whose  taste  appeared  to  me  to  have  been 
cultivated  to  excess,  and  who,  it  seemed  to  me,  could  not  assist  me 
greatly  in  the  gathering  of  matter  for  a  work  of  the  description 
then  in  contemplation.  But,  one  morning  in  the  month  jtwt 
named,  I  had  occasion  to  see  the  Chief  Justice  for  an  instant,  at 
the  conference-room,  as  the  clerk  supposed  I  might.  But  the  Chief 
Justice  sent  me  word  that  he  could  not  see  me  then,  but  that  he  would 
be  happy  to  meet  me  that  afternoon  at  Mrs.  Sprague's  reception. 

Thus  I  had  to  face  a  difficulty  I  had,  so  far,  carefully  avoided. 
I  addressed  a  note  to  the  Chief  Justice,  most  respectfully  declining 
his  kind  invitation,  and  explaining  my  intention  not  to  go  into 
"  society  "  that  winter.     In  reply,  he  wrote  to  me  as  follows  : 

"Washington.  January  '.)].   ]>~'.\. 
"  601  E"  Sikh  , 
'•Dear  Sir:   At  the  moment  you  called,  I  was  actually  engaged 
in  my  duties  as  presiding  judge.    The  clerk  was  not  much  mistaken, 
though  it  is  seldom,  on  conference  days,  that  I  have  even  live  min- 
utes' leisure. 

"I  wish  you  would  call  on  me  freely.     "Whether  you  care  to  be 
presented  to  the  ladies  or  not.  may  be  a  subject  of  after  consideration. 
"Yours,  cordially,  S.  P.  CHASH. 

"  To  the  Honorable  Robert  B.  "Warden." 

Even  after  receiving  that  answer,  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  call 
on  the  Chief  Justice  freely;  but,  on  the  evening  of  the  7th  of  Feb- 
ruary following,  he  sent  me,  on  one  of  his  visiting-cards,  the 
request : 

"Dear  Judge:  Can  you  call  this  evening,  before  9.  If  you  can 
conveniently,  you  will  oblige  me  by  doing  so. 

"Yours,  truly,  S.  P.  C,  001  E  Street. 

"Hon.  R.  B.  "Warden. 


708  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES 

What  was  wanted  was,  it  seemed,  the  copying  of  an  opinion  ! 
But  that  was,  evidently,  a  mere  pretext.  So^  indeed,  I  learned, 
afterward,  from  the  Chief  Justice  himself. 

I  confess,  I  felt  somewhat  affronted  on  learning  what  I  had  been 
sent  for,  though  I  was  told  that  Mr.  Lloyd,  the  private  secretary, 
had  gone  to  New  York,  and  that  the  opinion  was  to  be  used  next 
morning.  The  Chief  Justice  saw  how  I  felt ;  and  said  what  he 
could  to  explain  so  strange  an  application.  I  consented  to  do  the 
required  copying.  Afterward,  I  conjectured  that  he  had  wished  to 
see  what  I  could  do,  when  I  tried,  in  the  way  of  legible  handwrit- 
ing; and  that  what  he  had  in  view  was  nothing  less  than  to  pro- 
pose to  me  so  far  to  "  waive  rank,"  as  he  expressed  it,  as  to  take  the 
place  of  Mr.  Lloyd  for  a  short  time, — first,  in  order  that  the  Chief 
Justice  might  feel  freer  to  make  a  contemplated  summer  trip;  and, 
second,  that  my  biographic  undertaking  might,  as  he  conceived,  be 
much  facilitated. 

But  I  have  anticipated.  On  the  8th  of  February,  in  the  morn- 
ing, he  received  from  me  the  copy  I  had  made  at  his  request.  He 
did  not  thank  me;  but  began  at  once  to  question  me  about  my 
family,  about  my  purposes  and  prospects  at  Washington,  and  about 
a  report  that  he  had  heard  that  I  had  become  the  correspondent  of 
a  certain  paper.  I  explained  to  him  that  I  had  no  connection 
whatever  with  any  paper ;  but  that  I  was  very  strongly  tempted 
to  abandon  the  profession  of  the  law,  though  I  knew  that  I  could 
never  cease  to  take  great  interest  in  legal  letters.  And  I  owned 
that  I  would  willingly  become  again,  in  a  special  sense,  a  follower 
of  Franklin,  whose  works,  as  admirably  rendered  into  French  by 
Laboulaye,  I  had  been  reading,  not  for  the  first  time,  that  winter. 

Will  the  reader  please  remember  what  winter  that  was?  It  was 
the  darkest  moral  winter  Ave  have  had  at  Washington.  It  was  the 
Credit  Mobilier  winter.  Never  had  I  felt  so  tempted  to  be  ashamed 
of  being  an  American.  At  that  time,  Washington  appeared  to*  me 
a  very  hell  on  earth.  In  studying  the  aspects  of  the  public  life 
there  within  reach  of  observation,  I  had  stood  aghast.  It  seemed 
to  me,  in  my  depression  and  dismay,  that  every  department  of 
our  public  life  at  the  seat  of  Government  was  poisoned ;  and  the 
practice  of  the  law  at  Washington  then  seemed  entirely  uninviting. 

On  the  morning  of  the  8th  of  February,  I  received  the  first 
supply  of  biographic  matter  from  Chief  Justice  Chase;  and  learned 
from  him  that  he  intended  soou  to  visit  Edgewood,  with  his  private 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASEt  7<>!» 

secretary,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  himself  to  supply  me  in  full, 
according  to  his  promise  and  my  expectation.    But  I  t ■  >  1  <  1  him  1  wa- 

not  impatient,  and  that  he  could  take  his  time;  that  I  arai  Studying 
the  Wirt  family,  and  especially  the  head  of  it,  with  special  reference 
to  the  relation  of  that  family  to  part  of  his  career. 

He  knew  that  I  had  contributed  to  the  Capital  a  piece  entitled 
Agyics  Wirt,  a  Story.  He  had  indeed  communicated  to  me  that  .Mr. 
Lloyd  had  erroneously  informed  me  that  he,  the  Chief  Justice,  had 
been  engaged  to  Agnes  Wirt. 

"  I  was,"'  he  said,  "too  poor,  at  that  time,  to  look  so  high." 

If  I  remember  rightly,  I  did  not  again  see  him  till  about  the  1st 
of  March.  Then  it  was  that  he  opened  to  me  his  wish  to  have  me 
take  what  he  called  a  "clerkship  in  bankruptcy,"  which,  a^  be  ex- 
plained, would  place  me  daily  mar  his  person  while  he  remained  in 
Washington,  and,  during  his  intended  trip  to  Colorado,  would 
enable  me  to  act  for  him  as  already  indicated,  in  recommending 
registers  for  appointment.  He  made  known,  at  the  same  time,  that 
acting  as  his  private  secretary  was,  by  usage,  incident  to  the  holding 
of  the  place  proposed;  and  he  asked  me  to  "waive  rank"  for  a 
time,  by  taking  the  proposed  position.  He  considered  that  to  do  so 
would  not  only  greatly  relieve  him,  but  much  promote  my  biographic 
undertaking. 

I  confess,  I  felt  again  affronted.  That  offer  seemed  to  me,  at 
first,  an  offer  equally  unworthy  of  Chief  Justice  Chase  and  of  the 
man  to  Whom  it  was  proposed.  I  was  not,  indeed,  ashamed  to  toil 
in  any  honorable  way  for  daily  bread  ;  but  to  be  private  secretary — 
even  to  Chief  Justice  Chase — was  a  thing  which,  at  first,  I  could 
not  look  upon  as  other  than  a  degradation. 

On  reflection,  I  considered  that  this  feeling  was  a  weak  one,  and 
that  nothing  inconsistent  with  the  respect  and  kindness  I  had  been 
accustomed  to  receive  from  the  Chief  Justice  was  in  contemplation 
in  that  offer;  yet  the  offer  seemed  to  me  an  ill-considered  one.  and 
I  was  inclined  to  say  at  once  that  I  would  not  accept  it.  Bui  1 
only  said  that,  while  it  seemed  to  have  much  in  its  favor,  I  could 
not  at  once  determine  how  to  treat  it.  He  explained  that  he  mu.-t 
know  before  the  21st  of  March,  because  at  that  time  Mr.  Lloyd  ex- 
pected to  vacate  his  post.  I  told  him  I  could  let  him  know  within 
a  few  days  my  determination.     So  we  parted,  for  the  time. 

After  consultation,  I  regret  to  say,  my  judgment  yielded  to  advice 
and  counsel,  and  I  told  our  hero  that,  limiting  the  time  of  service 


770  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

from  the  day  proposed  by  him — March  21 — as  the  day  of  begin- 
ning, to  December  1,  I  would  perform  the  duties  he  proposed. 

That  that  was  a  great  error,  no  one  can  discern  more  clearly  than 
do  I.  But  my  motives  were,  at  least,  entirely  proper.  Much  of 
the  evil  that  has  followed  that  great  error  was  then  almost  wholly 
beyond  the  reach  of  apprehension. 

On  the  20th  of  March,  1872,  a  large  supply  of  biographic  matter 
was  delivered  to  me.  At  first  I  used  it  in  the  library  at  Senator 
Sprague's;  but,  early  in  April,  it  was  taken,  by  the  servants  of  our 
hero,  under  his  direction,  without  my  presence  and  without  my  aid, 
to  the  house  in  which  the  body  of  this  work  has  been  composed. 

But  soon  I  saw  that  all  was  not  well  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
my  new  relations  to  Chief  Justice  Chase  affected  Mrs.  Sprague  and 
the  Senator.  Their  bearing  toward  me  caused  me  to  address  the 
former,  very  courteously  and  kindly,  in  relation  to  this  work  and 
in  relation  to  some  other  matters  proper  to  be  touched  in  such  a 
note. 

That  note  was  dated  and  delivered  March  28 — about  forty  days 
before  the  death  of  the  Chief  Justice.     It  commenced  as  follows  : 

"  Washington,  March  28,  1873. 

"  Madam  :  It  is  proper,  I  conceive,  that  you  should  not  misap- 
prehend the  circumstances  which  have  made  me,  with  the  sanction 
of  your  father,  his  biographer." 

Then  followed  a  brief  account  of  those  circumstances,  with  some 
other  intimations  which  I  deemed  important ;  and  my  note  went  on 
as  follows : 

"  Out  of  my  entertainment  of  the  idea  so  suggested  grew,  not  like 
a  mushroom,  the  idea  explained  in  a  letter  to  your  father,  dated  Jan- 
uary 13,  1873,  which,  foreshadowing  as  it  does  the  scope  and  spirit 
of  the  book  I  am  composing  about  '  The  Life  and  Times  of  Chief 
Justice  Chase,'  I  am  quite  willing  to  submit  to  your  examination  at 
any  time." 

Had  that  offer  been  accepted,  Mrs.  Sprague,  our  hero's  gifted  and 
accomplished  eldest  daughter,  would  have  read,  among  other  things, 
the  words  quoted  in  the  Introduction,  touching  my  determination 
not  to  suffer  any  person — not,  above  all,  to  suffer  the  hero  of  the 
work — to  supervise  or  to  dictate  its  contents.  But  she  would  have 
found  no  indication  that  I  was  unwilling  to  receive  either  informa- 
tion or  suggestions  from  her. 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  771 

I  was  not  in  the  least  inclined  to  disregard  any  well-considered 

views  of  hers.  She  seemed  to  me,  1  own,  too  tasteful — for  excessive 
taste  is  possible — but  I  was  willing,  nay  desirous,  to  be  aided  by 
her,  and  to  pay  due  respect  to  all  her  reasonable  wishes.  Was  if, 
then,  ridiculous  to  offer  to  submit  my  birthday  letter  to  examina- 
tion, as  the  letter  just  quoted  indicated  I  was  willing  t<>  dp?  Al- 
most every  thing  has  an  aspect  in  which  it  may  be  ridiculed  ;  but 
the  letter  just  quoted  was,  at  least,  well  considered  aud  well 
intended. 

It  was  answered — not  quite  promptly,  but  with  characteristic 
taste — in  person,  by  the  lady  to  whom  it  was  written.  She  assured 
me  that  she  was  much  gratified  by  the  explanation  made  in  my 
communication,  and  desired  me  to  feel  quite  at  home  beneath  her 
roof  while  my  duties  called  me  there.  What  more  she  said  I  do 
not  feel  required,  and  am  not  disposed,  to  set  forth  at  present ;  but 
it  was  in  terms,  at  least,  quite  interesting  and  agreeable. 

There  was  no  word  then  about  any  other  biographer.  The  lady 
who  has,  since  her  father's  death,  felt  free  to  insult  and  to  attempt 
to  persecute  the  man  so  honored  and  so  trusted  by  her  father,  did 
not  mention  Mr.  Schuckers.  And  I  ought  to  state  at  once  that 
when,  months  after  the  death  of  the  Chief  Justice,  the  indiscretion 
of  Mr.  Maunsell  B.  Field,  in  conversation  with  a  friend  of  mine, 
allowed  me  to  learn  that  Mr.  Schuckers,  more  than  countenanced 
by  our  hero's  daughters  and  their  husbands,  was  at  work  on  a  Life 
of  Chase,  the  representation  was  that  that  work  was  only  a  "  Memo- 
rial Life,"  whatever  that  may  have  been  thought  to  signify. 

But  on  the  28th  of  March,  1873,  and  while  our  hero  remained  in 
life — indeed,  until  I  saw  the  first  indications  of  a  desperate  con- 
spiracy against  my  biographic  enterprise — I  would  have  been 
glad  to  receive  information  about  him  from  any  source  whatever. 
On  the  other  hand,  I  intended  at  all  times  to  preserve  with 
care  the  necessary  freedom  and  the  necessary  independence  of  a 
conscientious  biographer,  in  spite  of  every  man  and  every  woman 
in  the  world. 

When  I  began  to  see  the  nature  of  the  matter  furnished  for  my 
biographic  use,  I  was  almost  confounded.  I  had  not  before  had 
the  slightest  conception  of  the  vastness  and  variety  of  the  matter  I 
would  have  to  handle.  The  responsibility  thus  cast  upon  me 
weighed  upon  my  heart  and  disturbed   my  health. 

The  Chief  Justice  had  taken  ample  time  to  consider  what  he 
50 


772  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 

ouo-ht  to  furnish.  I  had  kept  away  from  him  until  he  almost  found 
fault  with  me  for  so  doing.  Knowing  me  as  we  have  seen  he  must 
have  known  me,  he  determined  for  himself  how  much  he  would 
confide  in  me;  and  he  confided  all. 

Among  the  documents  he  furnished  me  was  a  locked  register,  or 
diarv.  I  did  not  have  the  key  of  it  at  first.  He  waited  till  I  joc- 
ularly owned  my  curiosity  about  it,  and  referred  to  the  plot  of  Blue- 
beard ;  then  he  told  me  that  I  was  to  have  the  key,  but  that  it  was 
at  Edwewood.  He  would  get  it  for  me  when  we  next  went  out  to 
that  country-seat  of  his. 

By  this  time  we  had  had  more  than  one  conversation  as  to  the 
intended  biographic  and  historic  work.  It  had  become  apparent 
that  he  wished  me  to  pay  more  attention  than  I  had  originally  con- 
templated giving  to  his  private  life. 

As  I  have  learned  more  and  more  about  his  public  life,  I  have 
been  more  and  more  enabled  to  appreciate  that  wish  of  his.  With- 
out the  studies  I  have  made  of  his  private  life,  I  would  be  quite  in  dan- 
ger of  discerning  little  in  his  public  life,  after  1 845,  to  praise  or  even 
to  excuse.  His  public  life  would  not  in  general  seem  laudable  to 
me  without  the  light  afforded  by  his  private  life. 

But  when  I  obtained  the  key  of  that  locked  diary,  and  compared 
its  contents  with  the  contents  of  other  diaries  or  registers,  I  was  al- 
most prostrated  by  the  sense  of  the  responsibility  that  he  had  put 
upon  me,  by  acquainting  me  with  the  revelations  which  those  doc- 
uments were  capable  of  making. 

Once,  in  spite  of  my  intention  to  preserve  due  biographic  inde- 
pendence, I  attempted  to  submit  to  him  a  question  touching  the 
propriety  of  using  some  of  the  revelations  here  referred  to.  He 
declined  to  aid  my  judgment,  saying  that  he  was  an  interested 
person,  that  he  had  referred  all  that  to  my  judgment  and  my 
sense  of  justice,  and  that  I  must  do  just  what  my  judgment  and 
my  sense  of  justice  should,  after  due  reflection,  seem  to  order.  He 
would  only  say  that,  where  there  was  a  doubt,  perhaps  the  proper 
way  would  be  to  resolve  that  doubt  against  suppression.  All  the 
contents  of  those  diaries  were  at  least  true;  and  the  truth  was 
very  seldom  really  injurious  to  any  interest. 

I   have   at  hand   a   work,  entitled  Lincoln  and  Seward, 
by    Gideon    Welles,   Ex-Secretary  of  the   Navy.     What   I    find    in 
that  book,  what  I  found  contributed  by  its  author  to  the  Galaxy, 
what  I  found  in  Mr.  Field's  already  more  than  once  noticed  Memories 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  77-1 

of  Many  Men  and  of  Some  Women,  what  I  have  reason  to  expect  to 
find  in  Mr.  Sclmckers's  book  about  our  hero, — these  and  other  things 
might  be  mentioned  as  affecting  my  final  conclusion  as  to  the  pro- 
priety of  using  all  the  matter  offered  by  preceding  pages  of  the 
present  work.  Even  on  putting  the  manuscript  into  the  hands  of 
the  publishers,  I  reserved  the  right  of  striking  out  some  portion-, 
if,  on  full  consideration,  they  should  seem  to  me  improper*  After 
what  appears  to  me  sufficient  study  of  the  subject,  I  have  judged 
as  indicated  by  preceding  paragraphs  and  chapters.  I  am  sen- 
sible that  I  may  have  erred  in  this  conclusion  ;  but  my  conscience 
is  entirely  satisfied  with  it,  and  I  have  no  apology  to  make  for 
it  whatever. 

Possibly,  the  judgment  of  fair-minded  and  enlightened  critics 
may  condemn  our  hero  for  recording  certain  portions  of  the  matter 
here  in  question.  I  am  far  from  clear  that  he  did  well  in  that  be- 
half. But  had  I  taken  the  responsibility  of  not  presenting  the 
matter  here  referred  to,  I  could  not  have  felt  that  I  had  thoroughly 
performed  my  biographic  duty. 

Let  me  now  invite  attention  to  another  fallacy  and  falsehood  in 
that  Herald  article.  That  article,  having  said  that  Mr.  Chase 
"kept  full  notes  of  the  conversations  had  with  him  by  public  men 
during  his  services  in  the  Treasury,"  proceeds,  in  its  fine  English, 
to  subjoin  : 

"It  is  not  the  purpose,  we  believe,  to  print  them;  Mr.  Schuckers, 
in  whose  possession  they  are,  only  using  them  to  guide  him  in  his 
work." 

No  statement  could  be  falser.  Even  supposing  that  this  fine 
critic  means,  not  the  conversations,  but  the  notes  of  them,  those 
notes  are  now  in  my  possession.  Mr.  Schuckers  tried,  no  doubt,  to 
get  them  when  he  visited  my  trunk,  as  elsewhere  stated ;  but  I  had 
removed  them,  in  anticipation  of  some  outrage  of  that  kind,  after  I 
learned  of  the  frauds  that  had  been  practiced  on  this  work.  But 
the  article  just  quoted  also  says: 

"Their  substance  is  in  the  biography,  wherein  they  illustrate  Mr. 
Chase's  views,  but  freed  from  the  explosive  force  that  Judge  Warden 
promises  from  the  diaries;  for  it  is  well  understood  that  he  is  to 
publish  them." 

And  this  in  the  same  wretched  libel  which  accuses  me  of  a  design 
to  mutilate   these  diaries !     I  grant,  however,  that    no    explosive 


774  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

force,  nor  any  other  force,  is  likely  to  distinguish  the  biography  so 
much  preferred  to  that  presented  in  these  pages.  But  the  sen- 
tence just  partly  quoted  ends  by  stating  that  my  "  friends  have 
already  taken  pleasure  in  informing  the  world  that  many  things 
which  Mr.  Chase  said  of  himself  and  his  family  will  prove  very 
distasteful  to  his  daughters."  Now,  no  friend  of  mine  has  made 
any  such  intimation.  If  the  daughters  of  our  hero  find  the  reve- 
lations of  this  work  distasteful,  they  must  vindicate  their  taste.  My 
work  requires,  in  that  behalf,  no  vindication. 

Never  have  1  found,  or  fancied  that  I  found,  or  hinted  that  I  had 
discovered,  aught  that  ought  to  be  distasteful  to  either  of  our  hero's 
daughters.  Nor,  reviewing  what  this  volume  shows  about  the  three 
marriages  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  do  I  find  a  sentence  which 
should  be  offensive  to  those  ladies,  or  to  any  other  person. 

That  study  of  Wirt's  life  and  character  appeared  to  me  a  proper 
part  of  preparation  for  the  final  composition  of  the  present  work, 
has  been  already  intimated.  Well !  one  day  I  was  looking  in  Alli- 
bone's  Dictionary  of  Authors  for  the  article  "  Wirt,"  when,  to  my 
astonishment,  I  found  a  little  article  entitled,  "  Warden,  Robert  B." 
I  had  had  reason  to  suppose  myself,  and  I  had  up  to  that  time  actually 
supposed  myself,  to  be  unnoticed  in  that  work.  I  had  tried  to  keep 
out  of  it,  indeed,  for  reasons  I  have  not  here  space  to  indicate.  The 
article  I  found,  at  my  expense,  was  most  delusively  defective.  There- 
upon, alarmed  as  to  what  might  happen  to  the  present  work,  if  a 
publisher,  applied  to  to  make  publication  of  it,  should  turn  to  that 
provoking  article,  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Whitelaw  Reid  a  letter  contain- 
ing a  card  I  wished  him  to  publish  in  the  Tribune,  in  the  course  of 
which  card  my  relation  to  Chief  Justice  Chase  as  his  biographer 
was  most  distinctly  indicated.  Mr.  Reid  replied,  in  patronizing 
tone,  as  an  "old  editor,"  impertinently  offering  unasked  advice. 
His  letter  bears  date  April  7th.  Yet  this  man  has  since  either 
written  for  the  Tribune,  or  permitted  the  Tribune  to  contain,  with- 
out correction,  a  coarse  editorial,  implying  total  ignorance  of  the 
fact  just  mentioned. 

Whether  wisely  or  unwisely,  my  policy  was  to  give  extensive 
notice  of  my  biographic  undertaking,  so  that  I  might  draw  out 
matter  which,  otherwise,  might  not  come  out  at  all.  The  National 
Republican,  :it  Washington,  contained  two  letters  from  me  on  the 
subject,  and  the  Ohio  State  Journal  three,  all  published  during  our 
hero's  life-time.     He  took  no  exception  to  that  course,  and  I  know 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  775 

that  he  read  at  least  one  of  the  letters  referred  to;  for  he  mentioned 
and  commented  on  that  one. 

Just  here  I  may  relate  an  anecdote  that  may  appear  decidedly 
significant. 

A  short  time  before  I  became  Chief  Justice  Chase's  private  secre- 
tary, I  visited  him  one  morning.  I  found  with  him  Governor  Law- 
rence and  Mr.  R.  C.  Parsons.  He  took  out  of  my  hands  Kennedy's 
Life  of  Wirt  and  Bigelow's  edition  of  Franklin's  Autobioynipla/, 
works  belonging  to  my  own  collection.  That  occasioned  talk  about 
books.  I  felicitated  Governor  Lawrence  on  a  French  book  I  had 
read,  of  which  he  was  the  author.  Thereupon  "dear  Parsons"  felt 
inspired  to  talk  about  a  book  of  mine,  which  he  said  my  publishers 
had  sent  to  him  to  review.  Good  Heavens !  what  a  notion  !  But 
he  said  my  book  had  proved  too  deep  for  him,  entirely.  I  expressed 
my  conviction  that  he  told  the  truth.  He  said  that  he  was  serious. 
I  assured  him  again  that  I  did  not  doubt  it.  Then  he  tried  auother 
form  of  making  that  assurance  clear ;  and  I  again  assured  him  that 
I  had  no  doubt  of  his  assurance.  By  that  time  the  Chief  Justice  had 
begun  to  be  markedly  amused.  "  Dear  Parsons,"  even  then,  could 
not  persuade  himself  to  quit  the  subject.  I  assured  him  gravely 
that  I  had  no  doubt  at  all  that  my  book  had  proved  too  deep  for 
him,  though  it  had  not  proved  too  deep  for  Mr.  Rice,  his  towns- 
man, or  for  the  North  American  Review,  or  for  the  Independent,  or 
for  the  Neiv  Englander,  or  for ;  but  I  will  not  continue  the  list. 

"  Dear  Parsons "  evidently  had  an  object.  I  supposed  that  I 
divined  his  object;  but  I  knew  what  he  did  not,  as  to  the  estimation 
of  that  former  work  of  mine  by  the  Chief  Justice.  And  I  have  no 
doubt  at  all  that  that  little  failure  of  "dear  Parsons"  to  make 
game  of  me,  was  one  of  the  things  that  tended  to  increase  the 
attachment  between  the  hero  of  this  volume  and  its  author. 

But  the  incident  was  one  to  be  remembered.  And  I  did  remem- 
ber it  when  I  saw  the  relation  of  "  dear  Parsons "  to  the  already 
indicated  plot  against  this  book. 


776  THE    PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER   LIII. 

TALKS  AND   "WALKS   WITH   THE   CHIEF   JUSTICE — GRANT   AND   CHASE. 

THE  author  of  this  work  had   many  walks  and  many  deeply 
interesting  talks  with  its  hero. 

"We  talked  more  than  once  about  the  President,  and  this  at  my 
special  instance.  It  was  evident  that  I  could  not  use  the  material 
with  which  he  had  furnished  me  without  saying  more  or  less  about 
Ulysses  Grant — a  man  of  whom  my  first  impression  had  been 
eminently  favorable,  but  whom  I  had  afterward  come  to  regard 
unfavorably. 

I  may  here  avail  myself  of  a  letter,  written  to  the  President  last 
summer,  in  these  words : 

"Washington,  June  19,  1873. 

"Sir:  I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  sending  to  your  Excellency  some 
printed  pages,  indicating  the  plans,  the  motives,  and  the  contemplated 
scope  of  a  work,  in  which  much  must  be  said  of  your  apparent  tend- 
encies and  past  demeanor. 

"That  I  am  not  prejudiced,  as  I  have  reason  to  believe  I  was,  for 
some  years,  against  your  Excellency,  is  very  largely,  though  not 
wholly,  due  to  some  uncommonly  careful  conversations  with  the  late 
Chief  Justice. 

•'  I  explained  to  him  my  ardent  desire  to  do  you  entire  justice  in 
the  work  referred  to,  telling  him  that  your  apparent  magnanimity  in 
the  Runkle  case,  in  which  I  was  of  counsel  for  accused — a  conversa- 
tion 1  had  had  with  Mr.  Justice  Swayne — and  some  other  talks — of 
which  some  were  with  my  brother,  Colonel  "Warden — had  strongly 
tended  to  convince  me  that  I  had  been,  for  some  time,  at  fault, 
respecting  your  true  characteristics  and  your  real  conduct ;  but  that 
I  was  very  anxious  to  be  well  advised  as  possible  on  a  subject  so 
important  to  my  biographic  and  historic  undertaking. 

"He  conversed  with  me  quite  freely,  in  the  interest  of  that  anx- 
iety, on  more  than  one  occasion  ;  and  always  manifested  high  appre- 
ciation of  your  military  merits  and  your  general  rectitude  of  purpose, 
while  he  quite  severely  censured  the  Congress,  and  decidedly  con- 
demned some  things  which  you  were  understood  to  sanction. 

"He  ascribed  to  you  exalted  love  of  country,  and  acknowledged 
that  ho  had  misjudged  you,  years  ago,  especially  in  1868. 

"  To  set  out  here  more  than  the  general  effect  of  what  he  said 
about  your  Excellency,  would  be  to  make  a  very  voluminous  commu- 


OP  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  777 

nication  of  this  letter.  But,  mindful  of  the  uncertainty  of  human 
life,  and  taking  into  view  that  my  work  aforesaid  may  not  fully  go 
before  the  public  for  some  time  to  come,  I  take  this  meaus  of  doing 
simple  justice  to  the  dead  as  well  as  to  the  living. 

"  I  put  at  your  Excellency's  free  disposal  the  foregoing  statement; 
and  I  take  great  pleasure  in  acknowledging  that,  though  I  never 
spoke  or  wrote  a  word  about  you,  which  did  not,  at  the  time,  appear 
to  me  well  warranted,  I  am  now  entirely  satisfied  that  I  have  unin- 
tentionally done  injustice,  publicly  as  well  as  privately,  to  your 
intentions  and  your  actions  both. 

"  With  great  respect,  E.  B.  WAEDEN. 

"The  President." 

That  letter  remained  unanswered  up  to  the  7th  of  February,  1874. 
On  that  clay  I  again  addressed  the  President,  saying,  in  substance, 
simply,  that  I  had,  while  he  was  at  Long  Branch,  in  1873,  ad- 
dressed to  him  a  perfectly  courteous  letter,  on  a  subject  of  supposed 
interest  to  him ;  and  that  whether  he  had  received  it  or  not,  still 
remained  unknown  to  me.     Thereupon  I  received  this  note : 

"  Executive  Mansion, 
"Washington,  February  11,  1874. 

"  Sir:  The  President  directs  me  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your 
letter  of  the  7th  inst.,  and  say  that  he  did  receive  your  letter  last 
summer,  and  supposed  it  was  acknowledged  at  the  time.  He  wishes 
me  to  assure  j'ou  of  his  thanks  for  the  kindness  which  dictated  it, 
and  his  regrets  that  he  should  have  seemed  to  neglect  it. 
"1  am,  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

LEVI  P.  LUCKEY,  Secretary. 
"Mr.  E.  B.  Warden,  Washington,  D.  C." 

The  Chief  Justice  needed  little  more  than  a  hint  to  make  him 
understand  my  deep  desire  to  have  this  work  as  free  as  possible 
from  aught  resembling  injustice  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States. 

He  had  read  the  report  of  a  speech  in  which  his  biographer  had 
freely  criticised  the  course  of  citizens  whom  he  called  Grantites. 
He  knew  that  it  must  always  be  impossible  for  me  to  see  in  any 
man  a  hero,  to  be  worshiped  as  the  citizens  referred  to  were,  or  pre- 
tended to  be,  disposed  to  worship  Grant  in  1872.  But  he  could 
readily  understand  that  his  biographer  would  naturally  wish  to  learn 
as  much  as  possible  about  the  President,  and  to  set  aside  every  prej- 
udice against  that  eminent  citizen  which  self-examination  could 
detect,  or  which  conversation  with  well  informed  acquaintances  of 
Grant  could  have  the  effect  of  exposing. 

He  was  evidently  pleased  to  find   me  so  disposed.     He  talked 


778  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 

with  me  about  the  Congress  and  the  President.  Of  the  former  he 
did  not  speak  praises;  of  the  latter  he  spoke  kindly  and  appreci- 
atively. He  seemed  to  think  more  highly  of  the  President  than 
of  his  party,  to  which,  on  the  whole,  he  evidently  preferred  the 
Democratic  party. 

I  did  not  agree  with  him  in  that  preference;  which,  nevertheless, 
I  could  not  consider  as  the  less  entitling  him  to  my  regard. 

Among  the  things  he  said  to  me  about  Grant,  I  now  proceed  to 
mention  one.     He  said,  in  substance  : 

"  I  am  free  to  confess,  I  was  mistaken  about  Grant,  in  1868.  He 
had  never  been  a  Republican.  He  had  never  been  opposed  to  slav- 
ery, as  far  as  I  could  learn,  before  the  insurrection  of  the  South.  I 
had  no  evidence  that  he  would  be  disposed,  if  elected  President,  to 
do  any  better  for  the  South — any  more  to  bring  the  South  to  the 
required  relation  to  the  Union  and  the  Constitution — than  had  been 
done  by  President  Johnson.  I  feared  that,  if  elected  President,  he 
would  be  even  more  in  the  way  of  a  right  reconstruction  than  John- 
son had  been;  that  he  would  out-Johnson  Johnson.  I  thought  that, 
if  elected,  he  would  not  carry  out  the  ideas  which  had  organized  the 
Republican    party  in   the   first   instance.     I   confess,  if  I  had   not 

thought  so,  I  would  not  have  allowed  my  name  to  be  used  as  a  can- 
ts •* 

didate  for  the  Presidency  in  1868 ;  and  I  must  acknowledge  that  I  now 
think  I  did  Grant  unintentional  injustice  in  so  supposing.  It  seems 
to  me  that,  though  he  was  not  well  prepared  for  the  Presidency,  he 
has  paid  more  respect  than  he  might  have  been  expected  to  pay  to 
the  ideas  of  the  party  which  supported  him.  He  has  done  or  sanc- 
tioned many  things  which  I  can  not  approve,  and  he  has  left  un- 
done many  things  which  I  think  he  could  have  done,  and  should 
have  done;  but  he  seems  to  me,  on  the  whole,  a  man  of  good 
intentions,  with  a  really  exalted  love  of  country." 

That  is  nearly  all  this  volume  feels  required,  or  even  free,  to  say 
about  Ulysses  Grant.  I  never  yet  have  spoken  to  the  President.  I 
never  heard  him  say  one  word.  I  was  not  even  present  when  our 
hero,  for  the  second  time,  administered  to  him  the  Presidential  oath, 
though  I  was  in  Washington  and  passed  the  grand  inaugural  page- 
ant as  I  went  my  way  westward  from  the  Capitol.  This  volume  is 
not  written  by  a  hero- worshiper.  But  I  sincerely  trust  that  the 
good  opinion  of  Ulysses  Grant,  expressed  by  Salmon  Portland  Chase, 
may  appear  to  have  been  fully  warranted. 

We  have  seen  how  our  hero,  for  some  time,  could  write  about  the 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  779 

Blairs.      Allow  me,  next,  to  call  attention  to  this    extract  from  a 
pleasant  little  note  from  Hon.  Montgomery  Blair  to  me: 

"For  a  time,  as  you  intimate,  he  may  have  had  some  resentment 
toward  some  of  the  Blairs.  He  certainly  bad  reason  to  feel  resent- 
ment, and  would  have  been  something  more  or  less  than  a  man  if 
he  had  (not)  felt  it.  But  lie  was  too  groat  and  good  a  man  to  har- 
bor such  feelings  long  toward  persons  who,  though  too  earnest  in 
controversy,  do  not  themselves  eherish  malice,  and  who,  after  the 
political  divergence  had  passed  away,  which  alone  led  to  any  per- 
sonal estrangement,  were  ready  to  have  supported  him  for  the 
highest  position  in  the  nation. 

••And  accordingly  you  see,  by  the  manner  in  which  he  closes  his 
last  brief  note  to  me,  that  if  there  ever  was  any  other  than  a  kindly 
feeling  toward  me,  arising  out  of  my  opposition  to  his  views,  our 
old  friendly  relations  had  been  resumed  before  his  career  was  closed 
on  earth.  He  had  not  only  pardoned  any  wrong  I  had  done  him 
before  he  went  hence,  but  he  was  my  -sincere  friend.' 

"I  certainly  tried  to  be  his  friend.  I  remonstrated  with  him  very 
earnestly  against  continuing  to  discharge  his  duties  on  the  bench, 
telling  him  that  men  in  his  situation  ought  to  allow  their  friends  to 
counsel  them,  that  he  had  earned  the  right  to  a  leave  of  absence, 
that  he  was  not  giving  himself  a  fair  chance,  etc. 

"Yours,  trulv,  M.  BLA1B. 

"Washington,  May  12,  1873." 

In  the  same  note,  Judge  Blair  furnished  me  with  the  copy  of  the 
note  addressed  to  him,  as  follows,  by  our  hero : 

"  601  E  Street,  Monday  Morning, 

"2Sth  April,  1873. 

"My  Dear  Mr.  Blair:  I  have  not  read  Mr.  Adams's  oration. 
There  is  no  reason,  I  think,  to  apprehend  any  damage  to  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's memory  from  the  exaggeration  of  Mr.  Seward's  merits.  But, 
if  my  health  permitted,  T  should  have  no  objection  to  comparing 
views  with  yourself  and  Mr.  Welles,  and  letting  the  results  be  made 
public.  Sincerely,  your  friend, 

"S.  P.  CHASE." 

Xine  days  after  so  writing,  the  Chief  Justice  ceased  to  live. 
That  little  note  appears  to  me  a  very  precious  document. 

The  present  work  may  well  serve,  in  part,  to  correct  some  of  the 
statements  in  the  already  mentioned  work  of  Hon.  Gideon  Welles, 
entitled  Lincoln  and  Seward.  In  that  work,  as  I  conceive,  Mr. 
Lincoln  is  not  a  little  damaged  by  his  indiscreet  defender's  dis- 
position to  disparage  Seward. 

Every  scrap  of  paper  in  which  I  find  a  word  addressed  to  me  by 
the  Chief  Justice,  now  appears  to  me  most  precious.     At  hand  is 


780  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  ASTD  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

this  undated  scrap  of  writing,  on  an  also  undated  note  addressed  by 
me  to  the  Chief  Justice  : 

""Will  you  come  to  breakfast  to-morrow,  at  9  ?  Professor  Pierce 
will  be  here.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

The  breakfast,  to  which  I  was  thus  invited,  was  a  thing  to 
be  remembered,  though  it  is  to  me  less  tenderly  memorable  than 
the  breakfast  of  the  3d  of  May,  the  last  I  had  with  u  my  Chief/' 
as  he  was  not  displeased  to  have  me  call  him.  I  remember  also, 
with  peculiar  interest,  the  breakfast  with  him  on  the  day  when  he 
started  on  his  last  visit  to  Richmond.  But  the  day  on  which  Pro- 
fessor Pierce  was  entertained  at  breakfast,  is  a  day  marked  in  my 
remembrance  by  a  talk  about  the  Ernest  Institute  and  Popular 
Nomology.  The  chief  objects  of  that  still  but  embryonic  In- 
stitute had  been  explained  to  the  Chief  Justice.  Proper  popular- 
ization of  the  popularizable  parts  of  jurisprudence  and  State  science 
was  a  thing  in  which  he  could  not  fail  to  take  some  interest;  but  he 
agreed  with  me  that  it  seemed  almost  impossible  to  convince  our 
savants  that  nomology  can  be  considered  as  belonging  to  the  order 
of  true  sciences.  Indeed,  I  dare  not  say  that  he  himself  was  ever 
a  deep  student  of  nomology. 

Yet  I  would  not  be  understood  to  underrate  his  legal  learning.  I 
have  already  intimated  that  I  thought  he  did  injustice  to  himself  as 
to  his  legal  learning  and  ability. 

In  this  connection,  quite  as  well  as  in  another,  I  may  offer  all 
that  I  propose  to  add  to  what  I  have  elsewhere  advanced,  about  his 
power  and  his  learning  as  a  legist. 

In  endeavoring  to  aid  the  readers  of  these  pages  to  appreciate  the 
legal  lore  and  other  learning  taken  by  the  hero  of  this  volume 
into  the  Chief  Justiceship  of  the  United  States,  perhaps  the  author 
is  in  danger  of  appearing  quite  too  "  "Western,"  and  therefore  too 
narrow,  in  his  notions.1  Let  the  reader  bear  in  mind  the  maxim, 
"  Strike,  but  hear !" 


1  Among  the  far  from  creditable  attempts  which  were  made  to  disparage,  in  ad- 
vance, this  volume,  may  be  mentioned  an  announcement  in  the  Publishers  Weekly, 
of  three  lives  of  Chase  as  in  progress.  Two  of  them  were  said  to  be  under  very 
happy  auspices.  Of  this  work  was  said  with  brevity,  if  not  with  the  true  soul  of 
wit,  that  the  author  was  "a  Western  gentleman,  Judge  Worden."  Such  is  fame  ! 
And  such  are  some  men's  manners.  Eh  lien!  I  trust  I  prove  myself,  at  least,  a 
gentleman,  although  a  "Western"  one. 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND  CHASE.  781 

I  am  neither  a  native  nor  a  resident  of  Ohio;  but  it  has  long 
seemed  to  me  that  there  is  something  wonderfully  typical  in  the 
whole  tract  of  territory  comprehended  in  the  Cincinnati  valley  and  its 
environs,  and  that  Ohio  is,  in  many  aspects,  the  most  representative 
of  all  the  States.  Ohio  notably  represents  the  land,  which,  though 
its  ample  boundaries  inclose  much  less  than  half  of  the  new  conti- 
nent, is  generally  called  America.  New  York  and  California  are 
also  very  typical.  They  represent,  however,  not  so  much  the 
country  as  some  districts  of  the  country.  So  it  is  with  the  "  Pal- 
metto State,"  and  with  Louisiana.  But  Ohio,  never  equaling,  in 
some  respects,  the  States  named  with  her,  much  surpasses  each  of 
them  in  typicalness.  You  behold  no  "  Golden  Gate,"  no  stately 
Hudson,  no  great  spread  of  waters,  where  Ohio  built  her  most 
characteristic  city.  California  has  mountains,  and  the  Empire 
State  has  mountainous  expanses ;  a  "  new  Switzerland "  delights 
the  tourist  in  New  Hampshire;  through  the  Keystone  State,  the 
Old  Dominion,  the  two  Carol inas,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Tennessee, 
Kentucky,  pass  the  Alleghanies  or  their  cognate  elevations ;  in 
Missouri,  there  appear  forerunners  of  the  Rocky  Mountains ;  in 
the  heights  last  named  are  aspirations  and  depressions,  illustrating 
the  majestic  force  of  contrast  in  the  mountains, — while  the  territory 
of  Ohio,  generally  level,  is  but  hilly  even  where  it  borders  the  two 
terraces  of  Cincinnati.  Once,  the  Cincinnatian  could  anticipate  the 
flourishing  of  a  new  Rheingau  in  the  lands  about  these  terraces; 
but  California  has  surpassed  Ohio  as  the  Vineyard  of  America. 
Then,  in  important  points,  New  England  is  more  representative  than 
any  other  portion  of  the  country;  and  a  like  remark  is  applicable 
to  the  South.  But,  on  the  whole,  Ohio,  in  her  land,  her  people, 
and  her  polity  and  jurisprudence,  is  more  representative  than  any 
of  her  sisters,  wayward  or  demure. 

While  Salmon  Portland  Chase  yet  lived,  I  wrote,  and  the  Ohio 
State  Journal  published,  three  letters;  one  of  which,  I  know,  was 
sent  to  him,  as  I  expected  that  it  would  be.  I  have  reason  to 
believe  he  did  not  read  it;  though  he  would  have  done  so  had  he 
lived  a  little  longer,  and  been  somewhat  more  at  leisure.  He  and  I 
conversed  about  those  letters,  and  I  told  him  that  I  wished  him,  at 
his  leisure,  to  peruse  them  carefully.  One  of  them  (the  second) 
reads,  in  part,  as  follows : 

"It  is  worth  more  than  a  passing  thought,  that  the  Chief  Justice 
set  out,  as  observed  in  my  preceding  letter,  as  a  so-called  literary 


782  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

lawyer.  He  composed,  for  publication,  verse  as  well  as  prose.  Yet 
he  was  early  chosen  as  a  bank  attorney,  and  was  destined  to  become 
renowned  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

'•Bank-notes  and  the  notes  of  music  seem  not  very  near  akin.  A 
poetic  genius  is  not  considered  likely  to  apply  itself  to  financiering. 
Bid  a  true  poetic  genius  manifest  itself  in  the  verse-making  of  Chief 
Justice  Chase?  A  turn  for  making  metrical  and  rhymed  expression 
of  poetic  thought  and  feeling  is  not  seldom  seen  where  no  poetic 
genius  is  to  be  discerned.  For  instance.  Warren  Hastings,  who  was 
certainly  no  very  gifted  bard,  made  verses  which  admirers  could  call 
poetry. 

"The  legal  teacher  of  Chief  Justice  Chase,  the  tuneful  "Wirt,  not 
only  wrote  poetic  prose;  he  versified  with  ease  and  grace.  Perhaps 
his  poetic  compositions  never  equaled  those  of  his  illustrious  pupil ; 
but  only  a  mere  eulogist  would  venture  to  maintain  that  either 
teacher  or  pupil  came  into  the  world  to  give  splendid  illustration  to 
the  truth,  ' poeta  nascitur.' 

"  It  is  far  more  the  taste  for  poetry  than  the  ability  to  write  it, 
that  displays  itself  in  these  two  eminent  legists.  But  the  fact  that 
each  of  them  indulged  and  cultivated  love  of  poetry,  and,  decidedly, 
had  truly  poetic  fancy  and  imagination,  as  well  as  the  emotional 
characteristics  which  appear  in  the  souls  born  to  court  the  muses 
with  success,  is  not  to  be  forgotten  in  comparing  and  contrasting  their 
distinctions. 

"  Wirt  was  a  musician.  Chase  could  never  either  sing  or  play.  But 
no  ungenial  man  could  have  composed  the  verses  which  the  pen  of 
the  Chief  Justice  offered  to  the  public  when  he  was  a  legal  youngster. 

"I  have  had  the  privilege  of  reading  his  diaries  as  well  as  a  vast 
number  of  his  letters.  If  I  were  now  ready  to  communicate  to  read- 
ers all  the  revelations  of  those  diaries  and  letters,  no  peruser  of  these 
paragraphs  could  fail  to  see  that  the  hand  by  which  those  diaries 
and  letters  were  composed  was  guided  by  a  truly  genial  heart. 

"  The  sad,  sweet  story  of  the  earlier  sorrows  of  that  heart  I  must 
not  now  relate. 

"Wirt  died  of  grief,  they  say — of  grief  for  the  loss  of  a  3'oung, 
bright  daughter.  I  have  lately  told  elsewhere  the  story  of  that 
undying,  killing  sorrow;  and  I  must  again  relate  it  in  another  place. 
Chase  grieved,  perhaps,  as  deeply,  during  years  of  his  young  man- 
hood; but  his  nature  was  endowed  with  greater  strength  than  had 
been  given  to  the  nature  of  his  amiable,  admirable  legal  teacher. 

"  Something  half  poetic  runs  through  the  whole  legal  life  of  Chase, 
except  where  the  prosaic  only  could  be  manifest.  The  conclusion 
of  his  argument  in  the  celebrated  Vanzandt  case  reminded  me  of  the 
poetic  prose  of  Milton. 

'•  Wirt  was  a  good  lawyer.     Chase  is  a  great  legist. 

"He  is  not  so  learned  in  so-called  'case-law'  as  his  brother, 
Swaync.  or  as  Senator  Thurman  ;  he  is  not  so  eloquent  as  many 
lawyers  one  could  name;  but,  take  him  for  all  in  all,  he  has  no 
superior  within  my  knowledge  as  a  jurist;  and  his  argument  of 
legal  questions,  whether  at  the  bar  or  on  the  bench,  has  always  been 
felicitous  in  thought  as  well  as  in  expression. 

"In  Ohio,  much  attention  has  been  given  to  the  limitations  of  the 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  783 

local  vigor  of  the  English  common  law.  atl'ected  by  constitutional 
provisions,  by  legislative  enactment,  and  by  the  customs,  modes  of 
life,  and  ideas  of  the  people  of  that  State.  The  maxim,  cessante  ra- 
tione  cessat  lex,  has  there  been  deeply  studied.  To  discern  those  lim- 
itations, and  to  comprehend  the  application  of  that  maxim,  is  to  be 
a  statesman. 

"This  was  evidentl}-  very  clear  to  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  when 
be  had  finished  his  laborious  and  faithful  compilation  of  the  Statutes 
of  Ohio.  It  is  not  so  evident  as  it  ought  to  be  to  many  lawyers, 
who  have  massive  dockets  ami  rich  clients.  Many  lawyers  are  ap- 
parently of  the  opinion  that  the  law  is  an  unnecessary  study  to  the 
legist.  Mr.  Chase  was  never  of  that  ilk.  He  was,  in  all  things, 
thorough,  patient,  practical,  and  therefore,  in  the  best  sense,  phi- 
losophical. 

"Therefore  it  was  that  his  agitation  as  a  legist  against  slavery 
was  so  effective.  What  inspired  it,  how  it  came  to  be  an  earnest 
and  determined  agitation,  and  how  it  fairly  forced  the  agitator  into 
candidature,  I  will  not,  in  this  communication,  undertake  to  inti- 
mate." 

It  seems  to  me  entirely  safe  to  stand  for  that  entirely  unpretend- 
ing judgment,  save  in  one  particular.  My  subsequent  studies  of 
the  legal  learning  and  ability  of  William  Wirt  have  tended  to 
make  me  question  whether  it  is  right  to  rank  him  below  our  hero 
as  a  legist. 

Wirt,  we  have  observed,  was  what  is  called  a  "literary  lawyer.'' 
Now,  your  literary  lawyer's  legal  learning,  and  even  his  ability  as  a 
mere  advocate,  the  whole  body  of  mere  lawyers  will  be  always 
found  disparaging.  But  Wirt  was  really,  all  things  considered, 
one  of  the  best  lawyers  of  this  country.1 


1In  an  article  on  The  Supreme  Court,  in  the  Cincinnati  American,  our  hero,  then  a 
young  lawyer,  wrote  as  follows: 

"Leaving  the  bench,  and  descending  to  the  bar,  the  names  of  Webster  and  Wirt 
immediately  occur  to  the  mind.  The  action  of  Mr.  Webster's  mind  seems  to  be  pecul- 
iar. His  distinguishing  attributes  are  clearness  and  force.  His  views  are  always 
lucid,  and  are  presented  with  great  power.  They  appear  to  be  the  result  of  deep 
reflection,  rather  than  of  study,  and  seem  to  indicate  a  preference  of  the  enlarged 
reason  of  that  universal  justice,  which  Cicero  styles  'the  wisdom  of  command  and 
prohibition,'  to  the  more  artificial  methods  of  the  common  law.  He  is  remarkable 
for  strength  rather  than  for  acuteness;  for  the  herculean  vigor  with  which  he 
grapples  with  his  adversary,  than  for  the  dexterity  with  which  he  subverts  his 
positions.  He  seldom  attempts  the  sublime;  but  when  he  does  soar,  his  flight  is 
upon  no  middle  wing,  and  for  no  ignoble  purpose.  His  enunciation  is  clear  and 
distinct.  His  voice  is  deep  and  sonorous;  his  language  plain  and  intelligible,  yet 
chaste  and  elegant.  Sometimes  his  phraseology  is  peculiarly  striking  and  ex- 
pressive. His  manner,  though  somewhat  deficient  in  ease  and  grace,  is  dignified 
and  impressive.     Such  is  a  meagre  description  of  Daniel  Webster  as  a  lawyer. 


784  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES 

Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson,  who  presided  at  a  meeting  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  held  in 
the  court-room  of  that  tribunal  in  the  Capitol,  October  13,  1873, 
said,  in  the  course  of  his  opening  statement: 

"As  our  late  loss  was  that  of  the  presiding  judge,  it  is  sufficient  to 
pay  a  passing  tribute  to  the  memory  of  those  who  preceded  him  as 
well  as  to  that  of  the  late  chief.  It  may  with  truth  be  said  that  no 
nation  in  the  world  has  produced  abler  and  purer  judges  than  Jay 
and  Ellsworth,  Marshall,  Taney,  and  Chase.  The  labors  of  Marshall 
and  Taney,  covering  so  many  years  of  service,  do,  more  and  more, 
as  time  rolls  on,  command  the  admiration  of  the  profession,  and  of 
the  country.  Chief  Justice  Chase's  term  was  so  brief  that  the  law- 
yer readily  remembers  the  few  judgments  which  he  pronounced. 

"The  ability  of  these  judgments,  the  full  knowledge  which  they 
display,  and  the  admirable  judicial  style  in  which  they  were  ren- 
dered, filled  the  professional  mind  not  only  with  admiration,  but 
with  wonder.  For  many  years  he  had  ceased  to  practice  the  profes- 
sion, devoting  himself  almost  exclusively  to  the  political  contests  of 
the  day.  His  immediate  labors  before  his  elevation  to  the  bench 
were,  it  is  true,  excessively  arduous,  and  evinced  the  greatest  ability, 
but  they  bore  little  or  no  analogy  to  the  subjects  which  he  had  to 
treat  when  he  became  the  head  of  the  tribunal.  It  was  surprising, 
therefore,  that,  at  the  very  threshold  of  his  duties,  he  exhibited  a 
knowledge  entirely  adequate  to  their  able  and  satisfactory  discharge. 


"Mr.  Wirt,  is  the  great  rival  of  Mr.  Webster  at  the  bar.  To  say  that  he  is  worthy 
to  be  so,  is  a  high,  yet  far  from  a  just  tribute  to  his  merit.  The  character  of  his 
mind  is  not  generally  understood.  There  is  a  general  impression  that  he  is  distin- 
guished for  brilliancy  rather  than  strength,  that  he  is  endowed  with  a  fertile  fancy  and 
splendid  imagination,  but  is  deficient  in  the  power  of  deep  thought  and  logical  inves- 
tigation. Never  was  opinion  more  groundless.  True  it  is  that  he  can  paint  in  the 
most  glowing  colors  of  fancy,  and  true  that  he  is  master  of  all  the  graces  of  elo- 
quence. But  these  are  but  auxiliary,  subordinate  powers.  They  are  but  a  light 
drapery,  which  he  can  put  on  and  off  at  will.  The  higher  powers  are  equally  his, 
and  are  far  more  frequently  exhibited  in  actual  exercise.  His  investigations  are 
remarkably  profound.  There  is  no  principle,  however  slightly  connected  with  the 
case,  which  he  does  not  examine  in  all  its  bearings.  His  argumentation  is  close. 
severe,  and  logical;  of  course,  exceedingly  powerful. 

"  His  mind  is  thoroughly  imbued  with  legal  learning,  and  that  system  of  reason 
which  is  peculiar  to  the  law.  He  grasps  at  once  the  whole  subject  in  all  its  exten- 
sion ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  inspects  the  detail  in  all  its  minuteness.  His  power  of 
sarcasm  is  tremendous,  and  woe  to  the  unlucky  wight  who  provokes  its  exercise! 
His  generalship  in  the  conduct  of  a  cnuse  is  admirable.  Every  strong  post  is  forti- 
fied with  assiduous  care,  and  the  intervening  spaces  are  not  left  unguarded.  Few 
of  his  positions  can  be  assaulted  with  hope  of  success,  and  few  are  the  contests  in 
which  he  is  obliged  to  yield  to  superior  strength.  In  fine,  it  may  be  justly  said  of 
him,  while  as  an  orator  he  is  acknowledged  to  equal  any,  in  strength  of  mind,  depth 
of  thought,  power  of  argument,  and  splendor  of  genius  he  is  surpassed  by  none." 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  785 

The  occasion  will  not  permit  me  to  refer  particularly  to  any  of  his 
opinions;  but  I  know  you  will  not  think  me  going  too  far  when  I  say 
that,  judging  him  by  those  opinions,  he  proved  himself  in  nil  respects 
the  equal  of  the  great  men  who  preceded  him;  and  that  his  uniform 
kindness  and  courtesy  to  all  the  members  of  the  profession  com- 
manded their  esteem  and  regard." 

I  beg  pardon;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  was  not  said  with  full 
knowledge  of  the  facts.  Whoever  knew  the  legal  life  of  Chase  at 
Cincinnati,  knew  him  not  only  as  a  legal  genius,  but  as  a  man  of 
thorough  legal  learning.  He  was  not  distinguished  as  a  "jury 
lawyer;"  he  was  not,  addressing  a  jury,  happy  as  were  other  advo- 
cates that  I  could  name;  but  his  addresses  to  the  court  were  very 
models.  Then,  one  thought  not  of  his  troubled  utterance.  His  lofty 
reasoning,  so  fitly  worded,  then  made  one  forget  his  elocution,  the 
defects  of  which  were  wholly  natural,  and  pay  to  his  ideas  that  at- 
tention which  is  never  given  to  an  ordinary  thinker,  whether  he 
address  us  with  the  voice  or  with  the  pen. 

Yet  we  are  told  that  he  went  to  the  Supreme  Court  without  ap- 
preciating that  tribunal!  So  a  writer  in  the  Bench  and  Bar  would 
have  us  understand  ;  and  so  would  others  have  us  concede. 

But  the  truth  is,  once,  a  lawyer,  always  a  lawyer.  Nothing  ever 
made  the  man  whose  life  we  study  inattentive  to  those  parts  of  legal 
learning  which  are  of  the  greatest  interest  to  the  judicial  mind. 
And  never  did  he  cease  to  reverence  the  great  tribunal  in  which 
he  succeeded  Taney. 

As  for  Taney,  what  should  here  be  said  of  him  ?  Somewhat 
more  than  a  passing  word  I  feel  obliged,  though  most  reluctantly,  to 
say  about  that  legal  luminary. 

That  I  can  not  bring  myself  to  praise  him,  results  in  great  part 
from  my  comparison  of  his  life  at  the  bar  with  his  life  on  the  bench. 

At  the  bar,  he  argued  Jacob  Gruber's  case.  If  he  told  the  truth, 
as  we  must  believe  he  did,  what  he  there  said  in  favor  of  the  cause 
of  freedom — what  he  uttered  there  against  the  darling  and  peculiar 
institution  of  the  South — was  not  merely  the  language  of  an  advo- 
cate. It  was  the  studied  utterance  of  a  mature  mind,  and  a  heart 
carefully  instructed.  As  just  intimated,  he  was  not  then  young. 
He  had  arrived  at  middle  age.  He  was  not,  like  Chase,  a  man  born 
in  a  free  State.  Born  in  a  slave  State,  he  had  lived  nearly  all  his 
life  within  the  borders  of  that  State. 

To  reconcile  the  spirit  of  his  utterances  at  that  time  with  the 


786  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AXD   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

spirit  of  his  dicta  in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  must  be  the  task  of  a  fool, 
a  madman,  or  a  knave. 

But  how  was  it  with  his  perceptions?  Mr.  Vansantvoord,  in  his 
biographic  sketch  of  Taney,1  yields  this  information  : 

"Mr.  "Wirt,  though  in  general  chary  of  his  compliments,  did  not 
hesitate  to  do  ample  justice  to  the  great  abilities  of  his  rival.  On 
one  occasion,  .  .  .  he  alluded  to  Taney  ...  as  'the  man 
of  moonlight  mind.  I  mean,'  he  added,  'the  moonlight  of  the 
Arctics,  where  you  have  all  the  light  of  day  without  its  glare.'  " 

Neither  the  light  nor  the  glare  of  a  fine  intellectual  day  can  I 
discern  in  the  mind  of  Roger  Brooke  Taney,  as  reflected  in  his  ut- 
terances as  a  judge.  The  best  argument  that  could  be  made  in 
mitigation  of  the  sentence  history  must  certainly  pronounce  against 
him,  would,  it  seems  to  me,  make  much  of  Wirt's  conception  of 
his  character  as  a  "man  of  moonlight  mind" — a  character  of  mind 
too  often  seen  in  legal  luminaries,  I  conceive. 

And  how  was  it  with  Marshall?  Marshall,  like  the  hero,  one  of 
whose  biographers  he  was,  has  been  almost  apotheosized.  It  is 
almost  as  perilous  to  speak  of  him  with  simple  truthfulness  as  it 
would  be  to  write  a  simply  true  biography  of  Washington.  But 
some  things  I  must  venture  to  submit  about  the  most  illustrious  of 
our  hero's  predecessors  on  the  bench  of  our  supreme  tribunal. 

Marshall  was  a  soldier  and  a  politician  before  he  was  commis- 
sioned as  Chief  Justice.  He  was  not  profound  in  statesmanship, 
though  he  had  rendered  diplomatic  service.  When  he  was  commis- 
sioned as  the  highest  judge  of  our  highest  court,  he  had  but  little 
legal  learning.  As  an  advocate,  he  never  could  have  equaled 
Salmon  Portland  Chase.  And,  certainly,  he  took  with  him  on 
the  bench  far  less  of  legal  learning  and  ability  than  our  hero  had  in 
December,  1864. 

Yet  he  achieved,  by  extraordinary  merit,  aided  by  the  force  of 
time  and  chance,  a  splendid  reputation  as  a  judge. 

That  reputation  would,  indeed,  be  less,  if  it  were  well  remem- 
bered that  he  did  some  very  unbecoming  things  as  Chief  Justice — 
tilings  done  in  the  interest  of  party  spirit.  For  example,  let  me 
mention  the  celebrated  case  of  Marbury  v.  Madison.2 

Mr.  Randall  not  only  says,  but  clearly  proves,  that  "  toward  Mr. 
Jefferson,  politically  and  personally,"  Marshall  "  entertained  the 
deepest  aversion;''  and  he  well  adds,  "And  it  is  but  justice  to  say 

1  Lives  of  the  Chief  Justices,  478.         21  Cranch,  138. 


OF  SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE.  787 

that  these  feelings  were  heartily  reciprocated  by  the  latter."1  Yet 
it  seems  but  proper  to  concede  that  Marshall,  though  a  warm  Adams 
man,  and  though  known  as  a  "  moderate  Federalist " — was  at  least, 
in  general,  almost  a  no-party  man.  And  I  would  say  that  there 
was  more  of  the  Adams  man  than  of  the  Federalist,  that  there  was 
more  of  personal  and  political  aversion  toward  Jefferson  than  of 
devotion  to  the  Federal  party,  in  his  action  in  Marbury  v.  Madison. 

That  case  is  not  of  interest  to  legists  only.  Every  enlightened 
citizen  should  be  familiar  with  it.  But  I  must  confine  myself  to 
one  or  two  remarks  about  its  indications  as  to  Marshall's  feeling 
for  his  office. 

He  decides,  distinctly,  that  the  court  has  no  jurisdiction  of  the 
subject-matter ;  and  then,  as  if  to  foreshadow  Taney's  misbehavior 
in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  goes  off  into  mere  obiter.  He  unbecomingly 
expresses  an  opinion  as  to  the  case  that  might  have  called  for  an  ex- 
amination; and  all  this,  that  he  may  impertinently  censure  the  Chief 
Magistrate  of  the  United  States — a  personage  he  hates. 

These  are  the  hard,  historical  facts  of  the  case.  I  grieve  to  have 
to  own  that  they  are  undeniable. 

It  must  not  be  inferred,  however,  that  Salmon  Portland  Chase 
did  not   reverence  John    Marshall,2  or  that   the  composer  of  this 


1  Life  of  Jefferson,  ii,  36. 

2 In  the  already  cited  article,  contributed  to  the  Cincinnati  American  by  our  hero 
as  a  young  man,  appear  also  the  sentences: 

"The  Chief  Justice  has  long  been  venerable  for  the  blameless  purity,  the  consci- 
entious fidelity,  and  the  extraoi'dinary  ability  with  which  he  has  exercised  his  high 
functions.  His  mind  is  equally  remarkable  for  the  reach  of  comprehension,  by 
which  it  takes  in  the  remotest  relations  and  consequences  of  things,  and  the  won- 
derful power  of  discrimination,  by  which  it  reaches  at  once  the  precise  question  in 
every  controversy,  and  tears  from  it  every  folding  which  enwraps  it — to  the  eye  of 
his  mind,  facts  are  naked,  and  to  his  understanding  a  few  principles  are  the  con- 
densed expression  of  the  law.  'He  has  the  rare  faculty,'  said  a  friend  who  knows 
him  intimately,  and  is  capable,  if  any  man  is,  of  estimating  his  mental  character, 
'he  has  the  rare  faculty  of  looking  at  a  subject  with  a  simple  directness  and  inten- 
sity, that  resolves  it  into  its  elements.'  With  an  intellect  so  singularly  endowed,  and 
with  learning  various  and  extensive  as  the  requisitions  made  upon  it,  and  with  an 
integrity  that  suspicion  lias  never  questioned,  it  is  obvious  that  he  is  eminently 
qualified  for  his  exalted  and  responsible  station.  Happy  is  our  country,  that  in 
the  youth  of  our  national  existence,  one  has  been  found  to  preside  in  her  highest 
court  of  judicature,  whose  decisions  upon  the  delicate  and  important  questions,  at 
this  period  perpetually  arising,  by  their  wisdom,  their  justice,  and  their  explicit- 
ness,  commend  themselves  equally  to  the  understanding,  the  conscience,  and  the 
heart  of  all  her  citizens." 

51 


788  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC    SERVICES 

work  would  raise  a  question  as  to  the  ultimate  title  of  John  Mar- 
shall's memory  to  high  regard. 

I  think,  indeed,  that  Chase  idealized  the  character  of  Marshall. 
But  John  Marshall,  like  George  Washington,  was  but  a  man.  Like 
Salmon  Portland  Chase,  he  was  a  far  from  faultless  person.  He 
had  foibles  and  grave  faults,  as  had  George  Washington. 

And  here  allow  me  to  submit  a  farther  word,  in  simple  justice  to 
the  method  and  the  spirit  of  this  book.  That  method  guides  us  to 
just  judgment  of  our  hero.  Such  a  method  in  a  life  of  Marshall, 
such  a  method  in  a  life  of  Washington,  might  seem  iconoclastic. 
After  all,  however,  Washington,  the  real  man,  was  nobler  than  the 
myth.  He  was  a  real  worthy,  if  a  real  worthy  ever  lived  beneath 
the  heavens.  Marshall,  also,  far  from  faultless  as  he  was,  was  a 
true  worthy.  And  it  is  with  confidence  that  I  expect  a  favorable 
final  judgment  of  the  hero  of  this  work  by  every  fair-minded  reader, 
though  I  have,  from  time  to  time,  throughout  the  work,  exposed 
what  seems  to  me  the  naked  truth  about  the  errors  and  misconduct 
of  the  man  whose  life  we  study. 

Such  is  the  true  spirit  of  this  work.  Such  was  its  real  spirit, 
always.  The  prophetic  criticisms  of  it — some  of  which  were  simply 
savage — were  as  foolish  as  ferocious. 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  789 


CHAPTER    LIV. 

CHASE   AND   THE   THEATER — HIS   RELIGION,    HIS   AFFECTIONS,    AND    HIS 
MANNERS ALTERED    HEALTH. 

DANIEL  DOUGHERTY,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  is  a  lawyer. 
But  sometimes  he  goes  lecturing  about  Orators  and  Oratory, 
and  about  Actors  and  Acting.  He  allows  himself,  indeed,  to  he 
described,  in  show-bill-like  hand-bills,  as  the  greatest  living  orator. 
In  truth,  it  seems  to  me,  he  is  not  an  orator  at  all.  He  is,  I  grant 
a  tolerable  actor,  for  an  amateur,  in  spite  of  the  trick  in  his  walk, 
and  the  trick  in  his  talk,  and  his  nasal  cadencies,  and  his  bad  pro- 
nunciation of  the  first  letter  of  the  alphabet  of  his  mother-tongue. 
In  short,  as  a  performer  he  is  rather  entertaining.  Having  heard 
him  about  Orators  and  Oratory,  I,  quite  ignorant  that  he  was  an 
acquaintance  of  Chief  Justice  Chase,  advised  the  latter  to  go,  see,  and 
hear  aforesaid  Daniel  Dougherty  perform,  in  a  so-called  lecture  on 
Actors  and  Acting. 

Greatly  entertained  was  the  chief  justice,  of  whom  many  evidently 
thought,  while  Mr.  Dougherty  repeated  the  words  put  by  Shakes- 
peare into  Wolsey's  mouth  as  follows  : 

"  Cromwell,  I  did  not  think  to  shed  a  tear 
In  all  my  miseries ;  but  thou  bast  forced  me, 
Out  of  thy  honest  truth,  to  play  the  woman. 
Let's  dry  our  eyes:  and  thus  far  hear  me,  Cromwell; 
And — when  I  am  forgotten,  as  I  shall  be, 
And  sleep  in  dull,  cold  marble,  where  no  mention 
Of  me  more  must  be  heard  of — say,  I  taught  thee — 
Say,  Wolsey — that  once  trod  the  ways  of  glory, 
And  sounded  all  the  depths  and  shoals  of  honor — 
Found  thee  a  way,  out  of  his  wreck,  to  rise  in — 
A  safe  and  sure  one,  though  thy  master  missed  it. 
Mark  but  my  fall  and  that  that  ruined  me. 
Cromwell,  I  charge  thee,  fling  away  ambition ; 
By  that  sin  fell  the  angels ;  how  can  man,  then, 
The  image  of  his  Maker,  hope  to  win  by   t  T 
Love  thyself  last :  cherish  those  hearts  that  hate  thee  : 
Corruption  wins  not  more  than  honesty. 


790  THE    PRIVATE    EIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Still  in  thy  right  hand  carry  gentle  peace, 

To  silence  envious  tongues.     Be  just  and  fear  not ; 

Let  all  the  ends  thou  aim'st  at  be  thy  country's,- 

Thy  God's,  and  truth's;  then  if  thou  fall'st,  0  Cromwell, 

Thou  fall'st  a  blessed  martyr." 

Much  the  best  part  of  the  "  lecture "  was  the  rather  too  stagy 
reading  of  these  words  ;  and  those  by  which  they  are  immediately 
followed  were  also  rendered  very  fairly.  To  say  that  every  eye  in 
the  audience  was  turned  toward  the  chief  justice  would  be  to  dis- 
parage the  attention  given  to  the  "lecturer;"  but  one  felt  that  every 
one  else  was  thinking,  then,  of  the  man  whose  high  career  and  char- 
acter now  occupy  the  thinking  of  my  gentle  reader. 

Daniel  Dougherty,  Esq.,  was  certainly  as  happy,  at  that  moment, 
as  he  could  have  been  had  he  been,  indeed,  the  "  greatest  living 
orator."  He  was  applauded  to  the  very  echo.  And  Chief  Justice 
Chase  applauded  him  as  heartily  as  did  the  others. 

The  next  morning,  I  was  called  upon  by  the  chief  justice  for  an 
opinion  of  the  "lecture"  aforesaid.  I  objected  to  the  lecturer's  ap- 
parent failure  to  appreciate  the  golden  opportunity  he  then  had,  and, 
before  that  time,  had  more  than  once  had,  to  show,  if  he  was  able  to 
show,  the  higher,  deeper,  broader  interest  of  the  drama  to  religion 
and  to  morals  as  well  as  to  high  art. 

"  My  chief"  agreed  with  me  in  that  behalf.  We  had,  indeed, 
talked  of  the  stage  before;  and  he  had  half  regretted  that  he  had  so 
seldom  visited  the  theater. 

That  was  to  me  a  wholesome  indication.  As  already  mentioned, 
I  had  never  met  him  in  the  theater  at  Cincinnati,  where  I  had  often 
met  some  of  the  best  men  I  have  ever  intimately  known.  And  now, 
speaking  for  myself  alone,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  expressing  the 
opinion,  that  he  would  have  been  more  wholesomely  religious  had 
he  visited  the  theater  more  frequently,  and  devoted  more  attention 
to  the  plays  of  Shakspeare,  which  might  almost  be  described  as  a 
second  Bible. 

But,  for  all  that,  his  religiousness  was  eminently  creditable  to  him. 
Whatever  it  may  have  been  at  one  period,  it  was,  toward  the  last, 
neither  bigoted  nor  superficial.  It  was  very  like  his  love  of  country, 
which  was  cosmopolitan  and  philanthropic. 

Was  he,  after  all,  a  genial  man — a  man  to  love  as  well  as  to 
admire  ? 

No  inordinately  ambitious  man  was  ever  truly  amiable.     But,  I 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE,  791 

trust,  I  have  already  shown  that  Salmon  Portland  Chase  was  really 
quite  moderate  in  his  ambition. 

He  was  fairly  worried  into  presidential  candidature.  Perfect  de- 
monstration of  that  fact  I  can  not  make,  indeed  j  but  I  have  at  least 
offered  evidence  that  very  strongly  tends  to  prove,  that  what  I  have 
just  said  is  but  the  truth,  respecting  the  connection  of  our  hero's 
name,  and  even  his  occasional  desires  and  aspirations,  with  the  presi- 
dency.1 

I  have  not  attempted  to  conceal  his  faults.  But  is  it  not  of  great 
significance  that  this  man  so  freely  opened  to  me  all  the  secrets  of 
his  life  ? 

He  did  not  hide  that  Barney  debt.  I  found  among  the  papers 
which  he  furnished  for  my  biographic  use  two  copies  of  the  letter, 
showing  his  indebtedness — his  most  unwise,  his  weak  indebtedness 
— to  Hiram  Barney,  while  the  latter  was  Collector  at  Xew  York  ami 
he.  himself,  was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  He  hid  nothing.  He 
directed  me  to  open  all  his  letters  when  he  should  be  absent,  saying 
that  he  had  no  secrets,  thenceforth,  from  his  biographer.  Is  not  a 
mens  conscia  recti  here  apparent  ? 

He  was  well  acrpaainted  with  my  weaknesses,  but  he  also  knew 
that  my  love  of  truth,  as  I  discerned  it,  was  a  very  passionate  at- 
tachment. He  did  not  expect  me,  he  did  not  desire  me,  to  deny  or 
to  conceal  the  truth  about  him. 

Great  is  my  reliance  ou  this  indication.  Great  is  my  reliance 
also  on  the  indications  of  our  conversations  touching  love  of  conntrv 
and  our  talks  about  religion. 

And  now  I  wish  to  call  attention  to  the  Psalm  that  seems  to  have 
been  his  favorite.  It  is  the  119th  ;  and,  according  to  the  version 
he  used,  concludes  as  follows : 

"  TAU. 

"  Let  my  cry  come  near  before  thee, O  Lord  !  give  me  understand- 
ing according  to  thy  word. 

"Let  my  supplication  come  before  thee  :  deliver  me  according  to 
thy  word. 

"My  lips  shall  utter  praise,  when  thou  hast  taught  me  thy 
statutes. 


1  In  Chapter  L.  I  omitted  to  state,  as  to  Mr.  Hassaurek,  that  I  understood  thai 
distinguished  journalist  to  base  his  opposition  to  Chase,  in  1872,  chiefly  on  the 
ground  that  no  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  ought  to  allow  himself  to  be  a  PreBl- 
dental  candidate. 


792  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC  SERVICES 

'■  My  tongue  shall  speak  of  thy  word  :  for  all  thy  commandments 
are  righteousness. 

"Let  thine  hand  help  me;  for  I  have  chosen  thy  precepts. 

"I  have  longed  for  thy  salvation,  0  Lord!  and  thy  law  is  my 
delight. 

"  Let  my  soul  live,  and  it  shall  praise  thee  ;  and  let  thy  judgments 
help  me. 

'•  I  have  gone  astray  like  a  lost  sheep ;  seek  thy  servant ;  for  I 
do  not  forget  thy  commandments." 

Feeling  deeply  my  unworthiness  to  speak  at  large  of  holy  themes, 
I  still  presume  to  repeat,  that  the  supreme  distinction  of  the  life  we 
have  been  studying  is  deep,  though  it  may  be  somewhat  dark,  reli- 
giousness. 

To  whom  should  that  be  an  indifferent  consideration  ?  When 
life  seems  full  of  joy  or  glory,  we  may  care  but  little  for  religion ;  but 
when  some  great  grief  descends  upon  us,  even  if  it  fall  not  like  the 
thunderbolt,  but  rather  like 

"The  gentle  rain  from  heaven 
Upon  the  place  beneath," 

how  is  it  with  us  then  ? 

Ah !  then,  at  least,  we  feel  there  is  no  God  but  God. 

According  to  that  strange  John  Ruskin,  grief  must  be  classed  as 
a  noble  passion.  Truly,  that  is  not  ill  said.  The  works  of  sorrow, 
as  already  hinted,  are  more  beautiful  than  all  the  works  of  joy. 

Have  we  not  seen  how  wonderfully  sorrow  wrought  in  the  heart 
and  through  the  lips  and  pen  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase?  The 
well-nigh  tragic  death  of  his  first  wife — have  we  not  seen  how  it 
inspired  and  guided  him  for  years,  during  the  very  strength  of  his 
noble  manhood  ? 

Possibly,  that  sorrow  made  his  piety  almost  too  sombre.  So,  at 
hast,  most  German  readers  will  be  apt  to  think. 

Yet  is  it  easy  to  misunderstand  the  joyous  views  of  the  German. 
Few  Americans  would  be  ready  to  distinguish  German  tendencies 
and  tones  of  thought  and  feeling  in  the  terms,  in  which  William 
Srhlcgel  describes  the  difference  between  the  ideal  of  Christian  or 
Romantic  Art,  including  poetry,  and  the  Art  called  Classic. 

A  foot-note1  enables  readers  of  the  German  to  appreciate  the  man- 


1  The  passage  referred  to   is  in  the  lectures  on  Dramatic  Art  and   Literature. 
Part  of  it  is  as  follows  : 

"Die  Anschauung  des  Unendlichen  hat  das  Endliche  vernichtet;  das  Leben  ist 


OF  SALMON   PORTLAND   0HA8E.  793 

ner  as  well  as  the  matter  of  the  fine  comparison  referred  to.  But  I 
am  not  at  liberty  to  assume  that  every  reader  understands  the  very 
words  of  the  very  interesting  extract  contained  in  that  foot-note. 
The  substance  of  their  meaning  is  that,  in  the  ideal  of  <  Ihrbtian  or 
romantic  art,  which  Schlegel  is  comparing  with  classic  art,  the  con- 
templation of  the  Infinite  has  annihilated  the  Finite  ;  life  has  Income 
a  world  of  shadows  and  night;  and  not  until  we  pass  the  boundary 
between  this  life  and  the  life  beyond  the  grave,  rises  the  endless  day 
of  our  real  existence.  Such  a  religion,  says  this  eminently  German 
thinker,  must  waken  into  distinct  consciousness  the  suspicion,  slum- 
bering in  each  feeling  heart,  that  we  are  longing  for  a  bliss,  here 
unattainable,  that  no  outward  object  can  ever  cpuite  fill  our  souls,  and 
that  all  enjoyment  is  a  fleeting  illusion. 

No  discerning  reader  understands  that  I  consider  Schlegel  a  per- 
fectly representative  German — as  typical,  for  example,  as  Goethe,  or 
the  two  Grimms,  or  the  two  Humboldts.  Nor  will  any  reader  sup- 
pose that  those  words  of  Schlegel  are  presented  as  describing  the 
ideal  of  felicity  which  every  good  German  contemplates  with  aspira- 
tion. But  it  seemed  proper  to  present  those  ideas  of  a  German, 
lecturing  in  Vienna,  on  dramatic  art  and  literature,  and  to  say, 
that,  contrary  to  the  notion  of  so  many  non-Germans  in  this  coun- 
try, very  many  beer-drinking,  wine-glorifying  Germans,  fully  accept 
the  theory  of  Christian  joy  and  sorrow,  intimated  by  that  lecturer. 

I  acknowledge  that  the  true  characteristics  of  the  German  often 
appear  to  me  precisely  opposite  to  the  traits  attributed  to  him  by 
English  and  New-English  prejudices. 

Chase  did  not  read  deeply  the  German  literature.  He  might 
have  been  more  wholesomely  religious  had  he  been  able  to  read  ap- 
preciatively such  verse  as  the  Frau  Schnipa  of  Buerger,  for  example, 
or  as  the  just  cited  lectures  of  William  Schlegel  on  dramatic  art 
and  literature. 

We  conversed,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  about  what  appeared 
to  both  of  us  the  fearful  error  which  the  Roman  Catholics  committed 
in  declaring  that  the  Pope  is,  in  certain  utterances,  to  be  deemed  in- 


zur  Schattenwelt  und  zur  Naeht  geworden,  und  erst  jenseits  gelit  der  ewige  Tag  des 
wesentlichen  Daseins  auf.  Eine  solche  Religion  mnsi  die  Ahnung.  die  in  alien 
gcfiililvollen  Herzen  schlummert,  zum  deutlichen  Bewusitsein  weeken.  .  1 : i ^ z  wir 
nach  einer  hier  nnnerreichbaren  Gluckseligkeit  trachten,  d&8l  kien  ausierer 
Gcgenstand  jemals  unsre  Seele  ganz  wird  erfiillen  kunnen,  dasz  aller  Gtanusi  eine 
fliiciitige  Tauschung  ist." 


/ 

794  THE  PEIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

fallible.  I  took  some  trouble  to  define  my  understanding  of  that 
declaration.  But  I  did  not  hide  from  him  how  strong  my  feeling 
for  that  church  remained.  He  sympathized  with  me  in  that  behalf, 
and  spoke  most  kindly  and  appreciatively  of  Roman  Catholics  and 
Roman  Catholicity. 

He  did  not  like  the  men  whom  I  called  bigots  of  unbelief — such, 
for  example,  as  Henry  Thomas  Buckle,  and  such  lesser  lights  as 
Moncure  D.  Conway.  When  I  asked  him  once  how  he  could  read 
such  and  such  works  without  doubting  as  to  revelation,  he  explained 
by  saying,  shortly  : 

"  I  do  n't  read  'em." 

I  do  not  ascribe  to  him  the  proper  interest  in  the  relations  be- 
tween faith  and  science.  Nor  do  I  ask  leave  to  vindicate  or  even 
to  indicate  my  own  religious  views.  My  object  is  to  indicate  the 
tone  and  turn  of  religious  feeling  in  the  hero  of  this  work. 

As  already  intimated,  we  had  delightful  walks  and  talks,  a  full 
account  of  which  would  fill  a  volume  of  considerable  size.  But  I 
must  hasten  toward  the  conclusion  of  this  work.  I  have  not  room 
to  say  much  more  about  the  intercourse  referred  to,  nor  can  I  consider 
that  it  would  be  well  to  add  much  to  the  revelations  I  have  made 
already. 

I  must  not,  however,  omit  to  relate  this  anecdote :  One  day,  we 
traversed  a  place  where  he  had  lately  had  a  heavy  fall.  I  told  him 
what  Captain  Burritt,  of  the  Washington  Herald,  had  related  to  me 
of  that  accident.     He  said  : 

"  ( >h  !  that's  nothing." 

For  a  moment  I  felt  silenced.  Then  I  said,  with  some  emo- 
tion : 

"It  may  seem  nothing  to  }rou;  but  every  thing  that  affects  your 
welfare  is  of  interest  to  me.  I  am  not  a  good  flatterer,  but  I  believe 
I  am  a  good  friend.'' 

He  answered,  turning  his  full  gaze  upon  me,  and  in  a  tone  of 
deep  feeling : 

"  I  believe  you  are !  " 

And  so  we  dropped  the  subject,  and  walked  on. 

From  that  time  till  we  parted  finally,  our  intercourse  grew  more 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  795 

and  affectionately  intimate.  One  morning,  when  I  was  reading,  lie 
came  ami  leaned  over  me,  putting  his  arm  around  my  Deck,  and 
reading  with  me.     The  work  so  read  was  Kennedy's  Life  of  Wirt. 

I  often  read  to  him  Wirt's  letters,  in  which  he  apparently  found 
much  to  interest  him  deeply. 

I  have  not  intended  that  it  should  be  understood  that  before  the 
intimacy  here  referred  to,  I  had  ever  been  extremely  intimate  with 
the  chief  justice.     But  we  came  to  love  each  other  dearly. 

Now  and  then,  indeed,  his  old  imperiousness  made  his  bearing 
very  trying;  and  I  had  to  let  him  know  that  if  he  could  not  better 
bear  himself  toward  me,  it  would  not  be  possible  for  our  relations  to 
continue.  Once,  I  wrote  him  a  note  to  that  effect.  He  was  going  to 
Richmond,  and  I  sent  my  note  so  that  he  would  find  it  there.  But 
then  I  repented,  and,  in  another  note,  which,  at  his  request,  I  read 
to  him  at  the  breakfast  table,  requested  him  to  send  me  back  the 
other  note,  unopened.  In  the  second  note,  I  indicated  my  intention 
to  bear  all  I  could,  in  view  of  his  greater  age  and  his  ill-health. 

That  explanation  was  most  pleasantly  received,  and  it  made  us 
better  friends  than  we  had  ever  been  before.  The  first  note  was  re- 
turned, unread,  as  I  desired. 

One  day,  his  little  grandson,  Willie  Sprague,  had  disturbed  his 
papers  and  mine  also.  He  spoke  to  me  on  the  subject,  saying:  "I 
suppose  Willie  sometimes  puts  you  to  some  trouble."  I  responded, 
"Oh!  no  matter.  I  love  children."  He  replied:  "Dear  little 
fellow!  he  may  live  to  thank  you,  some  day,  fin*  what  you  are  now 
doing  for  his  grandfather." 

How  affectionate  the  tone  of  that  expression  was,  I  have  no 
power  to  intimate.  The  remembrance  of  that  tone,  those  words, 
must  dwell  in  my  heart  forever. 

Here  is  a  paragraph  I  find  afloat  in  the  press: 

"An  old  friend  of  the  late  Chief  Justice  tells  us  an  anecdote  show- 
ing Mr.  Chase's  cleverness  at  repartee.  While  on  a  visit  to  tho 
Southern  States,  after  the  war.  Mr.  Chase  was  introduced  to  a  very 
beautiful  woman,  who  prided  herself  on  her  devotion  to  the  '  lost 
cause.'  Anxious  that  the  chief  justice  should  know  her  real  senti- 
ments, she  remarked  as  she  gave  him  ber  hand  :  '  Mr.  Chase,  you  see 
before  you  a  rebel  who  has  not  been  reconstructed.1  'Madam,'  ro- 
plied  he,  with  a  profound  bow,  '  you  are  so  perfectly  constructed  that 
any  reconstruction  is  altogether  impossible.'  " 


Chase  could  say  such  things,  and  he  could  say  them  happily, 


in 


796  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES 

manner  as  in  matter,  when  his  mood  allowed.  But  lie  was  very 
moody.  I  can  well  appreciate  these  words  of  Judge  Hoadly,  spoken 
in  the  elsewhere-mentioned  public  meeting,  held  on  the  occasion  of 
the  death  of  the  Chief  Justice : 

"I  have  heard  men  call  him  cold  and  selfish.  How  little  those 
knew  him.  When  I  first  made  his  acquaintance  he  was  reserved  and 
taciturn,  at  the  time  a  bereaved  and  disliked  man,  whose  manners 
repelled  rather  than  encouraged  intimacy. 

"But  to  his  children  he  was  the  most  loving  father,  and  to  his 
partners  and  his  friends,  to  Gamaliel  Bailey,  and  a  little  company 
of  younger  political  sympathizers,  he  was  then  what,  in  after  years, 
in  sunnier  days  of  his  life,  all  men  came  to  know  him — the  most 
genial,  companionable,  and  agreeable  of  friends.  I  served  him  as 
student,  as  clerk,  as  partner,  and  as  friend,  and  in  the  years  of  our 
intimate  intercourse  never  missed  the  smile,  the  warm  grasp,  the  en- 
couraging and  stimulating  word,  nor  the  more  valuable  aid  of  sub- 
stantial service." 

True,  I  could  not  say  that  the  late  chief  justice  ever  was  "the 
most  genial,  companionable,  and  agreeable  of  friends." 

In  an  article  contributed  by  Mr.  Trowbridge  to  the  magazine, 
Our  Young  Folks,  is  the  following  account  of  our  hero's  temper  : 

"He  was  a  man  of  moods,  and  often  appeared  cold  and  stern  to 
his  nearest  friends.  To  subordinates  his  manner  was  sometimes  very 
imperious.  He  himself  was  not  aware  of  this  until,  on  one  occasion, 
he  noticed  that  his  private  secretary,  to  whom  he  was  giving  instruc- 
tions in  some  unpleasant  matter,  apj)eared  to  lose  all  his  wit  and 
self-possession. 

"  '  Are  you  sick?  '  Mr.  Chase  inquired. 

"'No,  sir,'  was  the  reply;  'but  you  frighten  me  so  that  I  don't 
know  what  I  am  about.' 

"  Mr.  Chase  at  once  saw  his  fault,  and,  with  characteristic  frank- 
ness and  justice,  thanked  the  young  man  for  showing  it  to  him,  and 
promised  to  correct  it.  But  sternness  of  temper  was  one  of  the 
strong  traits  in  the  Chase  family,  and  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
the  late  chief  justice  ever  entirely  succeeded  in  overcoming  it." 

An  anecdote  related  to  me  by  our  hero  himself  bears  some  likeness 
to  the  anecdote  so  told  by  Mr.  Trowbridge.  But  that  Chase  was 
not  aware  of  his  occasionally  offensive  manner  toward  subordinates, 
until  that  young  man  was  so  frightened  into  the  confession  that  he 
did  not  know  what  he  was  about,  is  certainly  a  mistake.  On  the 
contrary,  he  told  me  that  he  had  been  long  aware  of  the  fault  in 
question,  and  had  greatly  labored  to  correct  it;  that  it  seemed  to  be 
almost  incorrigible;  that  it  had  given  him  great  trouble  and  done 


OF   SALMON  PORTLAND   CHASE.  797 

him  great  harm,  and  that  he  often  astonished  those  who  rebuked 
him  for  it  by  his  meekness  under  their  reproaches. 

On  page  69  of  a  diary,  kept  by  our  hero  (date  April  10,  1830),  I 
find  this  note : 

'•  Wirt,  the  attorney-general,  when  young,  wrote  a  play,  in  which 
the  most  eminent  practitioners  at  the  Virginia  bar  are  introduced. 
Among  others,  James  Barbour,  the  late  Minister  to  England,  who 

was  then  remarkable  for  large,  swelling,  and  ' expressions,  is 

represented  as  engaged  in  the  conduct  of  a  cause  in  the  Count}'  Court. 
He  has  occasion  to  request  the  clerk  to  call  some  one  into  court,  and 
thus  addresses  him  : 

"'Mr.  Jones,  have  the  benignity  to  vociferate  Peter  Jolley  into 
court.' 

"Upon  which,  the  clerk  bawls  out:  '  Vociferate  P.  Jolley!  come 
into  court.' 

■■  The  court  is  convulsed  with  laughter,  but  one  kindly  informs  the 
clerk  that  he  has  misapprehended  Mr.  Barbour's  meaning,  and  the 
error  is  corrected.  On  the  same  occasion,  he  is  represented  as  ex- 
amining a  loquacious  female  witness.  At  last,  he  loses  all  patience 
and  exclaims : 

"  'This  woman  ought  to  be  deposited  into  taciturnity  ! ' 

"  The  woman,  in  a  violent  rage,  retorts  :  '  You  may  go  to  Tass 
Eternity  yourself,  but  I  reckon  you  '11  have  none  of  my  company, 
Mr.  Barbour.' 

"I  mentioned  this  story  to  Mr.  Wirt,  and  asked  him  if  he  plead 
guilty. 

" He  replied  :    'I  plead  youth  to  it.'  " 

It  would  be  difficult  to  plead  youth  to  any  error  of  our  hero.  In 
reviewing  his  whole  life,  it  almost  seems  to  me  that  he  was  young 
in  boyhood  only — that  he  passed  at  once  from  boyhood  to  the  full 
maturity  of  manhood  as  to  manners  and  ideas. 

Here  is  a  suggestive  letter  : 

"  Washington,  D.  C,  May  24th  1S64. 

"Dear  Sir:  I  can  not  leave  the  department  this  afternoon  with- 
out expressing  my  regret  for  what  occurred  this  morning.  You  were 
warm  and  so  was  I.  Provoking  incidents,  before  you  eame  in,  had 
made  me  more  excitable  than  common;  and  probably  the  ease  was 
the  same  with  you.  But  I  am  sincerely  your  friend,  because  I 
believe  you  earnest,  manly,  and  honest,  and  because  you  have  given 
me,  in  my  difficult  position,  a  generous  support,  for  which  my  heart 
thanks  you;  and  I  hate  to  have  the  shadow  of  unkindness  between 
us.  Yours  truly, 

"  Hon.  John  Conness.  S.  P.  CHASE." 


1  A  word  illegible. 


798  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

While  I  acted  as  our  hero's  private  secretary,  I  wrote  many 
letters  for  him,  generally  but  not  always,  under  his  dictation. 

Many  letters  in  relation  to  the  fabled  Chase  estate  had  to  be 
answered.  At  least,  they  were  answered,  whenever  they  inclosed  a 
three  cent  postage  stamp.  And  many  letters  asking  very  foolish 
questions  were  most  courteously  responded  to. 

Among  the  letters  he  dictated,  may  be  mentioned  one  to  the  Lord 
Chancellor  and  one  to  the  Chief  Justice  of  England.  That  to  the 
Lord  Chancellor  ran  thus : 

"  My  Lord  :  Will  you  honor  me  by  the  acceptance  of  a  Work  in 
which  we  Americans  take,  as  we  think,  a  just  pride?  Edward  Liv- 
ingston was  among  our  most  illustrious  jurists,  and  his  works  on 
criminal  law  and  prison  discipline,  republished  by  the  National 
Prison  Association  of  the  United  States,  are  his  most  important  con- 
tributions to  the  thought  of  the  world  on  the  great  subject  to  which 
they  relate.  1  offer  them  to  your  acceptance  in  the  hope  that  they 
will  prove  not  uninteresting  to  you,  who  have  so  largely  contributed 
to  jurisprudence.  I  learn  from  my  brother,  Swayne,  that  you  have 
some  thought  of  visiting  the  United  States,  and  I  beg  leave  to  add 
my  assurances  to  his  of  the  great  pleasure  which  it  will  afford  to  the 
members  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  to  the  profession  in  general,  to 
welcome  you  here.     With  profound  respect, 

"  Yours,  very  truly, 

"  S.  P.  CHASE." 

•i 

The  letter  to  Chief  Justice  Cockburn  reads,  in  part,  as  follows : 

"  My  Lord  :  Will  you,  whose  devotion  to  the  law  has  been  so  con- 
spicuously manifested,  accept  from  me  a  copy  of  the  works  of  Edward 
Livingston  on  criminal  law  and  prison  discipline?  These  works  are 
republished  by  the  National  Prison  Discipline  Association  of  the 
United  States.  They  are  the  most  important  writings  of  their  author 
on  the  subject  to  which  they  direct  attention.  They  are  the  work 
of  one  of  our  most  distinguished  jurists;  and  we  Americans  take 
great  pride  in  them. 

"  I  can  almost  fancy  I  know  you  from  the  reports  of  my  friend 
Mr.  Evarts,  than  which  no  one  could  desire  better." 

To  John  Bright,  the  Chief  Justice,  on  the  24th  of  March,  dictated 
a  note  of  introduction  in  these  terms: 

"  My  Dear  Mr.  Bright  :  I  beg  leave  to  introduce  to  you  the 
Hon.  Mr.  Arnold,  of  Chicago,  who  desires  very  much  to  know  you, 
and  shares,  with  all  of  us  Americans,  our  common  admiration  and 
esteem  for  you. 

"  He  was  an  intimate  and  trusted  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  I  am 
sure  you  will  bo  gratified  by  knowing  him. 

••  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  of  your  recovered  health,  and  wish  that 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  799 

my  own  -was  good.     Unfortunately,  for  some  years,  it  lias  not  been 
•what  I  could  desire. 

"  With  great  respect  and  esteem,  very  truly  yours, 

"S.  P.  CHASE." 

Many  other  letters  I  would  like  to  offer  here  I  have  not  space  to 
present.     But  here  is  one  I  must  not  fail  to  lay  before  my  readers  -. 

"My  Dear  Sir:  I  thank  you  for  sending  me  the  proof-sheet-  in 
McConologuo's  case.  The  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts was,  in  my  judgment,  unquestionably  sound  law. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  read  the  last  sentence  of  your  note  to  the  case,  that 
c  the  practice  in  this  commonwealth  has  since  conformed  to  the 
decision  in  Tarble's  case,  13  Wallace,  379.' 

"My  health  did  not  permit  me  to  give  my  views  in  that  case  as 
fully  as  I  should  otherwise  have  felt  it  my  duty  to  do,  nor  to  partic- 
ipate at  all  in  the  discussion  in  confereuce,  of  which,  indeed,  there 
was  little  or  none  before  the  opinion  was  written. 

"  Yours,  truly, 

«  A.  G.  Browne,  Jr.,  Esq.  S.  P.  CHASE." 

On  the  24th  of  April,  the  Chief  Justice  received  from  Prof. 
Brown-Sequard  what  seems  to  me  a  very  remarkable  letter,  dated 
on  the  23d.     It  reads  as  follows : 

"  Dear  Sir  :  The  amount  of  work  I  have  at  this  moment  on  hand 
prevents  my  sending  you  the  full  information  I  had  intended  to  con- 
vey as  regards  your  mode  of  living  and  treatment.  I  have  to  leave 
New  York  to-day  to  go  to  Boston  to  deliver  lectures  at  the  Lowell 
Institute.  On  my  return,  next  week,  I  will  write  you  again  ;  but, 
as  I  consider  that  it  is  essential  that  you  should  begin  to  be  treated 
at  once,  I  send  you  a  prescription  for  a  medicine  which  I  hope  will 
have  a  great  power  in  diminishing  one  (and  the  principal)  of  the 
morbid  states  of  your  brain.  Any  great  looseness  of  the  bowels 
would  be,  or  rather  might  be,  increased  by  this  medicine,  so  that  if 
any  cause  acted  upon  you  to  produce  a  disorder  of  the  bowels,  you 
should  stop  the  use  of  the  remedy  I  prescribe.  But  you  should 
resume  it  as  soon  as  the  bowels  have  become  normal  again. 

"  Believe  me,  with  great  respect, 

"  Yours,  very  truly, 

«  Hon.  Salmon  P.  Chase.  C.  G.  BROWN-SEQUARD." 

On  Sunday,  the  26th,  the  Chief  Justice  had  been  taking  that 
remedy — I  know  not  what  it  was — for  two  days.  At  that  time, 
some  "  cause  acted  "  upon  him  "  to  produce  a  disorder  of  the  bowels." 
But,  alas!  he  did  not  "stop  the  use  of  the  remedy"  so  remarkably 
prescribed.  I  did  not  see  him  that  day,  though  I  generally  passed 
some  part  of  Sunday  with  him.  On  Monday  morning,  he  told  me 
of  that  disorder  of  the  bowels,  and  I  asked  him  if  he  had  observed 


800  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

the  direction  as  to  stopping  the  use  of  the  medicine  prescribed  by 
Dr.  Brown-Sequard.  Somewhat  excited,  he  said  that  he  had  not  *, 
and  asked  me  if  I  had  preserved  the  note.  I  answered  that  I  had, 
and,  getting  it,  read  it  over  carefully  to  him.  He  seemed  quite  con- 
cerned, and  said  that  he  had  entirely  forgotten  that  direction. 

From  that  time  until  he  left  Washington  forever,  he  was  very 
weak  and  notably  disordered.  He  appeared  more  and  more  de- 
pressed from  day  to  day,  though  he  strove  to  be  cheerful. 

Then,  he  more  and  more  revealed  his  amiable  traits.  Day  after 
day,  I  grew  more  and  more  attached  to  him — I,  who  have  been 
libelled  all  over  the  land  as  one  disposed  to  trifle  with  his  memory, 
to  mortify  his  children,  to  take  a  morbid  pleasure  in  exposing  or 
acknowledging  his  foibles  or  his  graver  faults. 

My  only  apprehension  is,  that  the  discerning  may  accuse  me  of  too 
favorably  judging  the  enigma  in  the  life  and  character  we  have  been 
viewing. 

It  was  hard  to  see  this  man  sinking,  sinking,  sinking,  and  to 
think  the  thoughts  I  could  not  avoid  as  to  the  medical  treatment 
to  which  he  had  been  subjected  by  Prof.  Brown-Sequard.  Think 
of  it,  discerning  reader !  Here  is  a  great  man  in  a  most  critical 
condition,  prescribed  for  at  a  distance,  and  left  to  forget  or  to  re- 
member a  direction,  the  importance  of  which  it  seems  difficult  to 
exaggerate. 

Prof.  Brown-Sequard  may  have  been  blameless  in  all  this.  His 
judgment  may  have  been  right — his  practice  right — but  I  can  not 
rid  myself  of  the  thought,  that,  had  our  hero  fairly  trusted  nature 
and  let  medicine  alone,  he  might  have  been  alive  and  tolerably  well, 
this  day. 

His  life  had  come  again  to  be  so  beautiful,  so  noble,  so  entirely 
amiable  and  admirable,  that  I  can  not  remember  his  last  days  with- 
out a  sorrow,  full  of  reverence. 

He  was  at  heart  a  real  worthy.  He  idealized  too  many  men,  and 
he  idealized  some  measures  also;  but  in  much  the  greatest  number 
of  his  years,  he  labored  nobly  for  the  good,  the  true,  the  beautiful, 
as  he  discerned  them. 

I  can  not  excuse  some  things  he  did,  some  letters  that  he  wrote. 
His  correspondence  in  relation  to  the  Presidency  is  by  no  means 
creditable  to  his  memory.  But  still  I  cling  to  the  conviction,  that 
he  was  a  real  worthy,  if  intention  is  the  true  and  only  test  of 
worthiness. 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  801 

On  Thursday  night,  May  3,  lie  dictated  and  I  wrote  as  follows  to 
his  old  friend,  William  Davis  Gallagher  : 

"  a[y  Dear  Gallagher  :  I  received  your  letter,  and  would  call 
upon  Mr.  Richardson,  it"  I  were  well.  I  have  written  to  him  in  the 
strongest  terms,  and  inclosed  your  letter,  which  telle  what  might 
be  done,  and  why,  better  than  any  verbal  communication. 

"  We  adjourned  to-day,  and  I  intend  to  leave,  if  well  enough,  for 
New  York,  day  after  to-morrow  morning. 
"  Pardon  my  brevity.     I  am  not  well. 

"  Faithfully  your  friend, 

"8.  P.  CHASE." 

On  speaking  the  words,  "  I  am  not  well,"  the  Chief  Justice  seemed 
completely  overcome  with  an  emotion  that  appeared  to  me  self-pity, 
if  I  may  use  that  expression.  He  did  not  at  once  dictate  the  follow- 
ing words  of  the  letter.  He  arose  abruptly,  and,  almost  stagger- 
ingly, went  into  the  parlor.  After  some  time,  he  returned,  "  him- 
self again,"  and  dictated  the  conclusion  of  the  letter.  After  that, 
he  never  seemed  to  me  greatly  depressed,  though  he  appeared  quite 
weak,  and  I  regarded  him  as  at  the  very  door  of  death. 


802  THE    TKIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC  SERVICES 


CHAPTER  LV. 

CHASE   AND   SUMNER — THE   LAST   DAYS  OF    CHASE — HIS   DEATH. 

MR.  SUMNER  called  on  the  Chief  Justice  on  the  2d  of  May. 
I  was  at  luncheon  with  our  hero  when  he  went  to  receive  the 
illustrious  Senator.  They  met  in  the  parlor;  and,  the  door  by  which 
that  room  is  entered  from  the  hall  being  left  open,  as  I  went  to  the 
library  (situated  on  the  other  side  of  the  hall),  I  saw,  as  I  passed, 
the  large  features  of  the  visitor. 

I  had  met  Mr.  Sumner  in  Ohio ;  but  our  acquaintance  had  not 
been  kept  up. 

As  I  passed,  his  face  appeared  to  me  expressive  of  a  very  deep  de- 
jection.    Neither  he  nor  the  Chief  Justice  was  then  speaking. 

That  was  to  be  their  last  conversation  on  this  earth. 

After  some  time,  they  appeared  at  the  parlor  door,  and,  as  they 
were  about  to  come  into  the  hall,  I  heard  the  Senator  mention  my 
name,  and  express  his  gratification  at  something  he  had,  it  seemed, 
just  heard  the  Chief  Justice  say  about  me  as  his  biographer.  The 
Senator  had  a  coarse,  heavy  voice,  in  keeping  with  his  features ;  and 
the  words  here  alluded  to  were  loudly  uttered.  Then  the  Senator 
said,  in  substance : 

"I  would  like  to  know  Judge  Warden.  Possibly,  I  could  aid  him 
somewhat  with  some  facts  and  some  suggestions." 

Not  until  after  the  death  of  the  Chief  Justice  did  I  fully  ascertain 
what  Mr.  Sumner  had  just  said  to  his  entertainer,  and  what  the 
Chief  Justice  had  just  before  said  to  his  guest,  touching  my 
fitness  or  unfitness  for  this  work.  At  my  request,  my  nephew,  Mr. 
Clifford  Warden  (correspondent  of  the  Boston  Post),  conversed  with 
Mr.  Sumner  on  the  subject,  before  I  called  on  that  gentleman.  It 
was  after  I  had  heard  my  nephew's  account  of  the  statements  made 
by  Mr.  Sumner  as  to  his  talk  with  the  Chief  Justice,  on  the  subject 
under  notice,  that  I  first  visited  the  Senator  myself.     And,  having 


OF   SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  803 

then  heard   his  account   also,    I   feel  warranted   in  saying  tliat  the 
Senator  addressed  the  Chief  Justice  in  this  fashion  : 

"But  is  Judge  "Warden  a  good  biographer?  You  want  a  good 
biographer.  Can  Judge  Warden  grasp1  your  life  and  character? 
If  he  can,  can  he  then  put  on  paper  his  conception,  in  such  form  that 
it  shall  be  attractive  to  the  reading  public?" 

It  appears  that  the  Chief  Justice  answered,  in  substance: 

"I  don't  know,  Mr.  Sumner,  that  Judge  Warden  is  quite  up  to 
your  Massachusetts  standard;  and  I  don't  think  I  am  quite  up  to  it 
myself.  But  Judge  Warden  knows  the  people  of  Ohio,  and  they 
know  him  ;  and  I  have  always  considered  that  the  chief  interest  of 
the  work  on  which  he  is  engaged  would  be  taken  in  Ohio  " 

Mr.  Sumner,  then,  it  seems,  professed  to  be  entirely  satisfied,  and 
expressed  the  wish  I  heard  him  utter,  as  already  stated. 

Hearing  him  express  that  wish,  I  walked  out  of  the  library  into 
the  hall,  meeting  the  Chief  Justice.  He  said :  "  Here  is  Judge 
Warden,  now." 

He  then  presented  me  to  Mr.  Sumner,  and  said,  visibly  embar- 
rassed and  almost  confused  : 

"  I  have  been  telling  the  Senator  some  things  about  you.  I  told 
him  you  were  forty  years  of  age." 

I  said  that  if  I  was,  indeed,  so  young,  I  must  have  a  preternatural 
memory ;  for  I  remembered  him  for  almost  forty  years — that  he 
must  add  nine  years  to  the  number  he  had  allowed  to  me.  I  then 
said  to  the  Senator  that  I  had  been  pleased  to  hear  him  intimate  that 
he  desired  to  have  me  call  on  him  ;  that,  indeed,  in  the  interest  of 
my  biographic  enterprise,  I  had  been  thinking  of  committing  a  sort 
of  burglary  on  his  privacy. 

"  Well,  now,"  said  the  Senator,  "  I  am  glad  to  hear  that,  and  J 
hope  the  burglary  will  begin  very  soon." 

I  promised  that  it  should  ;  and  then  the  Senator  said  to  the  Chief 
Justice,  and  the  Chief  Justice  said  to  the  Senator : 

II  God  bless  you !     Good-bye  !  " 

And  so  the  great  men  parted,  as  it  proved  forever,  as  to  all  that 
is  beneath  the  heavens. 

After  going  in  his  carriage,  driven  by  William,  to  the  bank,  and 
coming  back  to  601  E  Street,  the  Chief  Justice  took  me  with  him, 


1  Pronounced  by  Mr.  Sumner  grawsp. 

52 


804  THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC  SERVICES 

in  his  carriage,  out  to  Edgewood.     On  the  way,   he  said   to  me  in 
substance : 

."  I  am  very  glad  that  you  have  met  Mr.  Sumner,  and  I  think  it 
-will  be  well  to  call  on  him  as  he  suggested,  and  to  be  aided  by  him 
as  he  offered;  though  I  am  not  certain  that  he  can  tell  you  much 
about  me  which  is  not  already  known  to  you.  I  have  no  doubt  you 
understand  m}'  character  and  course  of  life  much  better  than  it  has 
been  possible  for  him  to  do.  I  have  always  admired  Mr.  Sumner, 
lie  is  a  much  more  learned  man,  and  a  much  more  scholarly  states- 
man, than  I  have  ever  pretended  to  be;  but  he  lived  in  Massachu- 
setts, while  I  lived  in  Ohio ;  and  he  was  an  abolitionist,  which  I 
never  was." 

He  then  proceeded  to  discourse  about  his  life  at  large.  That  brief, 
but  full  autobiographic  utterance  at  least  attempted  to  do  perfect 
justice  to  the  living  and  the  dead.  It  more  than  ever  bound  the  list- 
ener to  the  speaker.  Yet,  in  some  particulars,  it  seemed  to  me  the 
product  of  a  mere  idealization  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  of  his 
relation  to  that  party. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  here  or  elsewhere  in  this  volume  to  assail 
that  party,  or  to  advocate  the  cause  of  any  other  party.  Many 
members  of  the  Democratic  party  are  endeared  to  me  in  many  ways. 
This  work,  moreover,  never  was  intended  to  do  service  as  a  par- 
tisan. I  would  but  say,  that  whether  the  Democratic  party  ought 
to  be  preferred  or  treated  with  the  opposite  of  preference,  it  never 
seemed  to  me  that  that  party  was  rightly  understood  by  Salmon 
Portland  Chase,  and  this,  in  part,  because,  as  I  have  intimated,  he 
idealized  that  party  and  his  own  relation  to  its  members  and  its 
tendencies.  I  can  not  think  that  he  was  ever  really  a  member  of 
that  party,  even  for  a  moment. 

At  the  time  of  that  visit  to  Edgewood,  it  was  expected  that  I 
would  be  much  there  during  the  ensuing  summer.  The  Chief  Justice, 
therefore,  made  known  to  his  housekeeper,  Cassy,  that  I  was  to  be  at 
home  there,  save  as  to  the  table — there  was  only  to  be  a  servant's 
table — while  he  should  be  absent,  and  that  I  was  to  have  assigned 
to  me  there  a  lodging  room,  and  this  was  designated. 

I  never  actually  occupied  that  room.  In  a  few  days,  a  great  mis- 
take or  something  worse  than  a  mistake,  was  to  undo  that  arrange- 
ment.    I  do  not  complain — I  state ;  and  I  wonder  as  I  state. 

The  leave-takings  at  Edgewood  were  most  touching.  I  can  not 
describe  them.  Cassy  Vaudry's  eyes  were  full  of  tears  as  she  parted, 
as  it  proved  forever,  from  the  lord  and  master  of  the  mansion. 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  805 

Then  we  drove  back  to  Washington.  There  were  letters  vet  to 
write. 

After  dinner,  several  letters  were  worked  off.  But  we  had  some 
talk  about  old  time?,  and  some  about  my  biographic  enterprise. 

Again,  no  word  about  any  other  biographer!  Again,  no  word 
about  the  biographic  Schuckers. 

"  My  chief"  invited  me  to  breakfast  with  him  the  next  morning. 
I  was  with  him  as  invited.  I  remember,  above  all,  the  kindness  of 
his  face  and  voice.  He  said  but  little  ;  and  not  much  was  said  by 
any  one,  though  there  were  three  ladies  at  the  table — his  old  friend, 
Miss  Susan  "Walker,  and  his  relatives,  Miss  Moulton  and  Miss  Auld. 
The  conversation  was  not  free,  but  it  was  not  remarkably  depressed. 

Then  came  the  time  for  parting  ;  and  his  eyes  were  eloquent  with 
feeling  as  he  answered  my  parting  salutation  with  a  most  affectionate 
"  Good-bye !  " 

Here  are  his  last  words  to  his  preferred  biographer: 

"  New  York,  May  4,  1873. 

"  My  Dear  Judge  :  Please  excuse  my  penciling,  it  is  more  con- 
venient than  ink. 

"  I  had  rather  a  cold  and  bleak  ride  yesterday,  relieved  by  the 
comforts  of  a  compartment,  which  I  should  call  a  box,  but  was  re- 
warded at  the  end  by  seeing  my  children  in  good  health  and  some 
of  my  grand-children. 

'•  There  is  nothing  changed  in  n\y  personal  condition. 

"  How  do  you  feel  now  that  I  am  gone  ?  Relieved  from  my  sick 
ways  and  utterances,  or  upon  the  whole,  are  you  sorry  to  miss  me  ? 

"  Remember  me  to  Donn  and  Mrs.  Piatt  when  you  see  them.  I 
hope  Mrs.  Piatt  has  recovered  from  the  shock  and  discomforts  to 
which  she  was  subjected  by  the  fire.  Tell  Donn  that  I  was  disaj>- 
pointed  by  his  non-fulfillment  of  his  promise  to  Mrs.  Sprague  to  call 
on  me  to  say  good-bye. 

"  Do  you  remember  Dr.  Brown-Sequard's  note  ?  Was  it  left  among 
the  letters  of  which  you  took  charge?  Please  inclose  it  by  return 
mail. 

"  I  still  propose  going  to  Boston  on  Wednesday  or  Thursday,  and 
particularly  want  the  note.        Faithfully,  your  friend, 

"  Hon.  R*.  B.  Warden.  S.  P.  CHASE.'' 

In  my  answer,  I  said,  among  other  things :  "  I  miss  you  as  a 
friend  whose  'sick  ways  and  utterances'  have  only  endeared  him 
to  me  more  than  ever;  and  I  miss  you,  on  account  of  my  desire,  as 
your  biographer,  to  see  you  as  much  as  possible,  and  to  hear  as  much 
as  possible  from  you,  while  the  work  referred  to  is  in  progress." 

He  was  dying  when  that  answer  reached  New  York,  and,  in  a  few 
hours,  he  had  ceased  to  live.     That  was  on  the  7th  of  May,  1873. 


806  THE    PRIVATE    EIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

Of  the  last  hours  of  the  life  we  have  been  studying  I  can  give  no 
satisfactory  account.  The  ill-will  toward  me  which  had  been 
masked  till  then,  now  suddenly  unmasked  itself.  I  was,  at  once, 
offensively  and  studiedly  ignored,  and,  soon,  I  was  insulted,  very 
grossly.  It  was  to  a  telegram  from  Mr.  Sterne  Chittenden  that  I 
was  indebted  for  the  only  kindness  that  came  to  me  from  the  scene 
of  death. 

Yet  I  endeavored  to  remember  only  my  great  obligations.  Letter 
after  letter,  which  I  would  most  willingly  submit  to  the  perusal  of 
my  present  readers,  testified  my  earnest  wish  to  be  at  peace  with  the 
daughters  of  the  man  who  had  so  trusted,  so  respected  me,  in  making 
me,  in  effect,  his  literary  executor.  But  all  my  prayers  for  peace  were 
scorned ;  and,  very  soon,  the  New  York  Herald,  at  whose  instance  I 
can  only  conjecture,  told  the  public,  in  substance,  that  this  work 
would  not  appear,  in  consequence  of  serious  disagreements  between 
the  author  and  the  surviving  relatives  of  the  hero.1 

Now,  these  facts  appear  to  me  not  unimportant  to  the  readers  of 
this  work  as  well  as  to  its  author.  They  are  part  of  a  strange  his- 
tory, a  full  account  of  which  would  fill  a  volume  of  decided  interest. 
Thev  appertain  to  a  conspiracy,  in  which  the  surviving  relatives  of 
the  Chief  Justice  appear  to  me,  and  have  always  appeared  to  me,  as 
only  the  too  ready  instruments  of  a  malice  they  had  not  the  means 
of  measuring,  of  fears  they  could  not  fathom,  of  designs  which  must 
have  been  imperfectly  made  known  to  them. 

The  body  of  this  volume  shows  how  many  persons,  in  how  many 
places,  might  have  wished  that  the  composer  of  this  work  had  been 
less  faithful,  not  so  conscientious,  not  so  fond  of  true  biography  and 
real  history.  I  do  not  wish  to  say  much  more,  at  present,  of  the 
desperate  but  stupid  plot  against  the  very  publication  of  this  work. 
I  think  there  never  was  such  a  combination  of  sheer  stupidity  with 
sheer  desperation  as  that  plot  presented  to  my  view.  The  stand-point 
of  my  observation  of  it  enabled  me  to  see,  that  if  God  would  only  spare 
my  life,  and  give  me  health,  for  a  few  months,  that  stupidly  desper- 
ate and  desperately  stupid  plot  must  ignominiously  fail.  And,  soon 
enough,  without  even  seeking  a  publisher,  I  had  a  contract  for  the 


1  Here  is  the  language  of  that  ill-intended  paragraph:  "It  is  rumored  that  the 
work  upon  the  life  and  times  of  the  late  Chief  Justice,  which  was  in  progress  with 
a  view  of  speedy  publication,  by  Judge  Robert  B.  Warden,  of  Ohio,  will  not  appear, 
in  consequence  of  serious  disagreement  between  the  biographer  and  the  surviving 
relatives  of  the  Chief  Justice." 


OF   SALMON  PORTLAND   CHASE.  >»>7 

publication  of  this  work — the  only  contract  ever  made  in  that  behalf; 
and  the  place  of  publication  was  the  very  place  I  had  desired  from 
the  beginning — Cincinnati,  namely,  where  the  most  creditable  years 
of  our  hero's  public  life  had  passed,  and  where  no  libel  could  deprive 
the  author  of  the  reputation  he  had  gained  in  public  service  and  In- 
private  conduct. 

Let  me  warn  readers  not  to  charge  against  the  memory  of  Salmon 
Portland  Chase  the  fair  indications,  yielded  by  the  vile  conspiracy 
just  noticed.  He  desired  no  concealment  whatever.  All  he  had, 
in  the  way  of  biographic  matter,  he  subjected  to  my  examina- 
tion and  placed  at  my  disposal ;  all  he  was,  and  all  that  he  had  been, 
he  seemed  to  wish  to  show  me,  fully,  and  without  exception  or  re- 
serve. And,  to  the  last,  he  showed  that  he  had  not  lost  that  most 
precious  of  all  possessions — self-respect. 

But  the  conspiracy  in  question  seemed  absolutely  infatuated.  When 
the  Herald's  paragraph  had  rendered  its  nefarious  tribute,  other  par- 
agraphs were  put  into  the  same  ignoble  service.  One  of  these  was 
to  the  effect,  that  Mr.  Hiram  Barney  was  to  write  an  elaborate  biog- 
raphy of  our  hero,  and  that  he  had  been  copiously  furnished  with 
material!  In  every  instance,  the  quite  evident  design  was  so  to 
discredit  and,  if  possible,  disgrace  the  present"  work,  that  no  pub- 
lisher would  venture  to  present  it  to  the  reading  world. 

The  course  of  Mr.  Sumner  in  relation  to  this  work  was  most  re- 
markable. He  was  an  Eastern  man,  full  of  Atlantic  prejudices  and 
partialities.  I  would  not  have  expected  him  to  presume  that  any 
so-called  Western  man  was  fit  for  any  literary  enterprise  whatever. 
Tolerably  free,  myself,  from  sectional  aversion,  I  did  not  expect  to 
find  in  him  like  liberality;  but,  I  confess,  his  interference  with  the 
confidence  reposed  in  me  by  the  late  Chief  Justice,  when  the  latter 
made  me,  in  effect,  his  literary  executor,  somewhat  perplexed  me  for 
some  time ;  and,  even  now,  it  seems  to  me  a  thing  of  doubtful  indi- 
cations. 

Very  little  does  this  volume  owe  to  the  aid  he  volunteered  as  has 
been  told.1  He  showed  himself  a  fearful  egotist,  when  I  conversed 
with  him,  as  he  invited.  He  could  say  but  little  about  Chase  with- 
out launching  into  talk  about  himself  and  his  own  senatorial  exploits. 
I  soon  found  that,  though  he  said  that  Chase  and  he  had,  in  the  Sen- 
ate, been  as  brothers,  he  could  tell  me  very  little  about  Chase  which 

» Ante,  p.  802 


808  THE  PRIVATE    LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

I  did  not  already  know  much  better  than  he  knew  it.  I  own  I 
could  not  learn  to  like  him  greatly.  He  appeared  to  me  in  every 
sense — in  substance  as  in  form — an  egotist  of  the  first  water.  His 
conception  of  biography  appeared  to  me,  moreover,  colored  by  his 
own  peculiar  case — exceptional,  unhappy,  as  it  must  have  seemed, 
even  to  himself.  He  held  up  to  me,  as  a  model  for  my  life  of  Chase, 
the  life  of  Lord  Eldon,  by  Twiss ;  and  he  talked  to  me  about  Talley- 
rand's private  papers  as  though  they  could  be  regarded  as  analogous 
to  those  of  Chief  Justice  Chase! 

Ere  loug,  I  saw  that  I  must  not  allow  myself  to  be  much  influ- 
enced by  Mr.  Sumner  in  the  composition  of  this  work.  He  took, 
indeed,  no  exception  to  the  specimens  he  saw  of  it;  on  the  contrary, 
what  he  said  to  me,  and  what  I  heard  that  he  said  to  others,  about 
the  indications  of  those  specimens,  was  quite  flattering;  but  soon  I 
came  to  look  upon  him  as  having  assumed  a  part  that  I  could  not 
permit  him  to  perform  without  rebuke;  and  he  more  and  more  re- 
vealed pedantic  tastes  and  notions. 

He  appeared  to  me  an  actor.  There  appeared  in  him  but  little  of 
the  simply  natural.  He  seemed  more  English  than  American  in 
his  pronunciation,  in  his  dress,  and  in  his  bearing. 

Once  I  tried  on  him  a  rather  hazardous  experiment.  I  told  him 
what  the  late  Chief  Justice  had  said  to  me,  on  the  way  to  Edgewood, 
as  related  already. 

It  was  quite  distinctly  that  I  enunciated  to  Mr.  Sumner  that  com- 
munication. And  I  watched  him  closely  as  I  slowly  and  distinctly 
uttered  it,  as  just  intimated.  I  confess  that  I  was  not  surprised  on 
finding  how  impatiently  the  Senator  listened  while  I  made  that 
statement.  He  manifested  great  disturbance  while  I  was  proceeding. 
When  I  ceased  to  speak,  he  drove  his  hands  deep  down  into  the 
pockets  of  his  gray  trowsers,  and  stretched  out  his  formidable  length 
of  person,  while  he  said,  in  his  coarse  voice : 

"  I  am  astonished  that  he  could  have  had  such  a  notion !  Really, 
now,  I  did  not  think  that  he  could  have  fancied  that  the  differences 
of  opinion  that  divided  us  could  have  affected  my  account  of  him  to 
you." 

I  said,  replying: 

"It  appears  to  me,  Mr.  Sumner,  that  you  do  not  notice  the  entire 
significance  of  what  the  Chief  Justice  said  to  me  on  that  occasion. 
On  reflection,  you  must  comprehend,  yourself,  that  the  fact  that  he 
resided  iu  Ohio,  where  I  also  lived,  while  you  were  always  resident 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  809 

in  Massachusetts,  must,  more  or  less,  affect  tlie  value  of  whatever  you 

might  have  to  bay  to  me  about  his  life  at  "Washington." 

The  Senator  had  rather  warmed  toward  me  before  I  made  that 
communication.  Until  then,  he  had  apparently  appreciated  my  de- 
termination to  preserve  due  biographic  independence.  After  that, 
he  grew  cold  toward  me.  After  that,  in  another  conversation,  he 
interrogated  me  as  follows : 

"Now,  Judge  Warden,  let  me  ask  you — mark!  I  only  ask  for  in- 
formation, and  as  a  friend  to  all  concerned — did  you  not  intend,  when 
the  Chief  Justice  should  have  come  back  from  Colorado,  to  submit  to 
him  your  work,  as  far  as  it  should  then  have  gone;  and  does  it  in>t 
now  appear  to  you  reasonable  that  these  children  should  expect  to 
succeed  to  that  supervision  ?  " 

Such,  in  substance,  I  am  quite  certain,  was  the  question.  And  my 
answer,  as  I  now  remember,  was  in  substance  this : 

"Senator,  you  shock  me.  In  the  first  place,  you  shock  me  by  the 
supposition  that  I  ever  had  a  thought  of  submitting  my  work  to  the 
hero  of  it ;  but  }*ou  shock  me  still  more  by  the  supposition  that,  even 
if  I  could  ever  have  intended  to  submit  my  work  to  his  supervision, 
I  could  now  think  of  allowing  one  or  both  of  his  daughters  to  suc- 
ceed him  in  that  supervision." 

Here  the  Senator  broke  in  with: 

"  I  intended  no  offense.  I  only  wished  to  ask  the  question — that 
is  all." 

"But,  Senator,"  said  I,  "the  question  was  offensive,  I  conceive,  in 
spite  of  what  you  say  was  its  intention.  I  am  little  known  to  you, 
sir;  but  I  am  not  quite  unknown  in  Ohio,  where  it  would  seem 
strange,  indeed,  that  I  could  have  stooped  to  play  the  sony  role 
your  question  indicated  you  considered  not  improper." 

Mr.  Sumner  once  more  interrupted  me.     He  said  in  substance: 

"I  perceive,  now,  that  I  was  in  error,  and  I  beg  your  pardon." 

Then  I  entered  into  a  full  explanation  as  to  the  impropriety  of 
submitting  any  thing  to  be  contained  in  this  work  to  the  supervision 
of  the  daughters,  one  or  both ;  but  told  the  Senator  what,  after  the 
death  of  the  Chief  Justice,  I  had  offered,  in  writing,  addressed  to  the 
elder  daughter,  to  do,  in  order  to  combine  due  accuracy  with  due 
independence. 

I  confess  I  had  the  feeling  that  the  part  Mr.  Sumner  had  thought 
fit  to  undertake,  had  been,  in  effect,  misleading  toward  all  concerned. 


810  THE   PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

He  may  not  so  have  judged  that  part  himself;  it  may  have  seemed  to 
him  simply  the  part  of  a  friend  to  both  parties;  but  it  appeared  to 
me,  at  the  time,  a  part  that  no  man  should  have  undertaken  to  per- 
form, in  any  circumstances  whatever. 

It  is  evident,  at  least,  that  it  was  well  for  this  work  that  it  so 
soon  became  relieved  of  Mr.  Sumner's  influence.  Indeed,  ere  long, 
I  saw  that,  painful  as  had  been  the  manner  in  which  it  had  been 
treated,  after  the  death  of  its  hero,  by  his  family,  I  was  thereby  freed 
from  another  great  embarrassment.  Had  I  succeeded  in  persuading 
the  daughters  to  regard  my  work  with  favor,  would  I  not  have  been 
most  fearfully  embarrassed  in  the  handling  of  certain  material  ? 

As  to  Mr.  Sumner,  I  would  not  be  understood  to  have  found  noth- 
ing in  him  to  admire.  Overrated  as  he  was,  in  some  respects;  arti- 
ficial, egotistic,  and  pedantic  as  he  was  ;  he  had,  undoubtedly,  char- 
acteristic virtues  in  association  with  characteristic  vices. 

That  this  work  might  have  been  benefited,  as  to  form,  by  greater 
intercourse  aud  farther  consultation  with  him,  I  do  not  deny.  But, 
as  to  substance,  I  repeat,  it  would  have  been  greatly  damaged,  had 
I  suffered  him  to  influence  it  considerably. 

Doubtless,  it  will  be  severely  handled  by  some  critics,  after  all. 
I  am  prepared  for  every  thing  but  self-reproach,  in  respect  to  its 
future.  Self-reproach,  respecting  its  contents,  I  could  not  bear;  but 
that  I  have  no  reason,  now,  to  apprehend.  Imperfect  as  this  volume 
is,  I  know  that  it  has  been  composed  with  good  intentions  and  with 
extraordinary  care.  In  the  circumstances  (which  have  been  ex- 
tremely trying)  I  have  done  my  best;  and,  so  assured,  I  can  not 
greatly  concern  myself  about  what  may  be  said  of  it  by  reckless  crit- 
icism. I  allow  myself  to  hope  that  it  will  be  received  with  welcome 
by  reviewers  worthy  of  the  name. 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND  CHASE.  811 


CHAPTER    LY  I. 

CONCLUSION. 

ALTHOUGH  it  had  been  known  to  the  public  for  some  time 
that  the  Chief  Justice  was  not  well,  the  tidings  of  his  death 
quite  shocked  the  public  heart. 

His  obsequies,  indeed,  were  very  different  from  those  of  Lincoln. 
We  have  ascertained  that  Chase  himself  could  comprehend  that  he 
had  lived  a  very  enigmatic  life,  especially  with  reference  to  party 
politics.  By  many  of  his  old  acquaintances,  indeed,  he  had  come  to 
be  regarded  as  almost  a  traitor  to  his  old  convictions  and  associations. 
It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  his  obsequies  would  be  as  had  been 
those  of  our  assassinated  President,  the  very  manner  of  whose  death, 
while  he  was  yet  in  office,  had  more  than  a  little  to  do  with  the 
unmeasured  tribute  paid,  in  his  obsequies,  to  his  career  and  character. 
In  Lincoln,  the  whole  country  venerated,  for  a  time,  a  patriotic 
martyr.  Chase's  obsequies  could  not  have  been  expected  to  resem- 
ble those  of  Lincoln. 

Yet  the  work  of  eulogizing  Chase,  just  after  he  departed  from  the 
battle-field  of  life,  might  have  much  deceived  a  young  or  a  superficial 
observer.  Really,  it  was,  too  often,  artifieial  and  extravagant.  I 
felt  that  very  soon  I  would  have  to  make  note  of  censures  and  dis- 
paragements instead  of  praises  and  glorifications.  And  it  was  not 
long  till  a  portion  of  the  press  began  to  utter  the  anticipated  censures 
and  disparagements,  one  of  the  worst  of  which,  as  I  remember,  was 
in  the  New  York  Herald — the  very  paper  which  appears  to  have 
been  chosen  as  the  leader  of  the  opposition  to  the  undertaking  of  the 
work  here  offered  to  the  public.  But  the  very  worst  of  all,  perhaps 
(all  things  considered),  was  the  elsewhere  noticed  article  in  the 
North  American  Review  on  the  Ourreney  and  Finn  nee*  of  the  l'nit<<l 
States.  Two  of  the  best  articles  ever  published  in  that  periodical 
■were  written  by  the  pen  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase ! 


812  THE    PRIVATE    LIFE    AND    PUBLIC  SERVICES 

Perhaps,  indeed,  that  almost  savagely  censorious  article  may  now 
appear  to  its  composer  justified  by  certain  revelations  of  this  very 
work.  For,  judged  uncharitably — judged  in  a  censorious  mood — 
the  life  I  have  endeavored  to  set  forth  is  one  which  may  be  most 
severely  censured,  as  to  many  of  its  actions  and  associations. 

To  suppress  the  revelations  here  in  question  would  have  been  at 
once  a  great  crime  and  a  fearful  folly.  Other  evidence  of  them 
would  have  hereafter  come  to  light,  and  then  the  spirit  in  which 
that  evidence  would  be  regarded  would  distort   its  real  indications. 

The  letter  to  Oliver  Johnson,  set  forth  in  a  foregoing  chapter,1 
shows  that  our  hero  strangely  deceived  himself  as  to  the  attention  he 
paid  to  self-vindication  and  self-exposition.  He  devoted  quite  too 
much  attention  to  those  things.  He  talked  too  much,  and,  above 
all,  he  wrote  too  much,  in  exposition  and  in  vindication  of  his  view^:. 

His  conduct  toward  Lincoln  and  McClellan  I  can  not  affect  to 
view  with  admiration. 

Jomini  and  our  own  Halleck  have  defined  a  comprehensive  branch 
of  martial  art  and  science  which  might  well  be  studied  by  civilians. 
My  opinion  is,  indeed,  and  long  has  been,  that  not  only  every  pro- 
fessor of  the  law,  but  every  enlightened  citizen,  should  be  acquainted 
with  a  pretty  comprehensive  part  of  martial  science.  Therefore, 
when  I  entered  on  the  composition  of  the  work  here  offered  to  the 
public,  I  had  read,  not  superficially,  not  narrowly,  with  the  design 
of  fixing  in  my  memory  some  knowledge  of  the  things  which  are  of 
special  interest  to  soldiers.  Had  John  Hookham  Fiere  been  better 
versed  in  military  learning,  he  would  not  have  so  presumed  toward 
the  fated  Sir  John  Moore.  It  is  not  the  effect  of  thoroughness  and 
depth  in  martial  reading  by  a  mere  civilian,  to  dispose  him  to  forget 
that  here,  as  elsewhere,  it  is  proper  to  respect  the  maxim,  ne  sutor 
ultra  crepidam,  or,  as  the  Germans  have  it,  Schuster  I  bleib  bei  dei- 
nem  Leiden  ! 

Chase  did  not  sufficiently  respect  the  truth  denoted  in  those 
proverbs.  He  presumed  too  much  in  judging  men  and  measures  of 
the  martial  order.  He  neglected  duty  in  so  doing.  He  was  not, 
indeed,  a  mere  meddler  in  taking  that  disproportionate  interest  in 
martial  men  and  martial  measures ;  but  lie  acted  most  unwisely  when 
he  took  that  ill-regulated  interest,  as  we  have  found  it  indicated  in 
his  diaries  and  letters. 

1  Ante,  p. 


OF   SALMON   PORTLAND   CHASE.  813 

Doubtless,  to  the  average  reader,  the  matter  of  a  martial  cast  pre- 
sented by  this  work,  as  drawn  from  Secretary  Chase's  diaries  and 
letters,  will  afford  more  entertainment  than  any  other  matter  here 
inviting  the  attention  of  the  public.  Even  men  devoted  to  arms 
as  a  profession  may  discover  in  that  matter  much  to  interest  them. 
I  have  faithfully  endeavored  so  to  state  the  facts,  that  competent 
investigators  of  the  matter  here  alluded  to  may  form  their  own 
opinions,  touching  the  responsibility  of  Secretary  Chase  to  history 
for  what  he  did  and  said,  and  recorded  in  his  diaries,  respecting  the 
rise  and  fall  of  generals  and  other  martial  figures,  during  his  con- 
nection with  the  government  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

And  how  as  to  his  purely  economic  views  and  actions  ?  How  as 
to  his  conduct  and  ideas  as  a  financier?  Do  I  presume  to  speak, 
as  if  judicially,  respecting  his  characteristics  and  his  course  as  keeper 
of  the  public  treasure  and  adviser  of  the  Congress  and  the  President 
respecting  ways  and  means  ? 

About  the  rushing  in  of  fools,  where  angels  would  at  least  go 
slowly,  we  have  heard  and  read  more  than  a  little. 

I  have  felt  disposed,  throughout,  to  bear  in  mind  how  easy  it  is 
to  fall  into  pernicious  errors  in  political  economy.  The  contents 
of  those  portions  of  my  work  which  manifest  its  hero's  economic 
views  and  actions,  stimulated  me  to  new  and  deeper  studies  in  the 
department  of  literature  devoted  to  the  science  that  professes  to  sup- 
ply to  economic  art  its  necessary  precepts ;  but  they  also  warned  me 
to  abstain  from  the  dogmatical  in  treating  of  the  way  to  wealth  for 
nations.  It  is  not  dogmatically,  therefore,  that  I  repeat  that,  in  my 
judgment,  Chase  was  not,  in  theory  or  in  practice,  a  great  financier. 

On  the  30th  of  March,  1870,  he  wrote  to  a  committee  of  corre- 
spondence of  colored  Cincinnatians  a  letter,  in  the  course  of  which 
he  said : 

"Almost  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  passed  since  some  of  you, 
probably,  heard  me  declare,  on  the  6th  of  May,  1845,  in  an  assembly 
composed  chiefly  of  the  people  whom  you  now  represent,  that  all 
legal  distinctionsbetween  individuals  of  the  same  community,  founded 
on  any  such  circumstances  as  color,  origin,  and  the  like,  are  hostile 
to  the  genius  of  our  institutions,  and  incompatible  with  the  true 
theory  of  American  liberty;  that  true  democracy  makes  no  inquiry 
about  the  color  of  the  skin,  or  the  place  of  nativity,  or  any  other 
similar  circumstance  of  condition  ;  and  that  the  exclusion  of  the  col- 
ored people,  as  a  body,  from  the  elective  franchise,  is  incompatible 
with  true  democratic  principles. 

':  I  congratulate  you  on  the  fact  that   these  principles,  not  then 


814  THE  PEIVATE  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

avowed  b}T  me  for  the  first  time,  nor  ever  since  abandoned  or  com- 
promised, have  been  at  length  incorporated  into  the  Constitution 
and  made  part  of  the  supreme  law  of  the  land." 

That  letter  has  relation  to  what  seems  to  me  the  greatest  public 
merit  of  our  hero's  life.  I  do  not  intimate,  indeed,  that  he  was 
always  right,  even  in  his  agitation  against  slavery ;  he  erred,  I  think, 
from  time  to  time,  even  in  that  portion  of  his  public  conduct;  but  it 
was  the  truest,  the  least  selfish,  and  the  most  nobly  aspiring  part  of 
his  relation  to  the  country  and  the  times  in  which  he  lived. 

Incidental  notice  has  been  taken  of  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams' 
far  from  measured  eulogy  of  William  Henry  Seward.  Incidental 
notice  has  been  taken,  also,  of  ex-Secretary  Welles'  expansion  of  his 
Galaxy  articles  about  Lincoln  and  Seward.  Weak  as  the  last 
named  work  appears,  as  a  defense  of  Lincoln,  it  is  almost  strong 
as  an  attack  on  Seward.  But  its  animus  is  evidently  bad ; 1  and, 
after  all,  it  clearly  proves  that,  at  least  for  some  time,  Lincoln  did 
subordinate  himself  to  Seward,  as  alleged  by  Seward's  eulogist. 

The  sectional  arrogance — nay,  insolence — put  by  Mr.  Adams  into 
that  eulogy,  is  not  ill  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Welles,  whose  work,  indeed, 
is  otherwise  of  real  service  to  the  interests  of  history.  But  the  showing 
made  by  that  volume  being  added  to  the  showing  here  drawn  from 
Chase's  diaries  and  letters,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  question,  that 
to  Seward's  influence  the  presidental  life  of  Lincoln  was,  for  a  time, 
at  least,  too  subject. 

Lincoln  yielded  to  Seward  in  not  wishing  to  consult  his  Cabinet. 
He  preferred  to  consult  Sumner  as  to  some  things,  Seward  as  to 
most ;  and  he  evidently  did  not  relish  Chase's  disposition  to  concern 
himself  more  about  the  sword  than  about  the  purse. 

We  have  seen2  our  hero's  account  of  what  Lincoln  said  to  him,  at 
Springfield,  about  Seward.  We  have  seen  how  Lincoln  combined 
with  Seward  to  prevent  due  discussion  in  the  Cabinet.  In  short, 
the  revelations  of  this  volume  clearly  tend  to  show  that,  while  Mr. 
Adams  may  have  exaggerated  Seward's  domination  over  Lincoln, 
Lincoln  clearly  was  too  greatly  influenced  by  the  man  whom  he  evi- 
dently regarded  as  the  premier  of  his  ministry. 

But  does  it  follow  that  we  are  to  look  on  Lincoln  as  a  weakling? 
I  think  not.     As  well  might  we  conclude  that  Washington  was  not 


1  This  appears,  I  think,  quite  clearly  on  pages  46  and  86.     But  almost  every  page 
displays  the  disposition  of  the  author  to  disparage  Seward. 
2Ante,  p.  364 


OF    SALMON    PORTLAND    CHASE.  SI 5 

a  really  great  man,  because  he  showed  too  much  regard  for  Alexander 
Hamilton,  and  was  too  much  influenced  by  that  predecessor  of  our 
hero  in  the  treasury. 

Not  often  has  biography  been  brave  enough  to  toll  the  simple 
truth.  "We  must  not  judge  either  Seward,  Chase,  or  Lincoln  too 
severely.  Any  one  by  whom  biography  has  been  profoundly  and 
methodically  studied,  must  be  ready  to  agree,  that  if  either  of  the 
three  distinguished  men  just  named  shall  be  faithfully  compared  with 
other  famous  characters,  his  title  to  remembrance  will  not  thereby 
be  annihilated. 

Chase,  we  have  seen,  was  a  great  student  of  the  Bible.  Did  lie 
study  deeply,  in  the  version  he  preferred,  the  words  in  the  ninth 
verse  of  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  the  Book  of  the  Prophet  Jeremiah  ? 
They  read  thus : 

"The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked; 
who  can  know  it?"1 

Never  was  biographer  more  called  upon  than  is  the  compiler  of 
this  work — for  it  is  little  more  than  compilation,  generally  speak- 
ing— to  remember,  constantly,  that  the  heart,  even  of  the  most 
thoughtful,  self-introspective  man,  may  be  its  own  deceiver  and  be- 
trayer. Chase,  at  all  times,  I  believe,  supposed  himself  to  be  aspir- 
ing after  none  but  worthy  objects.     Now  and  then,  as  in  the  case  of 


1 1  have  not  at  hand   the  Douay  version.     Here,  however,  is  the  language  of  a 
French  Catholic  rendering  : 

"Le  coeur  de  l'homme  est  trompeur  et  impenetrable;  qui  le  connaitre?" 
A  French  Protestant  rendering  of  the  same  verse  has  the  words: 
"Le  cceur  est  ruse,  et  d£sesper£ment  malin  par  dessus  toutes  choses;  qui  le  con- 
naitre?" 

But  I  have,  "Die  Bibel  oder  die  game  Heilige  Sehri/l  des  alten  und  neuen  Testaments 
nach  der  deulschen   Uebersetzung  Dr.  Martin  Luihers ;"  and  here  we  have  the  words: 
"Es  ist  das  Herz  ein  trotziges  und  verzagtes  Ding;  wer  kann  es  ergrunden  ? " 
Yet  the  German  Catholic  version,  which  is  in  my  library,  contains  the  sentence: 
"Aller  Menschen  Herz  ist  bfise  und  unerforschlich;  wer  wird  es  durchschauen?" 
As  already  intimated,  I  prefer  the  Douay  version  and  the  French  Catholic  render- 
ing; but  learned  preference  may  be  the  other  way.     Perhaps  that  of  Luther  may 
appear  the  best.     However  that  may  be,  the   world  has  long  since  accepted  as  a 
doctrine  of  the  Bible  that  the  heart  may  be  deceitful  even  to  itself. 

'Unconscious  cerebration''  is  the  name  given  by  some  physiologists  to  the  phe- 
nomenon of  mental  action  that  is  not  at  all  or  but  imperfectly  self-conscious.     Dr. 
Carpenter*  is  one  of  the  explicators  of  the  learning  in  relation  to  this  topic,  equally 
of  interest  to  the  psychologist  as  to  the  physiologist.     But  the  most  wonderful  phe- 
*  Human  Physiology,  (Amer.  ed.) 


816  THE   PRIVATE    LIFE  AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES 

his  indebtedness  to  Hiram  Barney,1  he  was  clearly  wrong  in  act;  but, 
even  in  that  case,  I  can  not  think  that  he  was  wrong  in  purpose. 
Similar  remarks  appear  quite  applicable  to  his  intimacy  with  the 
Cookes.  But  is  it  not  quite  clear  that  such  a  man  was  never  fit  for 
any  other  than  judicial  office  *? 

In  reviewing  what  I  have  advanced,  here  and  there,  about  his 
judgments  of  persons  with  whom  he  had  to  deal,  I  find  apparent 
inconsistency,  resulting  from  occasional  failure  to  express  completely 
my  ideas  on  the  subject  here  referred,  to.  I  desire,  in  this  final 
chapter,  to  retouch  the  theme. 

In  some  circumstances,  he  formed  very  accurate  conceptions  of 
character.  In  other  circumstances,  he  allowed  himself  to  judge  too 
favorably  men  whose  want  of  worth  he  ought  to  have  perceived 
quite  clearly.  Often,  his  desire  to  think  well  of  a  person  overruled 
his  judgment.  He  was  very  seldom  disposed  to  judge  severely.  He 
discerned  the  good  in  character  more  readily  than  he  discerned  the 
evil  in  design  and  disposition.  Jealousy  and  envy  were  almost 
strangers  to  his  heart.  Designing  men,  pretending  to  adopt  his 
ethics,  too  often  won  his  confidence,  and  involved  him  in  apparent 
sympathy  with  their  unworthy  objects.  How  this  damaged  him, 
from  time  to  lime,  some  revelations  of  this  work  have  very  clearly 
shown. 

He  would,  I  think,  have  been  a  great  Chief  Justice  had  he  not 
been  worried  out  of  due  devotion  to  his  high  and  holy  office  into 
almost  silly  presidential  candidature.  But  the  real  glory  of  his  life 
was  in  its  private  walks  and  ways,  and  in  its  persevering  agitation 
against  slavery. 

In  saying  that,  in  my  judgment,  the  great  glory  of  his  life  was  in 
its  private  walks  and  ways,  and  in  its  agitation  against  slavery,  I  do 
not  forget  that  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  for  some  time,  seemed  fan- 
atical in  the  agitation  just  referred  to.  But  there  was  admirable 
method  in  that  madness  while  it  lasted  ;  and  it  lasted  only  a  few  years. 
Throughout,  I  think,  it  was  inspired  by  conscientiousness  ard  love 


nomenon  of  unconsciousness  is  that  which  novelists  and  poets,  as  well  as  psycholo- 
gists and  physiologists,  have  long  discerned  in  emotion,  feeling,  comprehending  love 
as  well  as  hatred,  which  is  not  at  all  or  but  imperfectly  self-conscious.  This  phe- 
nomenon, it  seems  to  me.  was  not  unknown  to  the  composer  of  that  verse  in  Jere- 
miah's seventeenth  chapter.  Benedick  and  Beatrice  are  instances  to  prove  that 
Shakespeare  studied  the  spiritual  phenomenon  in  question. 
'Ante,  p.  557 


OF   SALMON  PORTLAND   CHASE.  817 

of  country.  It  drew  out  some  of  the  finest  utterances  of  the  truly 
great  heart  and  great  mind  we  have  been  studying.  And  it  was 
followed  by  a  nobler  agitation  in  the  interest  of  freedom.  This  has 
been  quite  clearly  shown  in  some  of  the  foregoing  chapters. 

That  he  had  the  greatness  of  fine  person,  port,  and  presence, 
during  much  the  greatest  number  of  his  years,  will  not  be  ques- 
tioned. That  he  had  an  admirable  mastery  of  words,  in  writing  and 
in  certain  modes  of  oral  utterance,  is  also  not  to  be  denied.  That  he 
had  legal  learning  of  a  high  order,  I  expect  to  be  admitted  by  fair- 
minded  readers.  That  he  cultivated  a  high-hearted  love  of  country, 
is  quite  evident.     That  his  private  life  was  pure,  I  am  well  satisfied. 

In  some  respects,  he  was  unfortunate.  He  would  have  seemed  to 
me  most  fortunate,  had  he  been  undividedly  devoted  to  his  duties  as 
Chief  Justice.  But,  unfortunately,  he  was  variously  almost  forced 
into  presidential  candidature,  after  he  became  possessed  of  Ids  finest 
opportunity  in  public  life.  Thus,  strange  spectacle !  in  spite  of  his 
apparent  fortunateness,  he  was  really  unfortunate — an  object  rather 
of  compassion  than  of  envy  to  discerning  minds — while  he  was  in 
the  highest  place  he  ever  held. 

The  revelations  of  his  diaries  and  letters  are,  it  seems  to  me,  of 
wonderfully  various  interest.  Even  if  the  final  judgment  of  the 
reader  should  be,  that  the  hero  of  this  work  does  not  deserve  the 
credit  I  ascribe  to  him,  it  would  not  follow  that  the  contents  of  this 
work  should  be  considered  unattractive.  But  I  can  not  apprehend 
such  final  judgment. 

A  biographer  of  Goethe  used  these  words : 

"And,  without  wishing  to  excuse  or  to  conceal  faults  which  he 
assuredly  had,  we  must  always  bear  in  mind  that  the  faults  of  a  cel- 
ebrated man  are  apt  to  carry  an  undue  emphasis;  they  are  thrown 
into  stronger  relief  by  the  very  splendor  of  his  fame.  Had  Goethe 
never  written  Faust,  no  one  would  have  heard  that  he  was  an  incon- 
stant lover,  and  tepid  politician.    His  glory  immortalizes  his  shame." 

In  some  degree,  the  suggestions  of  these  words  are  here  of  service. 
Constant  as  a  lover,  Chase  was  never  tepid  as  a  politician  ;  but  I 
can  not  attempt  to  justify  or  even  to  excuse  some  features  of  his  life. 
Lewes  also  says,  in  his  Life  of  Goethe : 

"Merck  said  of  him  that  what  he  lived  was  more  beautiful  than 
what  he  wrote  ;  and  his  life,  amid  all  its  weaknesses  and  all  its  errors, 
presents  a  picture  of  a  certain  grandeur  of  soul,  which  can  not  be 
contemplated  unmoved.     I    shall   make  no  attempt  to  conceal    his 


818  THE  PRIVATE   LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

faults.  Let  them  be  dealt  with  as  harshly  as  severest  justice  may 
dictate,  they  will  not  eclipse  the  central  light  that  shines  through 
them.'-  ' 

I  dare  not  say  of  Chase  that  what  he  lived  was  more  beautiful 
than  what  he  wrote.  I  think,  indeed,  that  what  he  wrote  was  far 
more  beautiful  than  what  he  lived.  But  I  do  say,  and  most  heartily, 
that  the  life  of  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  amid  all  its  weaknesses  and 
all  its  errors,  presents  a  picture  of  intellectual  and  moral  grandeur 
which  can  not  be  contemplated  without  wonder.  I  have  made  no 
attempt  to  hide  those  weaknesses,  those  errors.  Let  them  be  chari- 
tably judged;  and  let  us  pay  the  due  attention  to  the  central  light 
of  conscientiousness  that,  not  uneclipsed  at  times,  distinguishes  his 
life  at  large. 

And  who  among  us  feels  entitled  to  uplift  his  voice  in  censure 
of  that  life?  What  famous  European,  what  illustrious  American, 
whose  real  conduct  and  true  character  are  known  to  us,  appears  to 
have  lived  better  than  did  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  all  things  con- 
sidered ? 

He  appears  to  have  been  well  devoted,  in  intention,  to  great  causes, 
and,  taken  as  a  whole,  the  part  he  played  in  life  seems  clearly 
marked  by  beauty,  dignity,  and  value. 

In  a  private  circular,  intended  to  foreshadow  some  of  the  then 
intended  matter  of  this  work,  appeared  the  since  grossly  misrepre- 
sented paragraphs: 

"  Let  me  carefully  explain,  before  proceeding  farther,  that  a  special 
law  of  composition  seemed  to  be  dictated  for  observance  in  this  work 
by  this  consideration,  with  some  others:  He  whose  life  and  times 
these  pages  undertake  to  make  better  known  than  they  could  be 
without  the  revelations  here  presented,  having  begun  life  as  a  '  lite- 
rary Lawyer,'  never  ceased,  while  life  remained,  to  write  much,  and 
with  rare  mastery  of  words,  in  the  expression  of  well-studied 
thoughts,  relating  to  a  great  variety  of  subjects. 

••  Wherefore  the  special  law  of  composition,  dictated  as  just  hinted, 
orders  that  the  language  of  Salmon  Poi'tland  Chase  be  put  into  the 
service  of  this  tribute  to  his  memory,  whenever  that  is  possible.  In 
Other  terms,  it  orders  that  his  words  be  used  when  that  is  not  for- 
bidden by  the  very  nature  of  this  undertaking. 

"So  may  this  work  avail  itself  of  superior  style  and  diction,  and 
so  may  the  reader  soon  begin  to  see,  as  in  a  faithful  glass,  the  man 
whose  very  physiognomy,  as  well  as  his  distinctive  traits  and  ten- 
dencies, these  pages  naturally  wish  to  make  familiar,  just  as  soon  as 
ma}-  be,  to  perusers  of  their  revelations. 


1  The  Story  of  Goethe'!  Life,  by  George  Henry  Lewes,  p.  12. 


OF  SALMON    PORTLAND   CHASE.  819 

"If,  therefore,  the  judgments  which  the  author  of  this  work-  may 
from  time  to  time  express  or  imply  about  Salmon  Portland  Chase, 
shall  seem  to  any  reader  false,  each  reader  is  to  have  at  hand  the 
means  of  forming  his  own  judgment  for  himself." 

But,  after  all,  is  it  true  that  the  writings  of  this  man,  who,  in  18G8, 
was  not  astonished  that  some  good  men  found  in  him  an  enigma, 

yield  a  glass,  deserving  to  be  called  a  faithful  mirror?  Have  I  not 
already  indicated  my  opinion,  that  what  he  wrote  was  far  more  beau- 
titul  than  what  he  lived? 

That  saying  of  Merck  about  Goethe  is  not  true.  It  is  not  true 
that  Goethe's  life  was  better  than  his  writings.  Neither  life  nor 
writings,  in  that  case,  deserved  the  praise  they  have  received.  How- 
ever that  may  be,  the  language  used  by  the  present  writer,  about  a 
faithful  glass,  as  furnished  by  our  hero's  writings,  clearly  calls  for 
some  qualification,  as  this  volume  nears  its  final  word.  The  glass  in 
question  yields  rather  an  idealized  likeness  than  a  bare  reflection.  It 
must  be  corrected  by  the  exercise  of  a  judgment  at  once  just  and 
charitable.  After  all,  we  see  in  it  a  life  and  a  character  which  form, 
together,  an  enigma,  not  to  be  interpreted  in  any  single  sentence. 
But  this  work  at  large,  imperfect  as  it  is,  appears  to  its  composer  to 
have  represented  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  with  his  imperfections  and 
his  virtues,  with  his  greatness  and  his  weakness,  with  the  sins  he 
committed  and  the  good  deeds  he  performed,  just  as  they  were;  and 
so  it  leaves  him  to  the  proper  judgment  of  these  times  and  of  the 
times  to  come. 

53 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE  A. 

The  following  is  extracted  from  a  letter  to  Chief  Justice  Chase 
from  Mr.  JSewby  Chase: 

"  You  requested  me  to  write  to  jour  daughter,  Mrs,  Sprague,  at  Paris,  which  I  did 
without  delay,  and  directed  to  the  care  of  John  Monroe  &  Co.,  Bankers.  Paris.  I 
also  requested  of  her  to  drop  me  a  line,  that  I  might  know  she  received  it.  but, 
never  having  heard  since,  I  am  afraid  she  did  not  get  it.  and,  lest  you  should  vcrv 
justly  consider  me  neglectful.  I  send  inclosed  a  sketch  of  the  arms,  with  an  account 
of  the  family  and  name,  as  far  as  I  could  find  it  out  yet.  The  1  on  the  shield  is 
Saxon,  but  however  that  may  be,  the  family,  it  is  asserted,  came  first  from  Piedmont. 
I  expect  to  find  out  the  meaning  of  the  1  yet,  as  there  is  a  Lieutenant-Colonel  Chase 
living  at  3  Nottingham  Place,  Marylebone,  London,  W.,  ami  John  Chase.  Esq.,  50 
Upper  Charlotte  Street,  Fitzroy  Square,  London,  W.,  and  a  Miss  Chase,  Devonshire 
Place,  London,  W.,  from  whom  I  expect  to  get  information  about  it. 

"I  have  a  small  book,  entitled  'a  report  of  proceedings  in  Ireland,  relative  to  the 
Church  of  Ohio  since  the  arrival  of  the  Rev.  G.  Montgomery  West,  chaplain  to  the 
Right  Reverend  Bishop  Chase,  together  with  a  list  of  Patrons  and  Donations  as  laid 
before  the  public  meeting  in  the  city  of  Dublin,  10th  Nov.,  1828.'  It  contains  some 
letters  from  Bishop  Chase  to  Sir  Harcourt  Lees,  chairman  of  the  meeting,  etc..  and 
if  you  would  like  to  see  it,  I  would  forward  it  to  you  with  pleasure,  as  1  l.elieve 
small  books  can  now  be  forwarded  by  post  to  the  United  States  for  a  trifle. 

A  letter  to  Mrs.  Sprague  from  Mr.  Newby  Chase,  Nov.  19,  1867 

contains  the  following  sentences  : 

"The  family  of  Chase  came  originally  from  Piedmont,  and  belonged  to  the  perse- 
cuted Waldenses  who  had  to  fly  their  country.  Hamilton,  in  his  History  of  the 
Albigenses,  I  think  it  is,  mentions  one  of  the  name  who  accompanied  a  deputation 
to  the  Duke  of  Savoy  to  intercede  for  his  persecuted  Bubjects.  Two  brothers  of  the 
name  came  to  England  about  the  year  1654  or  '5;  took  up  arms  under  Crom- 
well, and  for  their  services  obtained  estates  in  Ireland.  One  of  these  brothers 
settled  in  the  County  Wicklow,  near  a  place  called  Limeahealy.  where  he  got  a 
confiscated  estate;  the  other  in  the  County  Wexford,  near  a  place  called  Bally 
Arnerd,  where  he  also  got  a  confiscated  estate,  and  from  which  latter  I  am  descended, 
and  about  the  fifth  in  descent.  One  of  the  family  from  Wicklow  emigrated  to 
America,  and  lived  in  Boston,  where  he  kept  a  hotel  at  the  commencement  of  the  war 
for  Independence,  and,  taking  the  King's  side,  had  to  fly  and  come  back  to  Ireland, 
where  his  wife  followed  him.  They  remained  in  Dublin  until  the  peace,  when  they 
went  back  again  and  settled  in  New  York,  and   I  believe  was  the  first  of  the  name 

(821) 


s_'J  APPENDIX. 

in  America.  One  of  the  same  family  settled  in  England,  a  great  many  years  ago. 
in  the  Pottery  District;  married  a  rich  widow  there,  and,  after  a  few  years,  amassed 
0  large  fortune.  He  and  his  family  used  to  communicate  with  their  friends  in  Ire- 
land until  the  Rebellion  in  1798,  when,  I  understand,  all  communication  with  them 
ceased;  but  1  believe  lie  had  settled  in  London  before  that  time.  A  Robert  Chase, 
an  uncle  of  my  father's,  kept  a  merchant  tailoring  establishment  in  Collingwood 
Place,  Ratcliffe,  London,  a  great  many  years  ago;  and  some  of  the  name,  who,  I  have 
no  doubt  are  branches  of  those  families,  are  in  respectable  positions  in  England  at  the 
present  time,  but  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  trace  them  where  noregular  record  is  kept. 
There  is  a  Lieutenant-Col.  Chase  living  at  3  Nottingham  Place,  Marylebone,  London, 
W.  ;  John  Chase,  Esq.,  50  Upper  Charlotte  Street,  Fitzroy  Square,  London;  and  a 
Miss  Chase,  Devonshire  Place,  London,  W.,  who,  I  have  no  doubt,  are  of  the  same 
family,  and  I  expect  to  get  some  information  from  them  about  the  arms. 

"The  family  in  this  country  has  dwindled  down  very  much.  I  and  my  family 
and  a  few  of  the  name  who  reside  in  the  North  of  Ireland  being  the  only  ones  of 
the  family  in  Ireland  at  the  present.  The  old  people  foolishly  let  their  properties 
out  of  their  hands,  as  many  old  people  in  this  country  did,  50  or  100  years  ago. 

"  Underneath  I  send  a  rough  sketch  of  the  seal  of  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Chase, 
which,  I  believe,  is  the  true  arms  of  the  family,  as  some  old  silver  spoons  which 
have  been  in  my  family  for  a  great  many  years  have  the  same  crest. 

"  The  shield  is  ensanguined,  the  Saxon  F  reversed,  scroll  blue  and  gold,  crest  a 
lion  rampant,  holding  an  1  in  his  forepaws ;  motto,  Pro  C'/trislo  et  Palria — For  Christ 
and  my  Country. 

"  Hoping  you  will  excuse  this,  I  remain,  Madam,  very  respectfully, 

"NEWBY  CHASE." 

In  a  letter  to  the  Chief  Justice,  Mr.  Newby  Chase,  then  at  Black- 
rock  County,  Dublin,  Ireland,  said,  on  the  19t'h  of  November,  1867  : 

"  I  have  just  returned  from  the  North  of  Ireland,  where  I  and  a  daughter  of  mine 
have  been  for  three  weeks  on  a  visit.  I  called  to  see  all  of  the  name  in  that  part  of 
the  country,  and  they  are  not  many;  but  every-where  we  were  showed  the  greatest 
respect  and  kindness,  and  that  by  some  I  had  never  seen  before,  but  who,  like  my- 
self, would  feel  happy  in  meeting  any  one  of  the  name.  I  will  just  relate  an  anec- 
dote of  the  name,  which  1  heard  from  my  father  forty  years  ago : 

"  '  A  vessel  arrived  from  England  in  the  port  of  Dublin,  a  great  many  years  ago, 
commanded  by  a  Captain  Chase.  One  of  the  name,  who  resided  at  that  time  in 
Dublin,  hearing  of  the  arrival  of  a  name-sake,  called  to  see  him,  and  told  him  what 
brought  him.'  '  Oh,'  says  the  captain,  'I  am  an  English  Chase,  and  don't  know  you.' 
'  Well,  says  the  other,  'I  am  an  Irish  Chase,  and  don't  know  you,'  and  was  turning 
to  go  away,  when  the  captain  seized  him,  and  said  he  should  not  leave  him  in  that 
way,  for  he  was  surely  a  Chase.  He  made  him  go  on  board  the  vessel,  and  ever 
after  they  were  intimate  friends.'  " 

Surely,  whoever  knew  the  late  Chief  Justice  long  and  well,  saw 
in  him  a  turn  of  temper  not  unlike  that  shown  in  these  two  Chases. 
Here  are  extracts  from  a  letter  from  the  same  pen  : 

"Blackrock   County,  Dublin,  Ireland,  Nov.  19,  1867. 
"  Honorable  Sir  :  I  received  your  letter  of  the  17th  of  September,  with  the  letter 


APPENDIX.  823 

of  the  adjutant-general  inclosed,  and  I  feel  very  thankful  for  your  kindness  in  the 
matter.  I  am  sorry  that  all  efforts  to  find  a  clue  to  the  sword  and  effects  of  my  son 
have  failed.  It  is  too  long  since  his  death  to  expect  to  recover  them  now  ;  but  if  I 
had  the  good  fortune  to  have  applied  to  you  at  the  first,  before  the  regiment  was 
disbanded,  I  have  no  doubt  you  would  have  recovered  them  forme,  and  I  would  have 
them  as  a  memorial  of  him.  1  received  a  letter  a  few  days  ago  from  Burlington 
Iowa,  stating  that  Major  McClure  sold  the  sword,  sash,  and  effects  of  my  son,  and 
has  not  made  his  appearance  there  since. 

'•I  have  tried  to  get  the  army  list  for  the  Western  States,  which  was  compiled  and 
published  immediately  after  the  war — as  it  would  show  the  engagements  my  Bon's 
regiment  was  in,  his  promotion,  death,  etc.,  but  1  have  failed  in  this  also.  Mr.  W  <■-!. 
our  United  States  Consul  at  Dublin,  showed  me  one  for  the  New  England  States, 
and  promised  me  several  times  to  get  me  one,  but  somehow  or  other  he  forgot  it.  The 
price  is,  I  believe,  one  dollar;  but  it  can  not  be  got  here.     ...... 

•  Hoping  you  will  excuse  this  long  letter,  I  remain,  honorable  sir,  your  much 
obliged,  etc., 

••  Hon.  S.  P.  Chase,  etc.,  Washington.  NEW li Y  CHASE." 

Mr.  Ncwb}T  Chase  thus  appears  to  be  a  worthy  bearer  of  his  name. 
His  interest  in  pedigree  is  by  no  means  discreditable. 

The  book  from  which  I  have  transcribed  the  foregoing  extracts 
was  furnished  to  me  by  the  Chief  Justice  as  part  of  the  material 
for  this  work.  It  contains  the  memorandum,  "  See  letters  of  Newby 
Chase  for  sketch  of  arms  referred  to." 

It  is  not  possible  to  pronounce  with  certainty  upon  the  question 
as  to  the  supposed  origin  of  the  Chases  in'Piedmont;  but  it  would 
seem  to  me  not  improbable  that  the  country,  named  from  its  lying 
at  the  foot  of  mountains,  ma}*  have  sent  the  earlier  Chases  forth, 
as  indicated  in  one  of  the  foregoing  letters. 

"Among  the  early  settlers  of  New  England."  says  the  New  England  Genealogical 
Register  for  January,  1847,  "were  three  persons  by  the  name  of  Chase;  namely. 
William,  Thomas,  and  Aquila.  The  first  settled  in  Yarmouth,  and  there  died,  in 
1G59,  leaving  two  sons,  Benjamin  and  William.  The  last  two  were  certainly  brothers, 
as  appears  from  a  deed  given  in  1GG7,  by  Aquila,  to  'the  sons  of  his  brother  Thomas.' 
The  name  is  found  in  various  places  in  English  history,  from  the  time  of  William 
the  Conqueror  to  the  present  time.  Thus,  we  find,  in  1326,  a  family  of  that  name 
in  Suffolk;  a  Thomas  Chase,  who  was  barbarously  murdered  in  150G  ;  a  Sir  Robert 
Chase,  Knight,  in  the  west  of  England,  1628;  a  Sir  John  Chase  in  Exeter,  prior  to 
1G37;  a  John  Chase.  Esq.,  Apothecary  to  Queen  Anne,  1690,  etc.  See  Mayna  Brit- 
annia, Lysson's  London,  Polwhele's  Devonshire,  and  other  works. 

"Thomas  and  Aquila  Chase  were  among  the  first  settlers  of  Hampton,  N.  H., 
in  1639." 

Of  Aquila  Chase  we  know  too  little.  He  is  set  down  by  tradition, 
however,  as  a  native  of  Cornwall,  England,  and  tradition  also  fixes 
the  year  of  his  birth — it  can  not  fix  the  day — in  1G18.  Bishop  Chase 
assures  us  that  the  records  of  the  town  of  Newbury,  at  the  mouth 
of  Merrimack  Hiver,  prove  that  he  was  the  first  captain  who,  in  a 
regular  vessel,  ever  sailed  into  that  port. 


824  APPENDIX. 

The  Bishop  adds,  respecting  Aquila  : 

"By  reason  of  his  nautical  skill  and  enterprising  character,  he  received  an  invi 
tation  from  the  inhabitants  of  that  infant  settlement  to  bring  his  family  from 
Hampton,  not  far  off,  where  they  had  lived  a  few  years  on  coming  to  America,  and 
make  his  home  among  them;  and  to  insure  his  compliance,  the  ' selectmen,'  who  acted 
M  I  what  is  called  in  other  places  than  New  England)  a  town  council,  tendered  him 
ili-  donation  of  several  lots  of  land  and  some  other  immunities.  He  complied  with 
their  wishes  and  became  an  inhabitant  of  that  then  promising  maritime  village." 

If  the  histories  of  men  had  had  women  for  historians,  would  we 
have  known  so  little  of  maternal  ancestry? 

Dudley  Chase  was,  doubtless,  a  strong  character.  But  Alice  Cor- 
bett.  I  would  say,  was  of  yet  stronger  mold  and  temper. 

Bishop  Chase,  her  son,  devotes  a  portion  of  one  chapter  rnd  the 
greatest  part  of  another  to  accounts  of  that  heroic  and  devoted  wife 
and  mother.  Under  the  title,  Story  of  the  Pine- Apple,  he  sets  forth 
her  relation  of  a  series  of  facts  which,  he  says,  she  "  used  to  tell  her 
children,  to  illustrate  her  abhorrence  of  the  sin  of  covetousness — that 
sin  which,  by  its  idolatrous  nature,  calls  down  God's  judgment  on 
his  people." — Reminiscences  of  Bishop  Chase,  I.,  9. 

Dudley  and  Alice  lived  in  Sutton,  Massachusetts,  about  ten  years, 
and  then  moved  to  New  Hampshire.  When  the  family,  in  their  pain- 
ful journey  through  the  woods,  arrived  at  Fort  No.  4,  it  was  thought 
advisable  that  the  mother  and  children  should  remain  there  for 
shelter  and  for  their  greater  security  from  the  Indians.  To  this 
arrangement  noble  Alice  consented  with  the  greatest  reluctance,  as 
she  afterward  related  to  her  son,  the  future  bishop. 

"I  shuddered,"  said  she,  "at  the  thought  of  being  penned  up  with  my  precious 
bairns  within  the  precints  of  a  narrow  fort,  rudely  built  for  defense  against  savages, 
for  a  period  of  time  I  knew  not  how  long;  for  it  was  sixteen  miles  up  the  river 
whither  your  father  and  his  company  of  workmen  were  going,  where  the  land  was 
to  be  cleared  and  the  crop  for  the  approaching  season  was  to  be  planted.  But 
necessity  is  an  imperious  dictate,  and  submission  was  my  duty.  It  was,  neverthe- 
less, a  hard  parting  when  your  father  pressed  his  babes  to  his  bosom,  and  mine  to 
his  manly  cheek,  as  he  stepped  into  his  canoe  and  took  command  of  his  little  fleet 
of  stout  and  cheerful  men,  both  able  and  willing  to  subdue  the  forest  and  plant  the 
virgin  soil. 

"  It  was  some  time  in  the  early  spring  that  this  parting  scene  took  place  on  the 
banks  of  the  Connecticut  River.  The  bud  was  then  bursting  from  its  wintry  fetters; 
tin'  birds  were  commencing  their  wooing  songs,  and  the  wild  herbage  sprang  up  all 
around  me.  Among  these  I  wandered,  admired  their  beauty,  and  inhaled  their 
sweets;  but  all  had  no  charms  for  me  while  your  father  was  gone.  I  tried  to  banish 
my  fears  for  his  safety  when  I  thought  of  his  defenseless  state  and  the  proximity 
of  the  ruthless  savage;  for  there  was  then  war  between  France  and  England,  and 
no  fort  between  us  and  Canada.  I  also  endeavored  to  seek  refuge  from  my  painful 
feelings  in  employment  for  myself  and  children;  but  our  condition  in  the  fort  pre- 
cluded the  observance  of  regularity,  and  without  that,  little  can  be  done.     So  much 


APPENDIX.  825 

mingling  of  contending  interests,  especially  among  a  crowd  of  little  children,  bade 
defiance  to  all  efforts  for  order  or  peace.  Days  seemed  weeks,  and  weeks  seemed 
months ;  and  scarcely  did  a  sun  rise  without  witnessing  my  wanderings  on  the  b&nkg 
of  the  flowing  stream  where  I  had  parted  from  your  father  and  his  blithe  company 
of  Cornish  woodmen. 

•'  It  was  in  one  of  these  walks  that,  with  my  children  by  my  side,  I  saw,  as  the 
day  drew  near  its  close,  a  canoe  coming  round  a  point '  of  the  river  bank  above  me. 
I  first  thought  of  the  approach  of  savages;  but  before  I  had  time  to  flee,  I  recognized 
the  well-known  canoe  of  your  father,  and  in  it  our  trusty  neighbor,  Diah  Spalding. 
My  heart  leaped  with  joy;  and  no  sooner  did  the  canoe  reach  the  shore  than  the 
children  were  in  it  and  on  his  knees;  nor  did  they  suffer  him  to  stir  till  they  bad 
told  him  I  was  resolved  that  we  should  all  return  with  him  to  their  father  in  the 
woods. 

"  '  Do  you  know,  are  you  apprised,  dear  madam,'  said  he,  respectfully  approaching 
me — 'are  you  aware  that  such  has  been  our  anxiety  to  put  in  a  crop  and  plant  the 
ground  for  the  coming  summer,  that  we  found  no  time  to  erect  the  semblance  of  a 
house  ?  I  am  come  to  tell  you  your  husband  is  well,  and  all  his  men  are  well,  and  to 
obtain  information  of  your  health  and  safety;  and  to  carry  back  with  me  a  recruit 
of  provisions  for  their  comfort ;  but  we  have  all  slept  upon  the  uncovered  ground, 
and,  as  yet,  have  no  place  to  shelter  ourselves — much  less  you  and  your  little  ones 
— from  the  pelting  of  the  storm;  and  will  you  venture  with  them  into  the  woods 
before  you  are  sure  of  a  refuge  ?  ' 

"'I  will  go,  and,  with  all  my  children,  endure  any  storm,  if  you  will  give  me  but 
a  safe  and  speedy  conveyance  to  my  husband.  If  there  be  no  shelter,  or  fence,  or 
fort,  his  faithful  arm  will  guard  me,  and  his  trusty  men  will  aid  him;  and  there 
God,  who  is  above  all,  ruleth  all,  and  directeth  all,  will  provide.' 

"  A  much  smaller  degree  of  sagacity  than  our  neighbor  Spalding  possessed  would 
have  been  sufficient  to  make  him  sensible  that  it  was  in  vain  to  thwart  a  resolution 
so  firmly  taken;  and  the  speedy  removal  once  determined  on,  all  the  force  of  his 
ingenious  and  friendly  mind  was  called  into  action  to  make  things  ready.  Such 
goods  as  we  needed  least  were  secured  in  the  fort ;  and  such  as  the  boats  would  carry, 
and  we  needed  most,  with  ample  provisions,  were  put  on  board;  and  the  morning 
sun  had  scarcely  risen  ere  the  indefatigable  exertions  of  Spalding  and  the  assiduity 
of  my  children  had  made  all  things  ready  for  the  voyage.  Spalding  was  a  good 
canoe-man  ;  and  under  the  protection  of  the  Almighty,  in  whom  our  trust  was  placed, 
the  exertions  of  his  strong  arm  and  the  industrious  aid  of  my  elder  sons  made  our 
speed,  though  slow,  yet  unceasing;  and,  in  time  of  war.  ascending  a  rapid  stream  in 
a  frail  Indian  canoe,  we  reached  before  night  the  little  opening  among  the  towering 
trees,  from  whence  the  spot  of  your  father's  choice  appeared  to  our  longing  eyes." 

Is  the  story  long?  The  narrative  of  this  devoted  woman  seems 
to  me  too  brief.  I  can  not  bring  myself  to  leave  out  one  word 
thereof.     It  goes  forward  in  this  fashion  : 

'"There  they  are,'  said  the  mingled  voices  of  my  children;  'there  is  our  dear 
father,  and  yonder  are  his  men;  I  hear  his  voice  and  the  sound  of  their  axes.' 

"For  a  moment  all  was  hidden  from  our  view  by  the  density  of  the  intervening 
forest  trees.  This  gave  me  time  to  utter  what  was  laboring  in  my  bosom — a  prayer 
of  faith  and  benediction. 


1  In  the  west,  called  a  bend. 


826  APPENDIX. 

"  '  God  of  our  ancestors,  bless  your  father  and  me,  your  helpless  mother,  and  you, 
my  loved  children,  now.  even  now,  as  we  shall,  in  a  few  minutes,  take  possession 
of  this  our  dwelling-place  in  the  wild  woods,  and  though,  like  Jacob,  we  have  naught 
but  a  stone  for  our  pillow  and  the  canopy  of  heaven  for  a  covering,  may  we  all  find 
God  indeed  to  be  in  this  place ;  and  may  this  place  be  to  us  a  house  of  God  and  a 
gate  of  heaven ! ' 

■  What  a  moment  was  this  to  one  who  had  left  all  for  her  husband  and  the  future 
fortunes  of  her  children!  Th«  wealth  of  India  would  have  been  meanly  estimated 
in  comparison  of  the  endeared  spot  before  me. 

"'With  your  leave,  madam,'  said  pilot  Spalding,  'I  think  it  prudent  that  your 
husband  come  to  us,  and  give  orders  where  he  will  have  his  family  landed.' 

••  Accordingly,  he  made  fast  the  canoe  to  the  willows,  and  desired  us  to  await  his 
return.  Your  father  could  get  no  direct  answer  from  Spalding  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  cargo  he  had  brought.     '  Come  and  see,'  was  all  he  would  say. 

"  '  Is  all  well  ?  '  said  your  father.     'Have  you  brought  us  a  good  supply  of  food?' 

" '  Come  and  see,'  replied  Spalding,  with  animation,  and  in  an  instant  they  burst 
upon  our  view ;  and  as  your  dear  father  stood  on  the  margin  of  the  high  bank,  he 
saw  beneath  his  feet  the  frail  bark  in  which  were  his  wife  and  children.  The  emo- 
tion was  almost  too  much  for  him.  I  saw  this,  and  spi'ang  forward,  the  children 
quickly  following.     He  received  us  with  a  mixture  of  joy  mingled  with  agony. 

"  'Are  you  come  to  die  here,'  he  exclaimed,  'before  your  time?  We  have  no  house 
to  shelter  you,  and  you  will  perish  before  we  can  get  one  erected.' 

"  '  Cheer  up,  cheer  up,  my  faithful ! '  said  I,  to  your  father;  '  let  the  smiles  and  the 
ruddy  faces  of  your  children,  and  the  health  and  cheerfulness  of  your  wife,  make 
you  joyful.  If  you  have  no  house,  you  will  have  strength  and  hands  to  make  one. 
The  God  we  worship  will  bless  us,  and  help  us  to  obtain  a  shelter.  Cheer  up,  cheer 
up,  my  faithful !  ' 

"The  sunshine  of  joy  and  hope  began  to  beam  from  his  countenance;  the  news 
was  communicated  throughout  the  company  of  workmen,  and  the  woods  rang  with 
shouts  at  the  arrival  of  the  first  white  woman  and  the  first  family  on  the  banks  of 
the  Connecticut  River  above  Fort  Number  Four.  All  assembled  to  see  the  strangers, 
and  strove  to  do  them  acts  of  kindness.  The  trees  were  quickly  felled  and  peeled, 
and  the  clean  bark,  i-n  large  sheets,  was  spread  for  a  floor;  other  sheets,  being  fast- 
ened by  thongs  of  twisted  twigs  to  stakes  driven  in  the  ground,  were  raised  for 
walls,  or  laid  on  cross-pieces  for  a  roof;  and  the  cheerful  fire  soon  made  glad  our 
little  dwelling.  The  space  of  three  hours  was  not  consumed  in  effecting  all  this; 
and  never  were  men  more  happy  than  those  who  contributed  thus  speedily  and  thus 
effectually  to  supply  our  wants.  Beds  were  brought  from  the  canoe  to  this  rustic 
pavilion,  and  on  them  we  rested  sweetly,  fearless  of  danger,  though  the  thick  foliage 
was  wet  with  dew,  and  the  wild  beasts  howled  all  around  us,  trusting  in  the  pro- 
tecting hand  of  Providence  and  the  watchful  fidelity  of  our  faithful  neighbors. 

"  The  next  day  all  hands  were  called  to  build  a  cabin,  which  served  us  for  the 
coming  winter,  and  in  which,  cheered  by  the  rising  prospects  of  the  family  and  the 
mutual  affection  of  all  around  us,  my  enjoyments  were  more  exquisite  than  at  any 
aubsequent  period  of  my  life." 

As  one  of  the  Cornish  Chases,  Alice  is  a  character  of  great  interest 
to  this  work. 

And  now  let  us  look  a  little  at  the  history  of  the  so-called  seces- 
sion of  Cornish  and  the  fifteen  towns  associated  with  her. 


APPENDIX.  827 

Careful  study  of  some  paragraphs  in  Do  Tocqueville's  Democracy 
in  America  might  greatly  aid  examination  of  the  tract  of  history 
about  to  be  reviewed.  According  to  that  writer,  there  is  a  certain 
likeness  between  the  town  of  New  England  and  the  European  com- 
mune. Both  he  considers  rather  as  the  work  of  nature  than  as  that 
of  art.  The  State  appears  to  him  man-made,  while  the  town  and 
the  commune  seem  to  him  God-made.  It  appears  to  me  that  in  this 
respect,  as  in  so  many  others,  he  draws  considerably  on  imagination 
where  it  would  have  been  better  to  confino  himself  to  sober  specu- 
lation. But,  however  that  may  appear,  the  paragraphs  referred  to 
are  at  least  suggestively  of  interest, 

Dr.  Belknap  saj-s  that  "  the  inhabitants  on  the  eastern  side  of 
Connecticut  Biver  were  very  conveniently  situated  to  unite  with  those 
on  the  western  side,  and  man}'  of  them  had  the  same  principles  and 
views."  x  Another  historian  of  Massachusetts  tells  his  readers  that 
"  most  of  the  settlers  in  that  section  were  from  Connecticut,  and  were 
more  assimilated,  in  their  manners  and  feeling,  to  the  people  of  Ver- 
mont, than  to  those  of  the  eastern  parts  of  New  Hampshire  ;"  and 
he  adds,  that  "  they  wished  to  form  a  State,  whose  center  and  seat 
of  government  should  be  in  their  own  vicinity,  at  some  town  on 
Connecticut  Biver."  2  But,  however  conveniently  situated  for  asso- 
ciation with  the  townships  of  Vermont,  the  Chases  in  Cornish  and 
the  dwellers  in  the  western  towns  of  Grafton  County,  did  not  vest 
their  right  to  li  secede  "  on  such  considerations. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  doctrine  of  secession  at  will  appears  to 
have  had  no  part  in  influencing  their  action.  They  could  not  have 
been  ignorant,  that  in  the  Exeter  Convention,  in  January,  177G,  the 
preamble  of  the  proposed  constitution  was  made  to  recite,  that  the 
British  Parliament  had,  by  many  grievous  and  oppressive  acts,  de- 
prived the  colonists  of  their  native  rights ;  and  that  to  enforce 
obedience  to  those  acts  of  oppi'ession  and  privation,  the  British  min- 
istry had  sent  a  powerful  fleet  and  army  into  this  country,  and  had 
wantonly  and  cruelly  abused  their  power  in  destroying  lives  and 
property.  They  must  have  known  that,  in  the  same  preamble, 
farther  recital  was  made  to  the  effect,  that  the  sudden  and  abrupt 
departure  of  the  "  late  governor  "  of  Xew  Hampshire  had  left  that 
colony  destitute  of  legislation  ;  that  no  judicial  courts  were  open  to 
punish  offenders ;  and  that  the  Continental  Congress  had  recommended 
the  adoption  of  a  form  of  government ;  and  that  the  convention  there- 
upon proceeded  to  say  :  "We  conceive  ourselves  reduced  to  the  neces- 


"  Hist.  N.  H.,  II,  338. 

2  AVhiton's  Sketches  of  the  History  of  New  Hampshire,  141. 


828  APPENDIX. 

sittj  of  establishing  a  form  of  government,  to  continue  during  the 
present  unhappy  and  unnatural  contest  with  Great  Britain  ;  pro- 
tosting  and  declaring,  that  we  never  soughtto  throw  off  our  depend- 
ence  on  Great  Britain  ;  but  we  felt  ourselves  happy  under  her  pro- 
teetion,  whilst  we  could  enjoy  our  constitutional  rights  and  privi- 
leges ;  and  that  we  shall  rejoice,  if  such  a  reconciliation  between  us 
and  «>ur  parent  State  can  be  effected,  as  shall  be  approved  by  the 
Continental  Congress,  in  whose  prudence  and  wisdom  we  confide."  * 
The  Cornish  men  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  other  so-called  seceding 
towns,  moreover,  must  have  known  that,  as  late  as  March,  1776,  the 
Legislature  of  New  Hampshire  had  not  given  up  all  hope  of  a  satis- 
factory adjustment  of  relations  with  Great  Britain.  In  the  preamble 
of  the  then  adopted  plan  of  government,  they  said  :  "  "We  shall  re- 
joice if  such  a  reconciliation  between  us  and  our  parent  State  can 
be  effected,  as  shall  be  approved  by  the  Continental  Congress."  2 

Cornish  and  the  other  "  seceding"  towns  must  have  also  known, 
that,  in  New  Hampshire,  on  the  11th  of  June,  1776,  a  committee  was 
chosen  by  the  assembly  and  another  by  the  council,  "  to  make  a 
draught  of  a  declaration  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  Colonies  ;"3 
and  that  on  the  15th  of  the  same  month  "the  committees  of  both 
houses  reported  a  Declaration  of  Independence,  which,  having  been 
unanimously  adopted,  was  sent,  by  copy,  to  the  delegates  from  the 
State  in  Congress."  i  But  they  must  have  known  also,  that  that 
bold  paper  based  the  claim  to  independence,  not  on  the  right  of  se- 
cession at  will,  but  on  the  right  arising  out  of  British  misrule. 

The  recital  of  the  declaration  here  referred  to  is,  in  part,  as  follows  : 

"  Whereas,  it  now  appears  an  undoubted  fact,  that,  notwithstanding  all  the  dutiful 
petitions  and  decent  remonstrances  from  the  American  colonies,  and  the  utmost  ex- 
ertions of  their  best  friends  in  England  on  their  behalf,  the  British  ministry,  arbi- 
trary and  vindictive,  are  yet  determined  to  reduce,  by  force  and  sword,  our  bleeding 
country  to  their  absolute  obedience ;  and  for  this  purpose,  in  addition  to  their  own 
force,  they  have  engaged  great  numbers  of  foreign  mercenaries,  who  may  now  be  on 
their  passage  here,  accompanied  by  a  formidable  fleet  to  ravish  [sic]  and  plunder  the 
sea-coast;  from  all  which  we  may  reasonably  expect  the  most  dismal  scenes  of  dis- 
tress the  ensuing  year,  unless  we  exert  ourselves  by  every  means  and  precaution 
possible."  5 

It  is  not  proper  here  to  present  at  large  the  argument  by  which  it 
could  be  shown,  so  easily,  that  thus  far  nothing  like  the  notion  of 
secession,  causeless  and  capricious — nothing  like  the  doctrine  of  the 
right  to  secede  at  will  from  a  governmental  union — found  consider- 
ation in  the  town  of  Cornish.     But  it  is  proper  to  make  some  farther 


1  Belknap,  II,  308,  309.  2  Whiton,  133. 

3  Barstow,  Hist.  N.  II.,  252.  « Ibid.  5Ibid. 


APPENDIX.  829 

statements,  touching  the  so-called  secession  of  Cornish  and  her  fif- 
teen town  associates. 

We  have  seen  how  the  majority  in   Cornish  and  ihe  other  so-called 

seceding  towns  could  reason.    Now,  let  l>r.  Belknap  tell  as  how  the 

Other  side  could  argue.     That  delightful  writer — whom  one  can  not 
read  without  dearly  loving  him — relates  as  follows: 

"In  these  sentiments,  the  people  were  not  all  united.     The  majority  of  some  towns 

was  in  favor  of  their  former  connection,  and  in  those  towns  where  the  majority  in- 
clined the  other  way,  the  minority  claimed  protection  of  the  government. 

"They  supposed  that  the  existence  of  their  town  incorporations,  and  of  the  privileges 
annexed  to  them,  depended  on  their  union  to  New  Hampshire ;  and  that  their  accep- 
tance of  the  grants  was,  in  effect,  an  acknowledgment  of  the  jurisdiction,  and  a 
submission  to  the  laws  of  the  State;  from  which  they  could  not  fairly  be  disengaged 
without  its  consent,  as  the  State  had  never  injured  or  oppressed  them."1 

The  minority  were  not  allowed  to  silence  the  majority,  however. 
The  historian  relates,  that  the  majority  took  "much  pains  "  to  "  dis- 
seminate the  new  ideas."  They  resorted  to  the  force  of  printed  pam- 
phlets and  to  public  conventions,  as  well  as  to  private  agitation.  A 
petition  in  the  name  of  the  seceding  towns  was  addresssed  to  the 
authorities  of  the  new  State  which  had  assumed  the  name  of  Ver- 
mont. In  this  paper  the  petitioners  prayed  to  be  received  by  the 
State  "  into  its  union,"  2  and  alleged  "  that  they  were  not  connected 
with  any  State,  with  respect  to  their  internal  police."  At  first,  the 
Assembly  of  Vermont  appeared  to  be  against  receiving  them  ;  but  the 
members  from  the  towns  situated  near  the  river  on  the  west  side  now 
made  themselves  heard.  They  openly  declared  that  they  would 
withdraw  and  join  with  the  people  on  the  east  side  in  forming  a  new 
State.3 

It  is  quite  clear  that  Cornish  and  the  fifteen  towns  associated  with 
her  did  not  claim  the  right  to  nullify  the  legislation  of  New  Hamp- 
shire. We  have  seen  that,  according  to  their  views,  the  town  remained 
intact,  notwithstanding  the  effect  of  the  revolution  which  put  an  end 
to  British  rule,  but  that,  beyond  the  town,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
region  in  which  they  resided  (namely,  a  region  whose  eastern 
boundary  was  a  line  drawn  sixty  miles  from  the  ocean)  were  re- 
duced to  what  they  called  "  a  state  of  nature." 

The  year  before,  the  people  of  the   "New  Hampshire  Grant-, 
within  the  present  territory  of  Vermont,    had    arrived  at  the  con- 
clusion that  they,  too,  were  reduced  by   the    revolution   to  "a  state 


1  J.  Belknap's  Hist.  New  Hampshire,  III,  339. 

2  Such  is  the  phrase  used  by  Belknap.     P.  339. 

3  Ibid,  340. 


830  APPENDIX. 

of  nature,"  leaving  them  destitute  of  government  beyond  the  town 
authorities.  They  resolved  to  form  themselves  into  a  State.  "  A 
convention  of  delegates  from  the  several  towns  west  of  Connecticut 
Eiver  met  at  Westminster  early  in  1777,  which  declared  the  said 
territory  to  be  an  independent  jurisdiction  by  the  name  of  Vermont, 
and  made  application  to  Congress  for  the  admission  of  their  dele- 
gates to  seats  in  that  body."1 

Dr.  Belknap's  account  of  the  convention  that  framed  the  constitu- 
tion of  New  Hampshire  furnishes  this  interesting  narrative  : 

1;  The  inhabitants  of  the  district  on  the  western  side  of  Connecticut  River,  which 
was  severed  from  New  Hampshire  in  1764,  had  been  engaged  in  a  long  and  bitter 
controversy  with  the  government  of  New  York.  They  had  even  been  obliged  to  have 
recourse  to  arms  in  defense  of  their  estates  ;  and  frequent  acts  of  violence  had  been 
committed.  There  was  among  them  a  set  of  intrepid  men,  ready  to  encounter  dan- 
gers, and  trained  to  hardy  enterprise.  At  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  by  the 
advice  of  some  principal  opposers  of  the  British  government  in  the  other  colonies,  a 
company  of  those  people,  styling  themselves  Green  Mountain  Boys,  marched  to 
Ticonderoga,  and  wrested  that  fortress,  together  with  Crown  Point,  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  British  garrisons.  A  regiment  of  them  was  embodied  by  order  and  in  the 
pay  of  the  General  Congress.  Their  exertions  in  the  common  cause  were  meritorious 
and  their  services  were  acceptable. 

"Soon  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  inhabitants  of  that  territory 
assembled  in  convention  to  consider  their  peculiar  situation,  and  concert  measures 
for  their  safety.  The  opportunity  which  then  presented  for  a  change  in  their  polit- 
ical connections  was  too  precious  to  be  lost.  By  the  dissolution  of  the  bonds  which 
had  held  America  in  subjection  to  the  crown  of  Britain,  they  conceived  themselves 
free  from  the  government  of  New  York,  to  which  the  most  of  them  had  never  vol- 
untarily submitted;  and  being,  as  they  said,  reduced  to  'a  state  of  nature,'  they 
thought  that  they  had  a  right  to  form  such  connections  as  were  agreeable  to  them- 
selves. Accordingly,  they  made  and  published  a  declaration  '  that  they  would  at  all 
times  consider  themselves  as  a  free  and  independent  State;  capable  of  regulating 
their  own  internal  police;  that  they  had  the  sole,  exclusive  right  of  governing 
themselves,  in  such  manner  as  they  should  choose,  not  repugnant,  to  the  resolves  of 
Congress;  and  that  they  were  ready  to  contribute  their  proportion  to  the  common 
defense.'  Under  the  influence  of  these  principles,  they  formed  a  plan  of  government 
and  a  code  of  laws,  and  petitioned  Congress  to  receive  them  into  the  Union." 

The  people  of  Vermont,  on  reference  of  the  question  to  them, 
decided  to  admit  the  seceding  towns  of  New  Hampshire.  Nay,  the 
assembly  of  Vermont  resolved  that  an}-  other  towns  on  the  east  side 
of  the  Connecticut  might  be  admitted,  on  producing  a  vote  of  a 
majority  of  the  inhabitants,  or  on  the  appointment  of  a  repre- 
sentative. 

Thereupon,  Cornish  and  the  other  corporate  "  seceders  r'  notified 
the  government  of  New  Hampshire  of  the  political  institution  they 

iWhiton,  135. 


APPENDIX.  831 

supposed  themselves  to  have  accomplished.  They  expressed,  how- 
ever, their  desire  to  have  an  amicable  settlement  of  a  jurisdictional 
line,  and  a  friendly  correspondence. 

In  the  name  of  the  New  Hampshire  Legislature,  the  president 
of  that  State  wrote  to  the  governor  of  Vermont,  claiming  the  six- 
teen towns  as  part  of  the  State,  the  limits  of  which,  he  urged,  had 
been  determined  prior  to  the  revolution.  He  relied  upon  the  tacts, 
that  those  towns  had  sent  delegates  to  the  convention  that  met  at 
Exeter,  in  1775;  that  they  had  applied  to  the  assembly  of  New- 
Hampshire  for  arms  and  ammunition,  which  had  been  sent  to  them; 
and  that  their  officers  had  accepted  commissions  from  the  govern- 
ment of  New  Hampshire,  and  obeyed  the  orders  of  that  government. 
He  pointed  out,  also,  that  the  minority  of  the  seceded  towns  was 
not  only  averse  to  a  disunion,  but  had  claimed  protection  of  New 
Hampshire,  which  the  assembly  felt  bound  to  aiford  ;  and  he  besought 
the  governor  of  Vermont  to  use  his  influence  with  the  assembly  of 
that  State  to  dissolve  the  newly-formed  connection. 

At  the  same  time,  the  chief  magistrate  of  New  Hampshire  wrote 
to  the  delegates  of  the  State  in  Congress.  He  desired  them  to 
endeavor  to  bring  about  the  interposition  of  the  national  legislature, 
and  he  did  not  hide  his  apprehension  that,  without  that  interposition, 
the  sword  must  be  resorted  to,  to  end  the  controversy;  since  (to  use 
Belknap's  version  of  his  letter)  "  every  condescending  measure  had 
been  used  from  the  beginning,  and  rejected.-'  1 

But  the  authorities  of  the  new  State  of  the  "Green  Mountain  Boys  " 
were  not  disposed  to  give  up  Cornish  and  the  other  seceded  towns 
across  the  river.  The  governor  and  council  sent  a  messenger  to 
Congress,  who  was  to  sound  that  body  on  the  subject,  and  to  ascertain 
how  Congress  viewed  Vermont.  He  found  that  Congress  was  unani- 
mously opposed  to  the  union  of  the  seceders  with  the  State,  whose 
interests  he  represented,  but,  with  the  exception  of  the  members 
from  New  York,  had  no  objection  to  the  independence  of  Vermont 
herself. 

When  the  representatives  of  the  so-called  seceding  towns  took 
their  seats  in  the  next  assembly  of  Vermont  (which  was  held  at 
Windsor,  opposite  to  Cornish),  they  expected  that  the  towns  they 
represented  would  be  formed  into  a  county.  They  were  disappoint- 
ed. Debate  arose  upon  the  question,  and  it  was  decided  in  the  neg- 
ative. What  then?  Our  plucky  "  seceders,"  "conceiving  that  they 
were  not  admitted  to  equal  privileges  with  their  brethren,"  made  a 
new  "secession."     They  withdrew  from  the  Vermont  Assembly, and 

:  Ibid.  341. 


832  APPENDIX. 

drew  with  them  several  other  delegates,  representing  towns  adjoin- 
in^  the  Connecticut  on  the  west  side.  A  convention  of  the  members 
so  withdrawing  was  thereupon  organized,  which  invited  all  the  towns 
on  both  sides  of  the  river  to  unite,  and  set  up  another  State  !  They 
proposed  to  name  the  new  formation  New  Connecticut.1 

According  to  Belknap,  "  this  secession  had  nearly  proved  fatal  to 
the  State  of  Vermont."  He  adds  :  "  A  ridge  of  mountains  which  ex- 
tends from  south  to  north  through  that  territory,  seemed  to  form 
not  only  a  natural,  but  a  political  line  of  division.  A  more  cordial 
union  subsisted  between  the  people  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Green 
Mountains  and  on  the  eastern  side  of  Connecticut  River,  than  between 
the  latter  and  those  on  the  western  side  of  the  mountains  ;  but  these 
alone  were  insufficient,  without  the  others,  to  make  a  State." 

But  the  governor  and  other  great  men  of  Vermont,  it  seems,  resided 
westward  of  the  mountains.  They  became  alarmed.  The}'  wrote  to 
the  assembly  of  New  Hampshire  letters,  disapproving  of  the  con- 
nection of  Vermont  with  Cornish  and  its  fifteen  associates,  east  of  the 
Connecticut.  But  the  great  men  of  New  Hampshire  looked  upon 
these  letters  as  ambiguous — as  not expressing,  clearly,  disinclination 
to  a  future  connection  with  our  hero's  native  town  and  its  associate 
seceders. 

"Jealousy,"  remarks  sage  Dr.  Belknap,  "is  said  to  be  a  republican 
virtue;  it  operated  on  this  occasion,  and  the  event  proved  that  it 
was  not  without  foundation."2 

Cornish  now  becomes  the  scene  of  action.  On  the  9th  of  December, 
1768,  delegates  from  several  towns  on  both  sides  of  the  river  assem- 
bled in  convention  at  that  place. 

At  that  time,  Ithamar,  the  father  of  our  Salmon  Portland  Chase, 
the  brother  of  another  Salmon  Chase,  a  son  of  Dudley  Chase,  who 
still  survived,  and  was  to  live  yet  many  years,  was  a  Cornish  farmer. 

And  there  was  another  Dudley  Chase  at  Cornish,  whom  our  hero 
was  to  know  as  uncle  Dudley,  and  who  was  to  be  a  great  man  in 
Vermont.  This  Dudley  was  to  be  Chief  Justice  of  the  Green  Moun- 
tain State,  and  to  represent  it  in  the  Senate  of  the  Union.  At  the 
time  that  that  convention  met  in  Cornish,  on  the  9th  day  of  Decem- 
ber, 1778,  he  was  nearly  seven  years  of  age.3  No  doubt,  he  remem- 
bered  the  convention  while  he  lived  ;  and  certainly  his  elder  brother, 
Ithamar,  the  father  of  our  hero,  could  have  told  the  latter  all  about 
its  action ;  and  it  is  quite  probable  he  did,  though  no  evidence  relat- 
ing to  that  point  has  come  within  my  knowledge. 

Dudley  Chase,  the  father  of  our  hero's  father,  was  a  man  of  parts, 


1  Ibid,  341.  ■  Ibid.  342.  3  He  was  born  in  Cornish,  Dec.  30,  1771 


APPENDIX.  833 

a  figure  of  commanding  interest,  a  character  in  whom,  I  am  quite 
sure,  the  reader  must  feel  lively  interest.  It  is  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  he  took  decided  part  in  the  convention  here  referred  to. 
But,  on  looking  into  the  article,  composed  by  "H.  Chase,  Esq.," 
under  the  title  Historical  Facts  about  Cornish,  N.  II.,  and  contributed 
by  him  to  Farmer  &  Moore's  Collections,1  I  find  no  mention  of  the 
name  of  Dudley  Chase  whatever. 

It  appears  from  that  article,  however,  that  Moses  Chase,  Esq., 
was  chosen  to  represent  Cornish  in  that  convention.  It  was,  no 
doubt,  held  in  the  meeting-house  as  ordered;  and  no  doubt  Moses 
Chase  represented  Cornish  as  a  delegate  in  that  assembly ;  but  the 
evidence  within  my  reach  does  not  extend  as  far  as  I  could  wish. 

It  seems,  however,  the  courageous,  but  perhaps,  not  very  prudent 
little  body  came  to  the  conclusion  "  to  unite,  without  an}-  regard  to 
the  limits  established  by  the  King  in  1764."  2  In  that  year  an  order 
had  been  passed  by  the  King  in  council,  declaring  "  the  western 
banks  of  Connecticut  River,  from  where  it  enters  the  Province  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  as  far  north  as  the  forty-fifth  degree  of  latitude, 
to  the  boundary  line  between  the  two  provinces  of  New  Hampshire 
and  New  York."3  The  Cornish  Convention,  having  resolved  to  form 
a  union,  without  regard  to  this  royal  limitation,  farther  resolved  "to 
make  the  following  proposals  to  Xew  Hampshire,  viz.,  either  to 
agree  with  them  on  a  dividing  line,  or  to  submit  the  dispute  to  Con- 
gress, or  to  arbitrators  mutually  chosen.  If  neither  of  these  pro- 
posals were  accepted,  then,  in  case  they  could  agree  with  Xew 
Hampshire  on  a  form  of  government,  they  would  consent  that  '  the 
whole  of  the  grants  on  both  sides  of  the  river  should  connect  them- 
selves with  New  Hampshire,  and  become  one  entire  State,  as  before 
the  royal  determination  in  1764.'  Till  one  or  other  of  these  propo- 
sals should  be  complied  with,  they  determined  'to  trust  in  Providence 
and  defend  themselves.'  "4 

To  comprehend  clearly  the  situation  of  these  hardy  people,  it  is 
necessary  to  bear  in  mind,  that  New  Hampshire,  east  of  the  so-called 
seceded  towns,  was  disposed  not  merely  to  resist  their  withdrawal, 
but  to  claim  the  towns  on  the  west  side  of  the  Connecticut.  The 
unsuccessful  attempt  made  in  1779  to  form  a  constitution  for  Xew 
Hampshire  proposed,  indeed,  to  define  the  limits  of  the  State  as  "  the 
same  as  under  the  royal  government,"  but  at  the  same  time,  the 
proposal  contained  the  words,  "  reserving  nevertheless  our  claim  to 
the  Xew  Hampshire  Grants,  west  of  Connecticut  River."     Belknap, 


1  Collections,  II,  153.  2  Belknap,  II,  342.  3  Ibid,  243.  *  Ibid,  342. 


834  APPENDIX. 

having  so  related,  adds  that,  "though  this  form  of  government  was 
rejected  by  a  majority  of  the  people,  yet  there  was  a  disposition  in 
a  great  part  of  the  assembly  to  l'etain  their  claim  to  the  whole  of 
the  grunts  westward  of  the  river."1 

It  is  farther  necessary  to  remember  that  the  Cornish  people  and 
their  associates  in  so-called  secession  had  to  consider  the  unabandoned 
pretensions  of  New  York.  That  State  set  up  a  claim  to  the  same 
lands  west  of  the  Connecticut.  Belknap  says  "  that  it  was  suspected, 
not  without  reason,  that  intrigues  were  forming  to  divide  Vermont 
between  New  Hampshire  and  New  York,  by  the  ridge  of  mountains 
which  runs  through  the  territory."  2 

The  Vcrmonters  were  not  to  be  outdone  in  claiming.  Quite  deter- 
mined to  maintain  their  young  Statehood,  they,  to  the  end,  according 
to  Belknap,  "that  they  might  have  the  same  advantage  of  their  ad- 
versaries," set  up  claims  extending  westward  into  New  York  as  well 
as  eastward  into  New  Hampshire.  In  consequence,  not  only  Cornish 
and  her  fifteen  associates,  but  several  other  towns  in  the  counties  of 
Cheshire  and  Grafton,  assumed  to  be  incorporated  with  Vermont  by 
"articles  of  union  and  confederation."  3 

Local  aspiration  and  ambition  greatly  complicated  this  remark- 
ably suggestive  controversy.  Thus,  the  Vermonters  westward  of  the 
Green  Mountains  wished  to  have  the  seat  of  government  on  that 
side  of  those  heights,  while  the  dwellers  on  both  sides  of  the  Con- 
necticut wished  Co  have  the  capital  brought  near  that  river;  and  the 
leading  men  of  New  Hampshire  were  in  favor  of  retaining  the  center 
of  jurisdiction  where  it  was. 

Congress  recommended  to  the  three  States  of  New  York,  Massa- 
chusetts,4 and  New  Hampshire,  to  pass  acts  which  should  authorize 
the  national  legislature  to  determine  the  disputed  boundaries.  At 
the  same  time,  the  same  body  advised  Vermont  to  relinquish  juris- 
diction over  all  persons  on  the  west  or  east  side  of  Connecticut  Biver 
who  had  not  denied  the  authority  of  New-  Hampshire;  and  to  abstain 
from  granting  lands,  or  confiscating  estates,  within  their  assumed 
limits,  till  the  matter  should  be  decided.  Massachusetts  did  not  act 
as  recommended  ;  the  Vermont  assembly  continued  to  grant  lands 
and  confiscate  estates  ;  but  New  York  and  New  Hampshire  passed 
the  acts  advised  by  Congress.  Congress  could  do  nothing,  at  that 
time,  to  end  the  controversy. 

It  was  not  till  after  discussion  of  the  question  whether  the  na- 
tional assembly  could,  constitutionally,  form  a  new  State  within  the 


1  Ibid,  343.  2  Ibid>  343  3  Ibid. 

*  Massachusetts,  also,  had  claimed  part  of  the  territory  now  included  in  Vermont. 


APPENDIX.  835 

limits  of  the  Union,  that,  in  1781,  Congress  laid  down  as  an  indispens- 
able preliminary  to  the  admission  of  Vermont,  that  that  spirited 
community  should  "explicitly  relinquish  all  demands  of  land  and 
jurisdiction  on  the  east  side  of  Connecticut  Eiver,  and  on  the  west 
side  of  a  line  drawn  twenty  miles  eastward  of  Hudson's  Eiver  to 
Lake  Champlain.'' ' 

Vermont  was  not  yet  daunted.  In  October,  her  assembly,  having 
met  at  Charlestown,  stubbornly  resolved  to  "remain  firm  in  the  prin- 
ciples on  which"  it  "first  assumed  government,  and  to  hold  the 
articles  of  union  inviolate."  It  resolved  that  it  "would  not  submit 
the  question  of  independence  to  the  arbitrament  of  any  power  what- 
ever; but  it  declared  its  present  willingness  to  refer  the  question 
of  jurisdictional  boundary  to  commissioners  mutually  chosen,  and 
made  known  that  when  Vermont  should  be  admitted  into  the  Amer- 
ican Union,  she  would  submit  any  such  disputes  to  Congress.'' 

Meantime,  Cornish  and  the  other  towns  which  had  "seceded" 
were  not  happy.  Na}T,  according  to  good  Dr.  Belknap,  they  were 
"  very  unhappy."  The  minorities,  respectively,  were  not  disposed 
to  submit  to  the  control  of  the  majorities,  and  the  majorities  at- 
tempted to  compel  submission  on  the  part  of  the  minorities.  "At 
the  same  time  and  in  the  same  place,  justices,  sheriffs,  and  constables, 
appointed  by  the  authority  of  both  States,  were  exercising  jurisdic- 
tion over  the  same  persons.  Party  rage,  high  words,  and  deep 
resentments,  were  the  effect  of  these  clashing  interests;"  and  "an 
affray  which  began  in  the  town  of  Chesterfield,  threatened  a  scene  of 
open  hostility  between  the  States  of  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont."3 

A  constable  appointed  by  Vermont  attempted  to  arrest  an  adhe- 
rent of  New  Hampshire,  on  a  writ  in  an  action  for  debt.  The  de- 
fendant was  with  a  number  of  people  of  his  own  party,  and  the  owner 
of  the  house  in  which  they  were,  interposed  when  the  constable  at- 
tempted to  make  the  arrest.  Thereupon  the  constable  began  to  read 
from  a  book,  which  he  said  contained  the  laws  of  Vermont;  but  the 
owner  of  the  house  forbade  the  reading  :  threatening  words  ensued, 
and  the  officer  retreated.  This  was  followed  up  by  the  imprisonment, 
in  Charlestown  gaol,  of  the  owner  of  the  house  and  another  of  tho 
resistants  of  the  constable;  and  this  imprisonment  occasioned  a 
petition  to  the  legislature  of  New  Hampshire  for  l'elief.  The  assem- 
bly of  New  Hampshire  empowered  the  committee  of  safety  to  direct 
the  sheriff  of  Cheshire  to  release  the  prisoners.  In  attempting  to 
release  the  prisoners,  the  Cheshire  sheriff  was  imprisoned  by  the 
Vermont  sheriff,  under  the  real  or  supposed  authority  of  a  warrant 


Belknap,  II.,  346.  2  Ibid,  3-17. 

54 


836  APPENDIX. 

issued  by  three  justices.  The  New  Hampshire  sheriff  thereupon 
caused  application  to  be  made,  not  for  a  habeas  corpus,  but  for  the 
offices  of  a  New  Hampshire  brigadier,  in  raising  the  militia  for  his 
liberation.  This  fired  the  heart  of  the  Vermonters  ;  and  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  ordered  the  Vermont  militia  to 
meet  force  with  force. 

But  now,  pacific  thoughts  arising,  a  committee  of  Yermonters 
wended  their  way  to  Exeter,  empowered  "to  agree  on  measures  to 
prevent  hostilities."  Unfortunately,  the  arresting  sheriff  was  of  that 
committee  of  intending  peace-makers.  He  was  at  once  arrested,  and 
thrown  into  prison,  and  there  held  as  hostage  for  the  release  of  the 
sheriff  of  Cheshire  ;  and  the  assembly  of  New  Hampshire  issued  a 
proclamation,  allowing  forty  days  for  the  people  in  the  revolted 
towns  to  repair  to  some  magistrate  of  New  Hampshire,  and  to  sub- 
scribe a  declaration  acknowledging  the  extent  of  New  Hampshire 
to  Connecticut  Eiver,  and  engaging  that  the  subscribers  would 
demean  themselves  peaceably  as  good  citizens  of  the  State.  '  At  the 
same  time,  the  same  angry  body  ordered  the  loyal  militia  of  New 
Hampshire,  in  all  the  counties,  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to 
march  against  the  men  of  Cornish  and  the  other  residents  of  the 
revolted  district. 

The  "  revolted  towns "  did  not  apparently  care  much  for  these 
warlike  demonstrations.  Even  after  the  committee  of  Congress, 
having  under  consideration  the  matter  of  Vermont,  prevailed  on 
General  Washington  to  prevail  on  the  governor  of  Vermont  to  pre- 
vail on  the  majority  in  the  legislature  of  that  State  to  relinquish  the 
late  extension,  the  revolted  towns,  including  Cornish,  still  held  out. 
They  continued  to  hold  out  in  some  measure  even  after  they  were 
cut  off  from  Vermont.  At  last,  in  1782,  they  were  induced  to  recog- 
nize the  jurisdiction  of  New  Hampshire,  and  their  unbloody  secession 
was  no  more. 

At  a  meeting  held  in  Cornish,  May  31,  1783,  "William  Eipley  was 
chosen  a  delegate  to  sit  in  the  convention  to  be  held  at  Concord  in 
June,  1783 ;  and,  November  27,  of  the  same  year,  Moses  Chase  was 
chosen  to  represent  the  town  in  the  General  Court  to  be  held  at 
Concord  on  the  third  Wednesday  of  the  next  December.2 

Here  we  see,  in  some  respects,  an  adumbration  of  the  fate  and 
fortunes  of  the  nullifying  secessionists  of  our  own  times.  But  how 
many  and  how  wide  the  differences  between  the  attempt  of  the  South 
to  dissolve  the  Union  in  order  to  perpetuate  slavery,  and  that  enter- 


1  Belknap,  II.,  348. 

2  H.  Chase  in  the  before  cited  paper,  Farmer  $  Moore's  Collections,  II.,  156. 


APPENDIX.  837 

prise  of  the  Cornish  Chases  and  their  associates,  in  the  interest  of 
what  appeared  to  them  a  due  regard  for  their  autonomy,  must  be 
apparent  to  each  reader. 

Chase,  perhaps,  knew  little  of  the  facts  just  reviewed.  He  said  to 
me  nothing  whatever  about  them. 

In  an  extremely  hasty  notice  of  some  pages  of  this  work,  a  re- 
viewer, who,  it  seems,  supposed  himself  to  be  a  friendly  critic,  repre- 
sented me  as  knowing  about  as  much  of  New  England  as  a  Kentucky 
farmer,  who  had  never  left  his  farm,  might  be  expected  to  know  of 
Yankee  life  and  manners.  It  was  the  same  hasty  criticism  that 
discovered  in  the  author  of  this  work  a  judge,  seated  on  a  high, 
infallible  throne,  pronouncing  judgment  on  all  persons  and  all 
things.  I  never  believed  in  the  infallibility  of  any  merely  human 
person  in  this  world.  I  have  not  so  spoken  in  this  work  as  to  just- 
ify any  one  in  saying  that  my  work  is  too  judicially  inclined.  But 
I  must  say  that  my  studies  of  American  chorography,  at  large,  have 
been  far  from  superficial,  far  from  narrow  ;  and,  also,  that  they  have 
greatly  occupied  my  leisure  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
My  feeling  for  New  England,  consequently,  is  most  kindly.  I  appre- 
ciate her  virtues  and  her  services,  though  I  discern  her  weak  sides 
and  even  her  occasional  misconduct.  On  the  whole,  I  respect  her 
people  very  highly  ;  and,  surely,  I  have  endeavored,  in  this  work,  to 
manifest  a  due  appreciation  of  our  hero's  obligations  to  New  Eng- 
land, sometimes  called  the  Scotland  of  America. 

On  the  other  hand,  T  would  that  I  had  more  to  tell  about 
his  obligations  to  the  blood  of  Sandie  Ralston  and  his  gude  wife, 
Jennie,  born  Balloch. 

Jennie  had,  it  seems,  an  inquiring  mind.  She  was  a  black-eyed 
body,  full  of  pluck  and  spirit.  Once,  it  is  related,  she  endeavored 
to  initiate  herself  into  the  secrets  of  Free  Masonry,  in  a  decidedly 
irregular  fashion.  In  the  course  of  that  remarkable  adventure,  she 
literally  "put  her  foot  in  it" — her  right  foot,  to  wit,  and  the  ankle 
— nay,  the  calf  thereto  belonging.  He  right  lower  extremity  slipped 
(it  is  said)  through  the  ceiling  of  the  lodge-room,  at  Keene,  while 
the  worshipful,  mysterious  lodge  was  in  full  session,  her  own  gude 
man  being  one  of  the  brethren  present.  Sandie  (says  tradition)  put 
an  instant  end  to  all  consternation  by  exclaiming,  in  substance,  if 
not  in  terms  : 

"  Yon's  Jennie's  leg !  I'd  swear  to  it  among  a  thousan'.  All 
right,  brethren  !  " 

Possibly,  this  anecdote  (related  to  me  by  General  Balloch)  would 
be  rather  difficult  to  authenticate.     I  give  it  for  what  it  may  seem 


838  APPENDIX. 

worth  ;   and    it   seems  not  quite  improbable.       If  true,  it   may   be 
deemed  somewhat  suggestive. 

Very  clearly,  the  disposition  of  tradition  is  to  credit  Jennie,  the 
gude  wife  of  Sandie  Ealston,  with  the  soul  and  body  of  no  ordinary 
character.  But  I  never  heard  her  famous  grandson  even  mention 
her.  Perhaps,  he  had  heard  too  little  of  her  history.  Or,  perhaps, 
he  did  not  quite  appreciate  her  most  distinguishing  peculiarities.  I 
do  not  think  he  ever  studied  character  profoundly.  Indeed,  the 
body  of  this  work,  while  it  ascribes  to  him  a  various  possession  of 
true  greatness,  does  not  credit  him  with  deepness  as  a  thinker. 


NOTE  B. 

In  saying  that  I  can  give  no  satisfactory  account  of  the  last  hours 
of  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  I  imply  no  doubt  of  the  reliableness  of 
accounts  given  by  the  press.  But,  had  things  gone  as  I  had  reason 
to  expect,  I  could  have  furnished  an  original  account.  As  things  are, 
I  have  to  depend  on  borrowed  matter,  which  I  can  not  look  upon  as 
leaving  nothing  to  desire. 

One  account  says  : 

"  Monday  evening  there  was  not  discernible  any  shadow  of  the  disaster  so  fast 
approaching.  He  seemed  in  usual  health,  and  in  very  good  spirits,  although  com- 
plaining of  a  little  fatigue,  and  entered  into  animated  conversation  with  the  friends 
who  were  present.  About  ten  o'clock,  the  usual  hour  for  retiring,  he  said,  '  Good- 
night,' and  left  the  room.     These  were  the  last  words  he  spoke. 

"On  Tuesday  morning,  about  half-past  six  o'clock,  his  servant  entering  his  room 
found  him  sleeping  quietly,  with  his  hand  under  his  face,  as  he  habitually  lay.  On 
approaching  the  bed  a  few  minutes  later,  the  servant  saw  that  the  Chief  Justice  was 
seized  with  a  spasm,  and  the  features  were  convulsed,  and  a  light  foam  appearing 
on  the  lips. 

"  His  daughter  was  immediately  summoned,  and  servants  dispatched  for  medical 
aid.  When  the  physicians  arrived,  the  unconsciousness  was  found  to  have  resulted 
from  a  recurrence  of  paralysis All  efforts  to  relieve  him  proved  un- 
availing, and  it  was  evident  that  his  vitality  was  ebbing  away.  Gov.  Sprague 
and  his  wife,  daughter  of  Judge  Chase,  were  summoned,  and  arrived  in  the  city 
last  evening.  His  two  daughters  remained  by  his  bed-side  till  10.30  this  morning, 
when  he  breathed  his  last. 

"  He  remained  totally  unconscious  from  the  time  his  condition  was  discovered 
until  the  end." 


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